Does anyone cope without their own transport?

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SWE

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Hi all!

I have just bought another youngster (currently unbroken but i'll hopefully be jumping on board soon).

In a few months time I will be looking to take him on a few outings. My question is, does anyone else cope without their own transport?

I was thinking of putting a post out on facebook locally asking that if anyone is doing anything locally, could I catch a lift and I will cover their fuel costs.... do you think this is potentially a good idea? Would you offer a lift to someone in this situation???

The only thing stopping me getting my own transport is the initial outlay of a box, but if absolutely no alternative I could potentially look at buying something cheap on credit....

How do you manage with no transport?
 
I cadged lifts for over 20 years :o
I did also hire a 3.5t box quite a bit which gave a bit more freedom.
Eventually I bought a cheap lorry with a bank loan and it has changed my life. But I did plenty beforehand, you just have to be ultra flexible about what you want to go to ;)
 
I've hired before and I'm about to go back to hiring again as my lorry has just died :( It is possible and in the long run it doesn't necessarily work out that much different price wise but it does mean things like going somewhere nice for a hack don't happen.
 
vallin said:
I've hired before and I'm about to go back to hiring again as my lorry has just died :( It is possible and in the long run it doesn't necessarily work out that much different price wise but it does mean things like going somewhere nice for a hack don't happen.
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Oh No! Larry the lorry is dead?!
 
vallin said:
Larry the lorry is no longer worth repairing :( Can't justify it with the current lack of competing/wedding etc so will be hiring for the time being until either I win the lottery or Dave starts earning more ;)
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Such a horrible feeling....we just scrapped our old car for the same reason. I cried. Don't tell anyone.
 
I found things like loading practice for novice travellers was really hard without my own tranport - the thought of paying out to hire a box just to practice getting on and off it is rather off putting. Agree with Vallin that I tended to only do outings for shows when I had to beg or hire a lift, whereas now it's easy for me to do arena hire etc which is a godsend with my green horse.

OP have you got friends with transport? Because that helps a lot esp if you have similar interests. I did most of my competing with a friend who wanted to do the same as me - initially we went BE and later BD together.
 
I didn't have my own transport for a long time and I managed but it's certainly not as easy. I did have a friend on my yard for a while who was happy to loads us up and take us with her for fuel money but I think strangers are less willing to just share. I used to hack to a LOT of places, thought nothing of riding 3 miles to a local show, dressage or even a ODE. Transport was saved for special occasions.
If I were doing it again I would definitely consider hiring a box as and well until you know how many outings you will have.
 
I borrowed a LOT in the early days - got very good at sorting out problems with 4x4s and trailers! I also used to hack to shows, but that was on a friend's horse that was hard as nails and enjoyed the extra work. One yard we were at would let us borrow the lorry in exchange for transporting other people, but the lorry wasn't very reliable and after one morning when my husband arrived at a long-awaited clinic late and in a flap because the lorry took ages to start we said never again! It is do-able but can be frustrating!
 
I hated not having my own transport - I was lucky that I had a couple of friends who would let me borrow their lorries, but then those arrangements fell through and weren’t always reliable

I ended up getting a loan and buying my own 4x4 and trailer (I got much more for my money than a lorry as I had a limited budget) - all was fine until I wrote off the Landrover on black ice! All repaired now though and we are out and about at least once a week if not twice - it would drive me mad to have to go back to borrowing/hiring
 
I’m on the hunt for transport! There are a few hire companies around 30-45 mins away from me which makes it really time consuming when wanting to go out! Personally I wouldn’t want to have a strange horse on my lorry/trailer unless it’s a fellow livery and you know the horse well
 
I manage it.

I used to have a little 3.5T but I sold it when I lost my old horse/bought a youngster as it was an older lorry and with a young horse I wasn't going to be going anywhere regularly for quite some time, I decided that by the time I did need it, then it would be older than economically viable to keep running.

So fast forward a couple of years and my horse is now rising 6 and competing regularly. It would be FAR easier to have my own transport, and I plan to ASAP, but house extension work has consumed all funds up to now so I've had to wait.

I would say if you can book several dates in advance then it's easier, but as we all know with horses things can go wrong so you have to be prepared to lose a deposit. OR be very flexible about when you go out so it doesn't matter if the lorry isn't available on the date you wanted.

It's working for me at the moment but it is tricky, and I do miss out on a few things I'd like to do because cost of hiring more than once a month is prohibitive.
 
You can survive without it, but life is better with transport! I did it relatively cheaply. Old but incredibly reliable, touch wood! Landrover and an older trailer. I stripped the trailer down to the bare bones and rebuilt it. The trailer was cheap but with all the work its cost me about as much as a reasonable second hand one would have. The difference is I know its sound, I've seen the chassis and fitted the floor myself. It would still be cheaper for me to hire transport once a month, but we use the Landrover as a second car and its been invaluable in the snow and ice. Plus its impossible to find transport that can take a horse and carriage so I didnt really have a choice in the matter.

I've just got to install the lights and paint the trailer now and we are good to go, and I cant wait!
 
It’s really difficult without transport - I did it for a few years whilst in a large livery yard where the YO had 2 lorries and you could pay for a space on the box or hire the little 3.5T. I didn’t appreciate at the time quite how lucky I was to have that available to me.

I’m afraid I’m a miserable old cowbag about transport now. It costs so much to purchase and run that I never offer non essential lifts to strangers/acquaintances.

I would drive any horse to the Vets in an emergency. I’d also lend my transport to a handful of select close friends without question. But that’s it.

I wouldn’t want to be without some form of transport. At the moment I’m using my trailer once, sometimes twice, a week.
 
I have no transport and manage by being very lucky to get lifts and a couple of people on my yard have offered use of their 3.5T lorries. We compete once a month, go hunting several time over winter and get out and about to training, a kind friend took us to the ror champs in 2016 and we've done area festivals, camps etc

it would be lovely to have my own wheels for extra freedom but I am spoilt and cash poor so we're happy to do whatever we can :D Plus its nice to have company (often there are 2-4 of us out at the same time) :)
 
I don't have it and find it quite frustrating.

Me and my horse mostly happy hack and school, but I don't have an arena at my yard so are restricted to hacking only over winter. I would LOVE to hire an arena. My friend has a trailer and a lorry - we were planning to go to a fun ride over Christmas but due to the weather it was cancelled on a number of occasions so we never got out. We are planning to do a few beach rides and arena hire when she buys a new horse but in the mean time I find it quite frustrating. I just literally can't afford it plus I would need to do my trailer test as I'm a young en :-(
 
I'm very lucky and have a fantastic friend who ferries me about in her trailer, and another who has us in the lorry on occasion. They only charge diesel money, too - very, very lucky!

I would still love my own little lorry, though. Mainly for when I've got nothing going on and maybe fancy arena hire or to pop out for a dressage test. I'm window shopping at the moment, only half seriously. Once our kitchen is refitted and OH has bough his new motorbike, then I might be allowed to get a little runaround :D OH thinks it's a very unnecessary luxury - although I'm pretty sure he only says that as I currently don't have to pay full hire charges!
 
I really enjoy the freedom of having my own box. I wouldn't give a lift to a strangers horse unless there was a desperate need. It costs a lot to own a box and adding extra horses adds to the general wear and tear. Having said that I have a friend who is always happy to give lifts.
 
I’ve always been lucky to cadge lifts or hire on the odd occasions I’ve wanted to compete, but these last few months I’m finding it really frustrating not to have my own transport. My horse is 6 this year, and he’s high as a kite when we do get out and about, we never show what he’s capable of as he’s so distracted... I need to take him out more for training, course hire etc to get him used to new places, but it’s hard to find people to share transport with, people either don’t want to do the same thing or are at very different stages with their horses, and I can’t afford the £80-100 for hire on my own. I’d love to be able to just box up and go, but I’m getting married in a few months and as such have no money 😳
 
Hacking proximity to an EC holding events was one of the drivers behind moving yards. I'm now easily hackable to a venue holding regular competitions, clinics & arena hire.

Sure, it would be nice to be able to go elsewhere regularly but it's a great compromise whilst non-horsey adult life takes priority for a while (we are buying a house & whilst OH happily accomodates mu current horse expenses, transport would be a step too far ... :D ). I'm hoping to have transport in the next 5 years or so.
 
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