Driving and incident could have been worse

ILuvCowparsely

ILuvCowparsely

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Going out with my driving pony - me passenger and qualified person in driving seat, taking it easy going on a nice steady drive round the local village. Had a trot and because of her condition IBD we took it steady and the carriage felt a little jumpy, but we thought it was more than likely the pony. Travelled on a bit and went into the centre of our quiet village just past a friends house when out of the blue the carriage fell forward, shafts came up and pony jumped a little trying to trot off. I doing the right thing started to get off to hold the pony as carriage was a problem and as I was half way out the carriage front came back on itself trapping my leg in mid getting off and the drivers leg it crashed against. Driver controlled the amazing little pony who did not panic and we removed the harness from the carriage, then walked back with her and left knackered carriage on friends drive till we collected it later.



Now this carriage is a Robinsons one and been stored full time in the indoor school , was not rusty or anything. The only thing my trainer said that it should have a support on the underside where the perforated curves up. So if you have one of these maybe do this as I will do with my next one as this one is a recycle job now. Was scary as it could have been so much worst than it was but having a sensible pony and a driver who had experienced other crashes helped.

Here is my carriage where it snapped and where the support bar should be
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here is the damage
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You can see how it folded over on us

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Dang knee just before I go away too :(

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You are very lucky to get away with such minor damage! :eek3:

DH is gobsmacked at the thin light gauge of the metal, is it ali or steel? Either way, very poor quality metal with no support for the job! (He isn't horsey at all, but fabricates for race motorbikes)
 
It is metal, I am no expert but it is not Ali, I would not think Robinson would sell it if it was, I would have thought.


I do notice they are no longer listed on the website now, so need to find another excercise cart.
Yes we were lucky and lucky close outside friends house to. Could have been really nasty if it had broken away from the back half leaving pony galloping along dragging it. I shudder at the thought.
 
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The Fuzzy Furry said:
DH says you could get it updated by a decent metal worker, don't chuck away but get the cheese metal replaced or reinforced properly, prob cheaper than buying another
Click to expand...

I worry that if we fix it, the Windsor sponsored Drive next year would not allow it to compete as they can and do you turn them away if they're not satisfied with its structure
 
Get your self a decent carriage like a Bennington or a Hartland having said that you need to check carriages including the welding regularity carriages take a lot of stick .
 
Metal fatigue. I wouldn't trust the rest of it. Might be worth getting a decent fabricator to have a look at it, and just re-use the non-structural parts.

Glad you're all ok!
 
Ok I have found a nice Bennington Buccaneer to replace the Robinsons - the owner said it was too heavy for her 12 hh donkey and maybe a little too heavy for my welsh A if going on grass, but we wont be only if we do a sponsored drive.

Surely donkeys have less pulling power and are more narrow in front unlike a good bodied welsh A??? She said fine on the roads
 
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