Horse transporters please

Queenbee

Queenbee

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Hi all,

As some of you know I am moving to Cumbria from Cornwall, I have a quote from Eric Gillie who pick up from the South West on a Tuesday and deliver to Cumbria on a Wednesday with an overnight in Cheltenham.

However it is looking very likely that we may be looking at a completion later in the week, if the worst comes to the worst I will load up Ben and ask my Yard owner to unload him at the other end but I really would like to be there to do that if at all possible.

I am hoping to find one or two other good transport companies so I can contact them and find out whether I may be able to transport Ben with them later in the week.

Can anyone recommend me some companies they have used and would trust?

Many thanks
 
Can't help with a recommendation but could you do it the other way round i.e. go on ahead and get yourself sorted and get someone in Cornwall to look after Ben for a couple of days then load him up for you so can be there to meet him at the other end? It might be better for him to have a 'stranger' look after him in a familiar place then you in his new home rather than be in a strange home with strange people? It would also give you a couple of horse free days to get yourself sorted out.
 
the one I would trust with my life is P C horse transport. There is a FB page. Paul Cannon transported my foal from Dumfries to Devon. I got a quote from Gillies, Paul was slightly cheaper. The great advantage however was there was no overnight in Cheltenham, it was a single use journey so no nasty bugs from other horses travelling and no stops. All done in a day. He did exactly what he said he would, listened to all my instructions, put straw down on request, no haynet, no partitions and no tie up and kept me updated as the journey went on. We put the ramp down when he arrived and the foal didn't want to come out. He was perfectly happy in the box and had had a great journey.
I met Paul long before as he transported a lot of feral foals to their new homes so I had watched him load, deal with horses etc and I was confident even before I booked him and a million times more so after my foal arrived.
 
paddy555 said:
the one I would trust with my life is P C horse transport. There is a FB page. Paul Cannon transported my foal from Dumfries to Devon. I got a quote from Gillies, Paul was slightly cheaper. The great advantage however was there was no overnight in Cheltenham, it was a single use journey so no nasty bugs from other horses travelling and no stops. All done in a day. He did exactly what he said he would, listened to all my instructions, put straw down on request, no haynet, no partitions and no tie up and kept me updated as the journey went on. We put the ramp down when he arrived and the foal didn't want to come out. He was perfectly happy in the box and had had a great journey.
I met Paul long before as he transported a lot of feral foals to their new homes so I had watched him load, deal with horses etc and I was confident even before I booked him and a million times more so after my foal arrived.
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So he broke several transport regs doing that distance in one hit? I'd not use any transporter who broke regs, however experienced they appear, end of.

OP, Gillies have a very very good reputation, they generally travel loose, the boxes are fully disinfected, they accomodate owners wishes as much as is legally and humanely possible.
They adhere and go beyond travel regulations, giving the drivers, horses and ponies breaks (as required by law). They wouldn't be in business if they broke regs, carted bugs around etc.
I'm sure if you look or ask on local media pages, you'll get other reccos too, just DO ask the questions you need to.
 
Thank you everyone. If at all possible I do hope to use Gillies, there is a possibility that completion may be earlier in the week than Thursday which means that I can load up the horse, load up the house, cage the cat and drive up to be there to greet him on the Wednesday. If not I have contacted a couple of other transporters that I have seen recommended a by a few people on here, I am waiting to hear back from them.

I suppose that if the worst comes to the worst I can leave the boy here for a few days and my YO can load him up for Gillies and send him on his way but I would prefer to be doing that if at all possible.

I also wouldn't want him to do the full journey in one sitting, he has never traveled further than Wadebridge in one go, I don't relish the prospect of him travelling a 500 mile journey in one day and would far rather he had a decent overnight break.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
So he broke several transport regs doing that distance in one hit? I'd not use any transporter who broke regs, however experienced they appear, end of.

OP, Gillies have a very very good reputation, they generally travel loose, the boxes are fully disinfected, they accomodate owners wishes as much as is legally and humanely possible.
They adhere and go beyond travel regulations, giving the drivers, horses and ponies breaks (as required by law). They wouldn't be in business if they broke regs, carted bugs around etc.
I'm sure if you look or ask on local media pages, you'll get other reccos too, just DO ask the questions you need to.
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which regs did he break?

If I had used Gillies my horse would have had 2 overnight stays and had to be unloaded at the side of a dual carriageway and then put on another lorry I would have had to supply to get him here.
 
I struggle to comprehend that last statement, from personal experience they wouldnt do that whatsoever. Usually a smaller box will meet at lairage to do the final run if needed.(sometimes tho, owners want to cut costs)
8 hours max then a 1 hour rest break minimum, tho advice is less where possible for unbroken and foals. We'll have to disagree on this as I'd not put a foal through that distance in one hit.

OP, hope you get your dates suited x
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
So he broke several transport regs doing that distance in one hit? I'd not use any transporter who broke regs, however experienced they appear, end of.

OP, Gillies have a very very good reputation, they generally travel loose, the boxes are fully disinfected, they accomodate owners wishes as much as is legally and humanely possible.
They adhere and go beyond travel regulations, giving the drivers, horses and ponies breaks (as required by law). They wouldn't be in business if they broke regs, carted bugs around etc.
I'm sure if you look or ask on local media pages, you'll get other reccos too, just DO ask the questions you need to.
Click to expand...


Apart from the regs, I wouldn't want to travel a horse from Cornwall to Cumbria in one day, without a break. We took a friends 3 to Cumbria from W. Yorks, so about 1/4 of the distance, it took 5 hours, with no traffic problems. It will be a fair old journey from Cheltenham to Cumbria, as it is.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
I struggle to comprehend that last statement, from personal experience they wouldnt do that whatsoever. Usually a smaller box will meet at lairage to do the final run if needed.(sometimes tho, owners want to cut costs)
8 hours max then a 1 hour rest break minimum, tho advice is less where possible for unbroken and foals. We'll have to disagree on this as I'd not put a foal through that distance in one hit.

OP, hope you get your dates suited x
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I didn't want to cut costs, they would not do the final part, I had to organise it myself. Unloading a foal in those conditions would have been highly dodgy. I understood the daily limit on driver's hours was max 10 hours no more than twice a week per the govt web site. Can you let me have a link for 8 hours max please.
As for distance would putting a foal through 2 overnight stays and unloading and re loading next to a dual carriageway have been less stressful? He was not in the slightest stressed by the journey and I did not want him in contact with lots of other horses as would have happened with Gillies. However clean their transport is there is no guarantee the other horses could be carrying some infection.
 
I used Gillies to get my new horse delivered. They were very good and horse arrived in great condition. Never used anyone else.
 
I have used Alan Walters from Taunton to take my mare and foal about 70 miles and a friend used them to transport her horses to Ireland from Somerset and then back again when it didn't work out.
 
OrangeAndLemon said:
I'm uncomfortable with the suggestion companies, unable to defend themselves, being accused of breaking regs. You dont know that, you're making some assumptions.
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Exactly plus if it was one of these 3.5t boxes there is no taco regulations so technically no record of driving hours. Plus they are not restrictedto 56mph on motorways or 40mph on other roads.

I still wouldn't look past Gillies though to be honest. There is also C&C transport from Yorkshire that transport racehorses all the time. I'm not sure what their rota is like, I dont think they do things on set days like Gillies and go where the work is on whatever day.
 
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