Horsebox Recovery - Your experiances good or bad

Always carry high-viz vests in my LR and one of those warning triangles. A couple of times I've had to jump out on the hard shoulder - once when the bonnet catch failed and once when the trailer snaked and wanted to check the horses were okay (turned out my mare had ripped a front travel boot off and I suspect she trod on herself which triggered the snake). Extra piece of mind to know you can be seen!

I've been with the OHTO for four years but haven't yet needed them.
 
luce1 said:
And for anyone that is interested I asked anthony evans for a breakdown quote which was very reasonable however they said they cannot guarentee a seperate box to pick up the horses and they would be towed! Will be looking elsewhere!!!
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I agree you should look elsewhere if another box cannot be a certainty if you are many miles from home. However, tipping and towing a box a short distance to safety, may, in certain circumstances, be the best option.

When I broke down on the M25 at 6pm on a Friday evening I had the best possible service from the NFU, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, but I still opted for tip and tow to get off the motor asap.

I was given the option to unload off mine and onto another wagon on the motorway. That would have meant closing the M25 in BOTH directions for at least 2 hours. Both sides would have to be closed a long way away from my box. Then a high coral would have been erected surrounding both lorries. The horse would have to be sedated because the Police would not allow the risk of him getting loose, even within the coral. That would have left me with a heavily sedated horse with another 200 miles in front of him. The horse is a much travelled and experienced horse but safety came first.

We had been away from home for four days at the RIHS and had a good show but I didn't fancy featuring on BBC 6 O'clock news - mad horsewoman closes M25 in rush hour !

It was explained to me that the lorry (Daf 4 horse probably approx 30' long), would be jacked on the front axle leaving the wheels approx 4 inches clear of the road and attached to the enormous tow truck by straight bars. It would then be towed at that angle to the nearest safe, fully fenced compound, which for me was 5 miles.

I agreed to the tipping and I went into the horse to put rugs against the partition he would be leaning against, left hand side of the horse, travelling herringbone head to kerbside. The partitions were fully padded but it made me feel better to put more padding for him !. The mechanics jacked it slowly and all that could be felt was a slight backwards lean. The horse merely shifted his weight a little and didn't look worried at all. I did stay with him, against the wishes of the police and vet. I had phone contact with the tow truck. We travelled very slowly with highways and the police holding the outside lane of traffic back (the 2 inside lanes were closed).

We arrived at a double fenced 12 foot high compound, and taken off the tow truck slowly on a jack. A lovely racehorse trainer, Philip Mitchell backed his lorry to mine and the horse was transferred and off we went again. My lorry re-attached to the tow truck and I went with the horse. The horse did not travel that well in the new very plush rear facing lorry which made my lorry look like a shed ! he is used to travelling herring bone and the rear facer got him a bit warm.

I make light of the incident now, but that night was horrific and I cannot thank the authorities, rescue, vet etc enough.

What did that lot cost ? several thousand without a doubt. I paid £400 the year (2009) that happened.

Unless you only go a few miles from home and have someone to call on if you have a problem, I would not even consider not having full rescue on a box.
 
The police suggested we blindfold the horses to load them into the wagon after we had the trailer incident - whole of the M1 closed to try and load them - horses were 4yos and not travelled in a lorry before. I said blindfold was a no go, it may work in racing, but I didn't want a 4yo panicking and risk the possibility of it running wild with blindfold! We had to make a funnel with range rover police cars and get them in. The mare was having none of it and was a royal PITA - flicking water at her seemed to work though!.

I can make light of it now, but it was truly terrifying to have the trailer and car (discovery) flip over :o
 
AdorableAlice said:
I agree you should look elsewhere if another box cannot be a certainty if you are many miles from home. However, tipping and towing a box a short distance to safety, may, in certain circumstances, be the best option.

When I broke down on the M25 at 6pm on a Friday evening I had the best possible service from the NFU, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, but I still opted for tip and tow to get off the motor asap.

I was given the option to unload off mine and onto another wagon on the motorway. That would have meant closing the M25 in BOTH directions for at least 2 hours. Both sides would have to be closed a long way away from my box. Then a high coral would have been erected surrounding both lorries. The horse would have to be sedated because the Police would not allow the risk of him getting loose, even within the coral. That would have left me with a heavily sedated horse with another 200 miles in front of him. The horse is a much travelled and experienced horse but safety came first.

We had been away from home for four days at the RIHS and had a good show but I didn't fancy featuring on BBC 6 O'clock news - mad horsewoman closes M25 in rush hour !

It was explained to me that the lorry (Daf 4 horse probably approx 30' long), would be jacked on the front axle leaving the wheels approx 4 inches clear of the road and attached to the enormous tow truck by straight bars. It would then be towed at that angle to the nearest safe, fully fenced compound, which for me was 5 miles.

I agreed to the tipping and I went into the horse to put rugs against the partition he would be leaning against, left hand side of the horse, travelling herringbone head to kerbside. The partitions were fully padded but it made me feel better to put more padding for him !. The mechanics jacked it slowly and all that could be felt was a slight backwards lean. The horse merely shifted his weight a little and didn't look worried at all. I did stay with him, against the wishes of the police and vet. I had phone contact with the tow truck. We travelled very slowly with highways and the police holding the outside lane of traffic back (the 2 inside lanes were closed).

We arrived at a double fenced 12 foot high compound, and taken off the tow truck slowly on a jack. A lovely racehorse trainer, Philip Mitchell backed his lorry to mine and the horse was transferred and off we went again. My lorry re-attached to the tow truck and I went with the horse. The horse did not travel that well in the new very plush rear facing lorry which made my lorry look like a shed ! he is used to travelling herring bone and the rear facer got him a bit warm.

I make light of the incident now, but that night was horrific and I cannot thank the authorities, rescue, vet etc enough.

What did that lot cost ? several thousand without a doubt. I paid £400 the year (2009) that happened.

Unless you only go a few miles from home and have someone to call on if you have a problem, I would not even consider not having full rescue on a box.
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Gosh this actually sounds like my worst nightmare – but what a great service you were offered!!! I now have breakdown cover with 2 different companies heheh hoping to never be in a situation like you say above however you never know… what was the problem with your lorry out of interest??!!
 
We have always had great service from NFU however prior to that we were with South Essex and the only time we used it, it was dreadful. That said it was about 10/11 years ago so may be different now. This is our story from hell (will try to keep it brief but not easy as you’ll see):

We were driving from Stafford (Scope) to North West of Glasgow when we broke down on the A74/M74 near Lockerbie. Called the breakdown service and told the operator where we were including details on the location marker on the hard shoulder. She proceeded to tell me we couldn’t be there as the location marker wasn’t on that road and asked had we passed Cardiff? I said no, did she mean Carlisle and she(rudely) said no Cardiff :confused: Eventually I convinced her where we were and she said she would arrange a mechanic. A short while later she phoned to say a mechanic phoned to ask our exact location as he was in Stranraer. On hearing where we were he understandably refused to come out from so far away. I called the breakdown operator again and she claimed that was the nearest mechanic on their list. I told her there were mechanics based at Southwaite services who I knew had been used by them previously and she said they weren’t on her list so could I give her the phone number. I called directory enquiries, phoned her back and eventually a mechanic appeared. He was in a small van, couldn’t get lorry going and after 2 hrs said he was out of time. In the mean time breakdown service said transport for our pony would be a minimum of 6 hrs and they would see about a tow for the lorry.

Next thing a police car pulled up said we couldn’t stay on hard shoulder any longer having been there 5 hrs . The policeman ended up arguing on the phone with the breakdown service who refused to give permission to tow the lorry with the pony on board and the police refused to shut motorway to allow pony to be unloaded to transporter (which still hadn’t materialised) although there was little traffic so disruption would have been minimal. The police then called a tow truck to come and things got even worse. The lorry was roughly lifted at the front with no regard for the poor pony despite me asking them to be careful and then driven up the motorway through a contraflow system at between 60 and 70 mph. Arriving at the garage the lorry was dropped off tow truck which was left parked in front of it and the mechanic/garage owner disappeared off home to bed (now 3am). I called breakdown service and pleaded with them to get transport for pony or help me get home to pick up car and trailer but they refused to even help me find a taxi company in the area. Eventually my aunt drove to a friends house (they don’t hear their phone at night) and friend kindly set out with her trailer. She picked us up and poor pony got home 21 hrs after leaving Scope, fortunately she's a very good girl.

In the meantime we got hold of someone else at the breakdown service who found a company to tow the lorry home but initially refused to pay for the tow truck the police arranged – I then went ballistic and they backed down and agreed to pay. However the garage owner refused to take payment for the tow and to move his tow truck so lorry was blocked in. Eventually breakdown service got him to accept payment and let us out and another company arrived to tow the lorry home. The driver told us that his garage was less than 5 mins from where we had broken down and he had a friend with stables close by who would have had the pony overnight too. To say I was livid would be an understatement :mad::mad::mad:. I duly complained to South Essex who eventually offered a 10% discount off the lorry insurance the next year – shortly after we moved to NFU!
 
luce1 said:
Gosh this actually sounds like my worst nightmare – but what a great service you were offered!!! I now have breakdown cover with 2 different companies heheh hoping to never be in a situation like you say above however you never know… what was the problem with your lorry out of interest??!!
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Split fuel line, poured diesel onto engine, filled cab with smoke. - note to you all - check your fire extinguishers regulary, never know when you might need them.

Guess what - I had the fecking thing serviced before going on the epic trip from Worcestershire to Hickstead. I don't care if any of my horses qualify for RIHS ever again - they won't be going, horrid show, horrid facilities and a trip from hell !! Lorry was shot after doing that on me and sold to a bad home.

Eventingmum - I have read your post twice and gone for a lie down. Unbelievable, poor pony, how on earth did you cope with that lot, I would have knocked somebody out !
 
AdorableAlice said:
Eventingmum - I have read your post twice and gone for a lie down. Unbelievable, poor pony, how on earth did you cope with that lot, I would have knocked somebody out !
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I think I was so shocked and tired at the time it was hard to react, I kept thinking this really isn't happening! OH spent most of the time in the loo having eaten something dodgy and son did a good job of keeping pony settled while I dealt with the breakdown service and police. Once home and rested I did go into overdrive with the insurance co though. Ironically the breakdown was caused by part which only cost a few £'s to replace (my non mechanical brain is struggling to remember what it was - possibily a solenoid?). The pony was an absolute star throughout - had she not been I dread to think how things might have ended. The next time out she loaded perfectly too :)
 
EventingMum said:
I think I was so shocked and tired at the time it was hard to react, I kept thinking this really isn't happening! OH spent most of the time in the loo having eaten something dodgy and son did a good job of keeping pony settled while I dealt with the breakdown service and police. Once home and rested I did go into overdrive with the insurance co though. Ironically the breakdown was caused by part which only cost a few £'s to replace (my non mechanical brain is struggling to remember what it was - possibily a solenoid?). The pony was an absolute star throughout - had she not been I dread to think how things might have ended. The next time out she loaded perfectly too :)
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Gosh poor you - what an experiance - I am leaving SEIB!!!!!!! :eek::eek:
 
I certainly know what you mean. I spent 3 days in bed after my drama, totally exhausted mentally.

The horse got off the rescue lorry at 1am. He had loaded at Hickstead at 4.30pm. He simply walked into his stable, had a pee, ate a very late tea and settled on his hay net. Not a bother on him. I got a friend to turn him out the next day and I got up at lunchtime !

I had never broken down on a motorway before and it really is a terrifying place. Before the police got the lanes closed, the artics were skimming the lorry by inches and made it sway like crazy. I had managed to coast under a big gantry to give me more protection and I was directly below a camera which meant the motorway controllers saw me immediately, that def helped get the help quickly.

My friend who was with me at the time, said I handled the situation really well - little did he know what was going in my head ! I had a massive cry in the horse's mane the following evening, relief I think !
 
AdorableAlice said:
I certainly know what you mean. I spent 3 days in bed after my drama, totally exhausted mentally.

The horse got off the rescue lorry at 1am. He had loaded at Hickstead at 4.30pm. He simply walked into his stable, had a pee, ate a very late tea and settled on his hay net. Not a bother on him. I got a friend to turn him out the next day and I got up at lunchtime !

I had never broken down on a motorway before and it really is a terrifying place. Before the police got the lanes closed, the artics were skimming the lorry by inches and made it sway like crazy. I had managed to coast under a big gantry to give me more protection and I was directly below a camera which meant the motorway controllers saw me immediately, that def helped get the help quickly.

My friend who was with me at the time, said I handled the situation really well - little did he know what was going in my head ! I had a massive cry in the horse's mane the following evening, relief I think !
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Poor you, I certainly sympathise. NFU have always been fab and the people they use to co ordinate mechanics, transport etc couldn't be more helpful and constantly keep in touch to check everything's ok. Just realised that makes it sound like we break down a lot - we don't but when you do it sticks in your mind!
 
What a lot of horror stories! Been in a few stressful situations myself but we use Equine Rescue Services and they have always been great. Highly recommend them. But I bet Sundays are always their busiest day! Good advice about hi viz and fire extinguishers. We also keep a set of spare bulbs in our lorry too as not easy to get 24v bulbs at short notice in the country.
 
HardySoul1 said:
What a lot of horror stories! Been in a few stressful situations myself but we use Equine Rescue Services and they have always been great. Highly recommend them. But I bet Sundays are always their busiest day! Good advice about hi viz and fire extinguishers. We also keep a set of spare bulbs in our lorry too as not easy to get 24v bulbs at short notice in the country.
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More great advice - thanks :)
I have just recently ordered on ebay a breakdown set to keep in the lorry which includes an oraange triangle, a few fold up cones, and 2 hi viz vests - only £7 bargain!!!!
 
luce1 said:
Gosh poor you - what an experiance - I am leaving SEIB!!!!!!! :eek::eek:
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Further to my post about my gear box I thought I was going to need SEIB yesterday to take my van from the yard to my dads work (the mechanic) they were going to have a tow truck with me in a hr, I was really impressed!! No horses involved though but they were brill!!!
 
Holidays_are_coming said:
Further to my post about my gear box I thought I was going to need SEIB yesterday to take my van from the yard to my dads work (the mechanic) they were going to have a tow truck with me in a hr, I was really impressed!! No horses involved though but they were brill!!!
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Yes I was impressed with them getting a tow truck - however I had a horse on board which there was no way I was going to have on the back!!!! hence why I am leaving lol
 
We are members of the Organisation of Horsebox and Trailer Owners. Only used it once when we were going to PC camp to pick up Mini TX and the trailer had issues. To be fair, we were just off the M5 at Brigdwater and they were prompt and efficient. Took trailer back to our yard with OH and all was fine. Mini TX hitched a ride home with another mum. Have to say cant fault them. Good at £49 a year, which is discounted as I am an AA member as well.
 
Palominolover, You really are extracting the michael on this one. 2 posts since you joined both to say how wonderful said company is. None of the insurance companies provide their own breakdown cover, they use one of two. Equity Red Star or PRB. I know as i am on the books of both and spend almost every weekend going to get people who have broken down. Stop spouting such rubbish. I also just did a quick online quote after your other thread and they came in 5 times higher than my current policy and that is £5K a year. Rant over this one is now for you FC!
 
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