Caol Ila
Well-Known Member
Got a lot of things in my head at the moment. Gonna try to put them in size order.
We borrowed a mate's 3.5t lorry today to try to take Hermosa out to go hacking on some fun trails about 30 minutes away. Hermosa hasn't been in a box since we moved to our current yard 2.5 years ago. She was not keen to get in this thing. We realised we were not going anywhere, so the day just turned into loading practice. Kind of achieved something, but not enough. She will need a lot of consistent work in this department. Problem is we don't have our own transport. My friend keeps her horses about half an hour from the yard, so getting her lorry is a hassle. Plus it requires OH, because I can't drive a manual (and he has a 9-5 sort of job). That's just not a thing we can do a couple times per week because of his schedule and the lorry owner's schedule.
I could probably bribe other owners on my yard to pull out their trailers and let us play with them, but again, I don't think that's something we can ask for consistently, since people have busy schedules and better things to do. YO has kindly offered her 3.5t, but that depends on her (or her yard manager) having the time to move it, then move it back to its parking space (cannae load from the parking space), and I know scheduling that stuff has been faffy for other people doing loading training. They are understandably very busy, and if you don't know how long it will take you to make progress that day, it could be very tricky to coordinate.
So where does that leave us?
1. Ignoring it and making it a future problem. I mostly get through life this way, but sometimes, future problems become now problems.
2. See how we go with bribing other trailer owners. Not sure this will actually work because I am not sure anyone has the time to make it a regular thing, which is fair enough. And it doesn't help very much with the next stage, which is showing the horse that the trailer actually goes places.
3. Sort out our own transport. Best option, but not easy. I have 2014 4x4 Skoda Yeti that can tow 2.1t. It does not currently have a tow bar. OH has a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV that's as useless as a marzipan dildo for towing horses. Neither of us really want to replace a vehicle at this second. The Yeti has been super reliable (knock on wood), plus it's covered in bumper stickers and decals, so not very sellable. At all. I spent hours scraping off one so I could replace it with a different one and I am never doing that again. Also, it's cute and we are both attached to it. OH would consider changing the Outlander, but he doesn't want that expense and hassle this year. We are annoyed that the 3.5t trailer license rule wasn't scrapped when he bought it....otherwise, he would have bought a damned pickup, but that is what it is.
3b. The f*&*))*( ing Glasgow LEZ. One of our cars needs to be able to drive into the city centre. That is not my Yeti. LEZ compliant pickups cost a ton more than non-compliant ones (duh), and we really can't have two non-compliant cars. This is a major headache. OH would be far more willing to trade in his Outlander for a truck if he didn't have to spend £££££££ on an LEZ compliant one.
I don't know if it's just me being American, but I am not wild about towing with the Yeti. My instinct is to get the biggest f*()*)(*cking truck you can. But realistically, fitting a towbar to the Yeti and getting an Ifor of some sort is the cheapest, easiest option. It just feels a lot to ask of my little car. We would not be going far, at least not for a wee while.
Dunno....we are kicking around ideas. We would really like to fix our loading issues and take Hermosa on some off-yard hacks this year. There's trails up in Aberfoyle, only half an hour away, that could keep you busy for a lifetime. If she'd marched onto our friend's box, borrowing that or hiring one would be options, but horses will be horses, and we *clearly need reliable access to a box or trailer to iron out the loading anxiety before we go anywhere fun.
*when I moved her to our current yard, she went straight onto the box, but I'd been doing work for like a month, going on and off a fellow livery's box. The parking set-up of that yard allowed us to work on it without anyone moving the lorry from its parking spot, so I could play with it at my leisure, with zero time pressure and hassle. The lorry/trailer parking at current yard is not so amenable. But at least I know that consistent work in low pressure situations does get the horse on the box. It's just...making that happen.
We borrowed a mate's 3.5t lorry today to try to take Hermosa out to go hacking on some fun trails about 30 minutes away. Hermosa hasn't been in a box since we moved to our current yard 2.5 years ago. She was not keen to get in this thing. We realised we were not going anywhere, so the day just turned into loading practice. Kind of achieved something, but not enough. She will need a lot of consistent work in this department. Problem is we don't have our own transport. My friend keeps her horses about half an hour from the yard, so getting her lorry is a hassle. Plus it requires OH, because I can't drive a manual (and he has a 9-5 sort of job). That's just not a thing we can do a couple times per week because of his schedule and the lorry owner's schedule.
I could probably bribe other owners on my yard to pull out their trailers and let us play with them, but again, I don't think that's something we can ask for consistently, since people have busy schedules and better things to do. YO has kindly offered her 3.5t, but that depends on her (or her yard manager) having the time to move it, then move it back to its parking space (cannae load from the parking space), and I know scheduling that stuff has been faffy for other people doing loading training. They are understandably very busy, and if you don't know how long it will take you to make progress that day, it could be very tricky to coordinate.
So where does that leave us?
1. Ignoring it and making it a future problem. I mostly get through life this way, but sometimes, future problems become now problems.
2. See how we go with bribing other trailer owners. Not sure this will actually work because I am not sure anyone has the time to make it a regular thing, which is fair enough. And it doesn't help very much with the next stage, which is showing the horse that the trailer actually goes places.
3. Sort out our own transport. Best option, but not easy. I have 2014 4x4 Skoda Yeti that can tow 2.1t. It does not currently have a tow bar. OH has a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV that's as useless as a marzipan dildo for towing horses. Neither of us really want to replace a vehicle at this second. The Yeti has been super reliable (knock on wood), plus it's covered in bumper stickers and decals, so not very sellable. At all. I spent hours scraping off one so I could replace it with a different one and I am never doing that again. Also, it's cute and we are both attached to it. OH would consider changing the Outlander, but he doesn't want that expense and hassle this year. We are annoyed that the 3.5t trailer license rule wasn't scrapped when he bought it....otherwise, he would have bought a damned pickup, but that is what it is.
3b. The f*&*))*( ing Glasgow LEZ. One of our cars needs to be able to drive into the city centre. That is not my Yeti. LEZ compliant pickups cost a ton more than non-compliant ones (duh), and we really can't have two non-compliant cars. This is a major headache. OH would be far more willing to trade in his Outlander for a truck if he didn't have to spend £££££££ on an LEZ compliant one.
I don't know if it's just me being American, but I am not wild about towing with the Yeti. My instinct is to get the biggest f*()*)(*cking truck you can. But realistically, fitting a towbar to the Yeti and getting an Ifor of some sort is the cheapest, easiest option. It just feels a lot to ask of my little car. We would not be going far, at least not for a wee while.
Dunno....we are kicking around ideas. We would really like to fix our loading issues and take Hermosa on some off-yard hacks this year. There's trails up in Aberfoyle, only half an hour away, that could keep you busy for a lifetime. If she'd marched onto our friend's box, borrowing that or hiring one would be options, but horses will be horses, and we *clearly need reliable access to a box or trailer to iron out the loading anxiety before we go anywhere fun.
*when I moved her to our current yard, she went straight onto the box, but I'd been doing work for like a month, going on and off a fellow livery's box. The parking set-up of that yard allowed us to work on it without anyone moving the lorry from its parking spot, so I could play with it at my leisure, with zero time pressure and hassle. The lorry/trailer parking at current yard is not so amenable. But at least I know that consistent work in low pressure situations does get the horse on the box. It's just...making that happen.
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