Lockdown and travelling

[C24]

I’m supposed to be getting my daughter a loan pony on the 30th. A transporter is bringing his trailer to collect her, myself and her owner are going along in separate vehicles to help load her up and then I’ll be meeting the transporter at my livery yard to take her off of the trailer. We’ll obviously do our very best to keep our distance from each other.
I’m in Northumberland and the pony is in Cumbria. Northumberland is currently has local restrictions on meeting other households indoors, 10pm curfews, etc. It’s looking like we’re going to be put on a lockdown next week.
Where do I stand with being able to collect this pony, does anyone know what the rules were on horse travel during the national lockdown? I figure that the restrictions in March being reimposed is likely to be the worst case scenario. I don’t tend to move my horse around, and I know that travelling for vet treatment would have been essential but I don’t know whether the rehoming of a horse would be essential too.
For context, she needs to be collected before the winter weather hits - the owner doesn’t rug in any weather as her two heavy cob horses don’t need them, the field is like a swamp, the fencing isn’t the most secure (pony is like Houdini) and the she struggles with the weather and mud every winter. I’d consider it to be an essential move for the pony’s welfare but not sure what the actual restrictions were. I know everything is speculation right now, but I need to prepare for the worst case. ?

 

[Wishfilly]

AFIAK, transporting ponies to new homes was allowed at all stages of lockdown. I think at the moment, it's very unlikely this would be banned, as it's a relatively low risk activity- you are outside at all times and not likely to get close to the other people involved.

Although if there's any chance you could collect the pony earlier, I'd consider doing that!

 

[Griffin]

I agree with Wf, we had a pony collected from our yard during lockdown to go to her new home with no issues.

If you're concerned, I would perhaps try to travel with some paperwork that shows what you're doing e.g. the email showing the transport route. A few friends of mine drove around with signs on their car windows saying "Going to care for livestock", so that could also be an idea.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

We had horses delivered to our yard by transporter companies during lockdown...is your transporter a professional as he probably won’t need you there to help load. The horses arrived at ours in a 3.5 ton lorry on their own each time and driver wore gloves and mask to unload. I don’t think you will be stopped whilst driving about..but you probably don’t need to do it.

 

[AmyMay]

Well, put it this way - if you live in a locked down area of England you can leave it to go on holiday abroad or to Wales..... So I can’t see any issues with leaving to collect the pony.