Moving yards.. transport... WWYD

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fredflop

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Horse is moving yards shortly, literally just a few miles up the road. I don't have my own transport, so my horse has only travelled very infrequently. Takes a bit of time, but will load into a 3.5t van.

So I have two/three options with local hire firm:

1. Hire the van for the day. Don't have to worry about time to load, and then can use the van to load up the rest of my equipment. (Would take 5/6 journeys in my car.)
2. Hire transporter to drive van. Very cheap, less than a third of the above cost. Obviously has a risk of horse not loading and costing me more.
3. Hire transporter, but pay them to come a week or so before hand for some loading practise.

All three have pros/cons, and I can't really make up my mind which one is best!
 
fredflop said:
Horse is moving yards shortly, literally just a few miles up the road. I don't have my own transport, so my horse has only travelled very infrequently. Takes a bit of time, but will load into a 3.5t van.

So I have two/three options with local hire firm:

1. Hire the van for the day. Don't have to worry about time to load, and then can use the van to load up the rest of my equipment. (Would take 5/6 journeys in my car.)
2. Hire transporter to drive van. Very cheap, less than a third of the above cost. Obviously has a risk of horse not loading and costing me more.
3. Hire transporter, but pay them to come a week or so before hand for some loading practise.

All three have pros/cons, and I can't really make up my mind which one is best!
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Is it a riding horse? Obvious thing would be ride to new venue so the horse isn’t fresh or revved up when it arrives, save you some money and faffing about if a box isn’t absolutely necessary!
 
(Edited: have just seen that OP has replied to the question I'd be asking about riding to the new yard. Thanks OP for clarifying).

IF it is this that is the problem, and that yes you would need to transport your horse there, then personally I'd be inclined towards option 3 - if you are worried that horse would be a problem loading on the day. Just explain the position to them, and I'm sure they'd be happy to come out and just pop your horse in and out again. Hopefully they wouldn't charge too much for this. IME however Transporter people seem to have a special magic all of their own, and even the most difficult of horses will load for them! Even my old lad who'd normally take 3hrs (and took me literally through the hedge backwards, the blighter) walked in calmly for a professional.

I'd use a bog-standard hire-van on the day then to move your kit.
 
fredflop said:
Horse not ridden… few miles is about ten.

Even if horse was ridable roads aren’t safe!
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Leadable, as in would the horse be calmer through traffic with you at its head? Otherwise, a transporter used to loading sticky horses is probably easiest, particularly if you aren’t used to chauffeuring livestock. Hope you both settle in ok!
 
I would hire van, take a picnic and coffee and start trying to load at 9am. This leaves u all day to be successful. Do your other stuff after you have moved the horse.

I moved yards a few years ago, friend came with her trailer so had mine and hers (mine is setup as single). We had left ourselves 4hrs to load horses as one was never a great loader and hadn't been loaded for 5 years.... It took 3 minutes, he walked straight on so I shoved other horse in mine and we left ...

Will always be the way ...leave yourself all day it will take minutes
 
fredflop said:
Horse not ridden… few miles is about ten.

Even if horse was ridable roads aren’t safe!
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Ah in that case, if you don't have that as an emergency backup, then I'd hire the transporter with professional driver. If your horse is only a little bit sticky, I bet they'll have it on the box in two minutes. Do that first thing in the morning then you can spend the rest of the day moving your stuff at a leisurely pace.
 
Exasperated said:
Leadable, as in would the horse be calmer through traffic with you at its head? Otherwise, a transporter used to loading sticky horses is probably easiest, particularly if you aren’t used to chauffeuring livestock. Hope you both settle in ok!
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The new yard is about ten miles up the road. So not walkable.
 
Option 2 as you imply that is cheapest albeit if horse won’t load might become more pricey than option 1, in which case possibly go with Option 1 first

To me Option 3 is a bit pointless as it’s not a long term solution you are looking for, you just want to load and transport.
 
I'd go for 2 or 3 if you want some loading practice and just explain you are unsure of how good a loader the horse is. Stress free ish, no need to clean and maybe cheaper.
 
If you use a reputable company to transport your horse they will probably load it for you, most are used to just getting on with the job and should ask you if/when the horse last travelled. Do not attempt to load the horse yourself on the day unless you’re confident there won’t be a problem. Depending on how much stuff you have to move some of it can most likely go with the horse but best to ask when you get a transport quote.
 
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