Please, please check your floors!

YorksG

YorksG

Over the hill and far awa
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We bought a 'new' waggon about six weeks ago, it was a new conversion, that we knew had been done piece meal and left standing in between times. We should have taken my mare to a dressage comp three weeks ago, but the clutch went. We had that mended, no problems. We sorted the box out yesterday ready for a comp today, found some fugus in the join between the floor and the wall, so decided today, before we put the horse on, to crawl underneath and just check out the underneath of the floor. I put my finger through the floor :eek: up to the rubber. I then went and stamped on the floor and it sagged :eek: I now feel somewhat sick, thinking about what might have happened, no horse is going on until the floor is sorted. I am posting this, so that other people can benefit from our neat miss!
 
OMG ! i feel sick at the thought of it !

I always remember that horse that the mag brought was it Silent Knight - his leg went through the trailer floor and had to be pts - when i was a kid so back in the 80's and i have been paranoid ever since.
 
Crimbowitch said:
OMG ! i feel sick at the thought of it !

I always remember that horse that the mag brought was it Silent Knight - his leg went through the trailer floor and had to be pts - when i was a kid so back in the 80's and i have been paranoid ever since.
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I remember that too - made me paranoid too!
 
We are pretty paranoid about the 'girls' safety in general, so the thought that I could have put her on board with the floor like that is making me feel awful! We were supposed to be putting two of ours and a friends on next weekend, to go to a fancy dress ride, I can't even begin to think about the possibilities of that disaster!
 
FestiveG said:
We bought a 'new' waggon about six weeks ago, it was a new conversion, that we knew had been done piece meal and left standing in between times. We should have taken my mare to a dressage comp three weeks ago, but the clutch went. We had that mended, no problems. We sorted the box out yesterday ready for a comp today, found some fugus in the join between the floor and the wall, so decided today, before we put the horse on, to crawl underneath and just check out the underneath of the floor. I put my finger through the floor :eek: up to the rubber. I then went and stamped on the floor and it sagged :eek: I now feel somewhat sick, thinking about what might have happened, no horse is going on until the floor is sorted. I am posting this, so that other people can benefit from our neat miss!
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Hope you have taken issue with the 'converters'? Thank goodness you were so vigilant x
 
Make sure you check the ramps too.:(

My trailer has an aluminium floor, was serviced and given the all clear.

However, when i was doing some trailer training my mare put her hind leg through the exit ramp.

She had a large cut on the inside of her hind leg, vet came out and cleaned her up, fortunately no lasting effects and she healed well. No side effects to going back into the trailer either which surprised me.

Could have been so much worse.
 
burge said:
Hope you have taken issue with the 'converters'? Thank goodness you were so vigilant x
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I honestly think he just didn't think about it, as he has been so good about the other issues, including towing it to his garage for no charge. I will tell him, as I think he needs to know.

Xmasha said:
Make sure you check the ramps too.:(

My trailer has an aluminium floor, was serviced and given the all clear.

However, when i was doing some trailer training my mare put her hind leg through the exit ramp.

She had a large cut on the inside of her hind leg, vet came out and cleaned her up, fortunately no lasting effects and she healed well. No side effects to going back into the trailer either which surprised me.

The ramp is fine thank goodness! It is metal and in good nick, so glad to hear that your mare took no long term harm from the incident, it amazes me how much they trust us.

Could have been so much worse.
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We nearly didn't, thought it might just be us being paranoid :eek: I shall of course now spend nearly as much time underneath the thing as driving it, when it is mended of course!
 
I bought a horsebox from a lady who had a receipt for a new floor from the previous owner. She had bought it to transport her horses to Ireland as she was moving, and it was cheaper to buy and sell a cheap lorry than to pay a transporter to move them. She had only used it for that journey. I never ever trust a lorry floor that I havn't had put in myself. When OH stripped it back to replace it with an ali floor, we were shocked to find that it did have a new floor... screwed on top of the old ROTTEN floor. And not only that, whoever did it had removed the bolts that held the body to the chassis to do this, but had not bothered to replace them. So all that held the body to the chassis was some rust and rotten wood. The lady I got it from was very, very lucky that the body had not fallen off when she was moving her horses.
 
mainpower said:
I bought a horsebox from a lady who had a receipt for a new floor from the previous owner. She had bought it to transport her horses to Ireland as she was moving, and it was cheaper to buy and sell a cheap lorry than to pay a transporter to move them. She had only used it for that journey. I never ever trust a lorry floor that I havn't had put in myself. When OH stripped it back to replace it with an ali floor, we were shocked to find that it did have a new floor... screwed on top of the old ROTTEN floor. And not only that, whoever did it had removed the bolts that held the body to the chassis to do this, but had not bothered to replace them. So all that held the body to the chassis was some rust and rotten wood. The lady I got it from was very, very lucky that the body had not fallen off when she was moving her horses.
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Good grief and we thought we had a lucky escape! At least the bloke who did ours didn't do a deliberately shoddy job.
 
I collected my friends horse (17.2 warmblood) in a lorry we borrowed off a friend. Went half way round M25 to pick it up and back again to Sussex.

Next day lorry was booked in for some work, mechanic condemned it totally as floor was unsafe - gulp.

Lorry was sent to scrap yard, can't beleive what a lucky escape we had.
 
Yikes that is scary! I know someone this very thing happened to as they didn't bother to get the floor checked regularly (or possibly ever), very very nasty :-(
 
Very good advice, sadly there are still alot of people who think its ok to use marine ply or other plain plywood for floors or ramps it REALY ISN'T It soon rots with horse pee and damp... alloy planks is best Phenol flooring good and hardwood planks ok ....
 
I am off work this week, and you have made me go to the box and take the rubber up to check the floor........excellent reminder. Glad you managed to find yours before there was a nasty accident!
 
I took my horse to a comp in the big yard lorry (a long time ago now), bit of clatering as we were travelling but not too odd as we had 4 on. Went to get them off and my friends horse was stood in a dip behind! carefully got them out and it turned out the only thing stopping him falling through was the rubber matting being nailed to the wall not floor (which was largely gone)
Can't believe how lucky we were
 
Hi , when Ever we build a horsebox or convert a box to a horsebox we put a complete new floor in and keep is totally separate from the living area !! No ifs no buts no old ply floors left in !!
 
I am another one that is paranoid about the floors. We have got an ancient Rice trailer that is mainly used for the livestock but was big enough to transport a big horse for a friend. The mare was a nightmare and kicked and crashed about the whole way. The following week I went in to load a pony for the RDA and felt a spongy area. the floor had given a bit on a seam that was in totally the wrong place ( put down by the previous owner) so although the floor had been sound the seam gave way a touch. we replaced the whole floor and never had any more problems. It was covered in rubber matting and although looked sound from underneath when really checked sent me cold.
 
I prefer the chequer plate flooring. Took while to fine one tho.
Some lorries were dreadful. Really rotten, both underneath and where the floor Joins the wall. I could push the wall completely away from the floor ...it was still in use too :o
 
I have just had my plywood floor replaced with aluminium, I am paranoid about floors and this one was starting to go at the tack locker side, and I was offered wood or metal, the metal planks being 3 times the price, but sod it, my horses are worth it. I will still get the mats up regularly and check it (and hoover it!!) as I believe this is still important for my obsession!;)
 
There was an accident down the road from me where the owners had bought a trailer. First day out I believe and they went round an a road roundabout and floor gave.
One of the worst stories I've ever heard what happened after and made me very aware of not trusting someone (even professional in their case) to have done a thorough check, always have a prod yourself.
 
That thought makes me sick. When I got my horse, a woman on my yard went to pick it up for us with my dad and I didn't realise the condition her trailer was in. So thankful my horse refused to load in it, god knows what could have happened. My horse is smarter than me. needless to say, a transport company was called and guess what, she loaded in first time. :rolleyes:
 
ellie11987 said:
That thought makes me sick. When I got my horse, a woman on my yard went to pick it up for us with my dad and I didn't realise the condition her trailer was in. So thankful my horse refused to load in it, god knows what could have happened. My horse is smarter than me. needless to say, a transport company was called and guess what, she loaded in first time. :rolleyes:
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Thank god for that!
I get my mats up once a month when its in full use, or if they have wee-d in it, and sweep/hoover if ness, leave the mats out so floor can completely dry, and I will be doing this even with the new ally floor. Its well worth doing it, I was told to check a wooden floor by prodding with a screwdriver to check for damp/soft bits. I also checked underneath the wooden floor as some are double skinned. The floor will last if well looked after. :)
 
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