Practicalities of a nice car when you have horses?!

[Irishbabygirl]

I've just bought a new car and desperately trying to look after it - and failing miserably! Horses and cars just don't mix...in fact I am currently sat waiting for them to finish its second valet this month!

 

[WelshD]

You are either the sort that will keep a car clean or you arent. You wont change for more than a few weks believe me!
After having a BMW and Mercedes which were both deep littered to the point that the Polish guys wouldnt even open the doors let alone hoover inside (true) i admitted defeat and now have a Bipper van, plastic footwells, seat covers, metal bulkhead to keep all the cr@p in the back, ply and rubber lined and i finally feel liberated! I can brush it out no problems (or at least can when its not full of the aforementioned cr@p)

 

[horse_lover]

Honestly - don't do it!!

I bought myself a sporty hatchback and to be honest have just wrecked it

It's full of horse junk, bodywork is screwed, suspension is screwed.

It looked very pretty to start with but once this one dies I'm going to resign myself to boring practicality

Exactly this, although my OH washed and hoovered mine in preparation for the MOT last weekend and after an hr of just hoovering we still couldnt get the hair and hay out

 

[shannonandtay]

I have a bmw 6 series, it isn't practical for the yard and OH keeps saying buy a 4x4 but I refuse! It does smell of horses and gets dirty but I refuse to part with it lol. I keep horsy gear and boots in the boot in plastic bags. I always change my boots before I get in (much to the laughter of the rest of the yard). I can fit a saddle, bag of feed etc in the boot which is surprisingly big. The downside is in the winter when I'm trying to get to the yard in the snow other drivers laugh at me as I slide along sideways! but so far we've always made it. So it is possible but is it practical? No not really

Just to add I also had a horse land on top of it earlier on in the year while it was parked outside the yard, Just a thought.

 

[Echo24]

Good luck with that! My car is a complete tip and washed it on Sunday, hoovered inside and come Monday it was pitted again! I would definintely invest in seat covers (get some nice black neutral ones so you don't really notice them) but be prepared to be washing it regularly, as well as minding the pot holes as nippy 2 seaters will be lower to the ground and you don't want to wreck your suspension or scratch the paint work!

 

[Auslander]

If you plan on getting spmething rear wheel drive you won't be able to get to the yard in the snow, never mind worry about the state of it

You totally can - it's just a bit more "entertaining/challenging/downright stupid"!!

I had an MGF for years, and treated fitting stuff into it/coming up with ingenious ways to keep it from completely filling up with mud/off roading in a RWD/Mid engined sportster as a personal challenge!

I only got stuck once, in snow, trying to get somewhere no self respecting sport car should go, and on snow - and ended up having to turn it round and reverse it to where I wanted to go!

 

[MuddyTB]

I used to have a lovely BMW Z4. It wouldn't even get up to the farm the horse was kept at due to grounding on a dodgy farm track. So I bought a second horse/tip car. It was a really old VW polo and cost me £450. Ran it for 6 years with zero servicing and minimal tax/insurance.

The BMW stayed pretty clean and no worries in bad weather etc with the trusty front wheel drive polo. It's an option if you really don't want your good car getting filthy. Had a good boot too for horse feed etc.

 

[Jenni_]

OH Has a Type R so we have a sensible car for when we have passengers.

A Type R is sensible and takes passengers.... This is news to me

Is you OH on any of the owners clubs HaffiesRock? I am - wonder if I know of him

 

[MyBoyChe]

Get a truck. Ive got an Isuzu double cab, all the doggy/horsey stuff gets chucked in the back and the cab stays clean and dry and doesn't smell (much) It probably wouldn't smell at all if I remembered to change my boots before I drive but I don't. Brilliant in horrid weather, tax is higher but insurance and oddly, running costs are no different to my old car.

 

[Caol Ila]

Get a truck. Ive got an Isuzu double cab, all the doggy/horsey stuff gets chucked in the back and the cab stays clean and dry and doesn't smell (much) It probably wouldn't smell at all if I remembered to change my boots before I drive but I don't. Brilliant in horrid weather, tax is higher but insurance and oddly, running costs are no different to my old car.

I can trash the cab AND the bed of a pickup! And do an amazing job of it. When I had my old pickup, I had a bag of horse cookies in the bed (which had a shell on it) for months and months. Little did I know that a water butt I'd put back there for a camping trip had leaked into the horse cookies. It being a pickup, you could be in total denial about what was happening back there. At one point, I decided the bed needed a clean and discovered the damp horse cookies had moulded themselves into the bed lining and were becoming an interesting, furry, biology experiment. Hello, massive bottle of bleach. That was fun.

I'm not allowed nice cars.

 

[ebonyallen]

Within a month my nice shiny new car just looked like a lump of poo, covered in mud hay straw and other things, started off not going to let this one get in such a state but it never seems to work. I am not a car snob, they are my work horse and my life is kept in there as well. So its up to you really yes get one lovely but it wil not stay that clean for very long lol.

 

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

dont do it! get a hot hatch!

ive got a Honda civic, the turbo diesel sport version so really nippy but its got an absolute abyss of a boot, ive had 16 bags of feed in it, 3 bales of hay etc etc, if you fold the seats down you can get anything in it and its ok on fuel considering i only do very short journeys.

when OH was banned for 3 months, i mainly drove his BMW 5 series, which yes is very flash and yes goes like **** off a shovel, but was hopeless in the snow/ice/mud/potholes and i could get 6 bags feed max in the boot.

have used the honda to tow the arena leveller too, you cant do that with a sporty rear wheel drive!!!!!!

 

[smanf]

ooh, a car thread . Good, cos I am sick to death of my horse at the moment.

The only solution to the problem; have two cars. One yard shed whos sole use is abuse, and a posh car. Preferably one of the finest classic road going rally cars in existance, that way, the money that you save in depreciation pays for the extra insurance and tax

 

[imr]

Hot hatches are brilliant. Fast but practical, and you can just put the seats down and put in loads of cr*p. And leather seats. Black. Much the easiest kind of interior as shavings, hair etc dont stick to it.

 

[Mince Pie]

Is that an XR3I Smanf? Beaut of a car!

 

[ATrueClassAct]

I drive a lovely car...however it is now defiantly not red..dusty inside..hay and muck all over the lovely seats.
We've got shoes in the front seat. Rugs in the back seats...
But my horses stable looks fabulous!

 

[GypsyGirl]

I have a silver streetka and i LOVE it.. I have a soft top roof for summer and a hard top for winter.. I look after it ive not had it a winter yet but ill still look after it, great little car

 

[mandwhy]

Awww poor Punty! Sounds just like my old faithful Uno! I have a Seat Ibiza, great little car, highly recommended to the non horsey person.... but can only fit 3 bales of hay in at a push, and has been ruined since said encounters. I really want to just get a 4x4 now so I can tow, need to trade the lovely wee eebitza in before its resale value gets any lower!!

Oh yes and rear wheel drive, definite no no!

 

[maisie06]

I have "shed car" a 16 year old trooper on it's last legs....it's great for horse stuff (as well as tip runs) I am sooner or later going to have to replace the mobile shed
but what with I just don't know. It will have to be practical and have a large boot, I am thinking a Subaru Legacy or a Ford Ranger at the moment, I do so little towing
these days I think a Legacy will cope with a 505 and one welsh cob!!

On the subject of nice cars and horses....we have a Jag too, not practical being a four door saloon, I can only get one bale of bedding in the boot (I strongly suspect the boot was actually intended for golf clubs!!) The cream leather interior and pale grey carpet is not horse/mud friendly either. It is however four wheel drive, but the drawback is that it's low slung and doesn't do rough tracks, so all in all a fantastic touring/going out car but not a horse car!!!

 

[Jola]

When I went to chop in my last car they delayed me getting my new car by a week. I had cleaned it the week before (for valuation of course!) but when I actually went to hand it over it was a bit dirty so I warned them of that. The car sales man was all like 'yeah love I'm sure it's fine' but then nearly fell over when he saw it! I thought it was only averagely dirty too! Impossible to keep a clean car and a horse me thinks! Does everyone else have lots of 'useful' stuff in the car too? My mates are always surprised when I say.... Yep got one of them in my car.....!!

 

[Kat]

Must post a picture of my "innovative" roof rack style storage solution for my rag top MX5.........

I have since traded it in (150000 miles later) for a hot hatch, mainly due to fuel consumption.

It wasn't much of a problem in snow, it went all the places my hatchback goes. If you have another car then space isn't a problem, but keeping it clean is unless you are the type to hoover and wash it weekly. My OH keeps our 4wd much cleaner than my car because he's a tidy kinda person. ..........

 

[Mince Pie]

I have "shed car" a 16 year old trooper on it's last legs....it's great for horse stuff (as well as tip runs) I am sooner or later going to have to replace the mobile shed
but what with I just don't know. It will have to be practical and have a large boot, I am thinking a Subaru Legacy or a Ford Ranger at the moment, I do so little towing
these days I think a Legacy will cope with a 505 and one welsh cob!!

On the subject of nice cars and horses....we have a Jag too, not practical being a four door saloon, I can only get one bale of bedding in the boot (I strongly suspect the boot was actually intended for golf clubs!!) The cream leather interior and pale grey carpet is not horse/mud friendly either. It is however four wheel drive, but the drawback is that it's low slung and doesn't do rough tracks, so all in all a fantastic touring/going out car but not a horse car!!!

I towed with a legacy - an old Rice Trailer and a 14.2HW cob, it was fine but I'd get the 2.5l and the MPG is really cr@p!

 

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

the boot of my civic is an absolute pit of doom, full of blankets, boots, spare coat, spare gloves, spare hat etc, and its always grubby as always got feed/tack going backwards and forwards in it.

i really try and keep the rest of the car nice, so that none horsey people can get in it without fearing for their health! it gets hoovered about every 10 days and washed outside at same time. I tend not to bother with the boot as its just instantly gets rank again, so just leave that as the *horse area*.

seats are black but racing style with deep suede centres so not hugely practical as any tiny bit of horse hair,cat hair, hay or dust clings to it like crazy.

that said, it really is a super practical car and when it eventually dies (in about 50 years based on current mileage lol) ill be very tempted to boringly get the exact same thing again but with leather interior.then it would be IMO a perfect horse persons car

 

[DabDab]

The only solution to the problem; have two cars.

Two? That's a bit amateurish....

*scuttles off to take photos*

 

[Jenni_]

ooh, a car thread . Good, cos I am sick to death of my horse at the moment.

The only solution to the problem; have two cars. One yard shed whos sole use is abuse, and a posh car. Preferably one of the finest classic road going rally cars in existance, that way, the money that you save in depreciation pays for the extra insurance and tax

One of the only Fords I approve of.... Nice!

 

[smanf]

Is that an XR3I Smanf? Beaut of a car!

Oww thanks. No, it's a cosworth (the grand daddy)

 

[smanf]

One of the only Fords I approve of.... Nice!

Likewise lol, thank u

 

[Leg_end]

I've got a lovely little Audi TT and although its not immaculate I manage to keep it pretty clean and tidy. It's usually covered in mud during the winter but I keep it cleaner inside than out

I have a rubber matted boot, I always change my boots and coat before getting in the car and that keeps horsey smells and mud transfer to a minimum

 

[HaffiesRock]

I have a silver streetka and i LOVE it.. I have a soft top roof for summer and a hard top for winter.. I look after it ive not had it a winter yet but ill still look after it, great little car

This is exactly what I have just purchased

Mine is the french blue colour and I also went for the Winter Edition with the hard top. Pick it up on Wednesday and CANNOT WAIT! How are they on fuel? Not that it really matters when it is soooooo pretty!