Rear facing horseboxes opinions please.

[cider loving mare]

Just wondered what everyones opinions are on the way ponies/horses face when they are travelling. I am looking for a 3.5t horsebox and most of the nice ones I've seen are rear facing. I am going to look at a rear facing box next week. My ponies have always travelled and loaded with no problems but they have always been forward facing. I know when I am standing on a bus or a train I find it easier to face backwards to balance, but is this the same for horses?

CLM

 

[PennyJ]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-14644082

You may know about this already as you are in the neighbouring county...

 

[*hic*]

It is generally understood that horses travel better facing backwards however none of the horses and ponies I have transported in rear facing lorries have travelled anything like as well as they do facing forwards or herring bone.

I would suggest that if you have the chance you borrow or hire a rear facing box and try your own ponies in it. If they are happy to travel like that then all is well and good, otherwise you may need to think again.

btw you need to be careful with the payload on a 3.5 tonne lorry, two bigger ponies may be too much, check their weights and the weight of your passengers and kit before committing to a 3.5 tonner.

 

[Holly Hocks]

I have two TBs - I only ever travel one at a time due to payload. I have a 3.5t rear facing box. It does not have a collapsible breast bar, but does have double doors at the rear. Both my horses travel extremely well in it and my mare has been up and down the country in it. This is a mare who wouldn't load when I got her, but now walks in calmly and eats her haylage while travelling. Personally, I like them. Neither of my horses has ever tried to escape from it.

 

[cider loving mare]

Penny - no I hadn't seen that. Thankyou for pointing it out.

Holly and Jemima. I have been asking what weights of the boxes are unladen and have worked out what my ponies, tack etc weigh. Would love to try rear facing out first but don't think it wil be possible and all the nice boxes I have found have been rear facing. The box I'm going to view sounds really nice and has been well looked after, the lady has been traveling a bigger horse in it and is now looking for something with a bigger payload.

My ponies always give their best and the least I can do is make sure they travel in comfort without comprimising safety. I have never owned my own transport and can't tow without doing a test.

 

[be positive]

I recently helped when a very sensible cob,not mine,decided to go over the partition ,he was stuck for some time before he managed to fall into the small living area.We were waiting for vet/fire service to arrive but he eventually made a bid for freedom and came out through the back door,taking the frame with him.
He was not too badly hurt,very shaken up ,his owner probably more so,he was seen by the vet,given some pain relief and I loaded him onto another lorry to go home,amazingly he took me up the ramp!
He was very well travelled,the owner has no idea why he did this,he had done his class and was just about to go home.
I would look at getting a grid or boarded area if I was going to have a rear facing box.The outcome that day was very nearly a total disaster,luckily it was just a vets bill and very costly repair for the box.

 

[Spottyappy]

I sadly sold my wonderful rear facing 3.5t earlier this year as needed bigger payload. I had it built,and all ours travelled superbly. I now have a herringbone 7.5t and though most are ok, one does not travel at all well in it compared with the rear facing box. I would have no hesitation in returning to one again if my requirements change. The only thing I have noticed is better with a bigger box is that it is more stable on corners and roundabouts,but if you drive the small one slowly,it should not affect the horses.

 

[piebaldsparkle]

I think the problem with horses going over the breast bar in the rear facing lorries is partly due to people leaving the rear door open to let air in whilst park and also with many having a window in the rear door, horses will always go for the light if they want to escape.

I have just brought a rear facing lorry, but made sure that it didn't have a window in the door (only on the side walls), so the horses don't face an opening and also had an extra wide door and removable breast bar fitted, so in an emergency a horse could be lead out the back or released if they went over the bar without fuss.

Many 3.5t rear facers do not have a removable breast bar and only have a narrow jockey door, hence the horses getting trapped.

 

[Morganlafaye]

I'd be really careful about payloads with a 3.5t box if you're thinking of travelling two ponies. Most can only travel one horse/pony.

Even if you are legally able to carry two, make sure the box will physically take two. I had a rear facing box for a while (bigger than 3.5ton, living at the front not the back, so you'd think it would be safer) but could still only take one horse safely. The way most rear facing boxes are designed, the side opening and ramp are about the same length as the horses body, but the neck and head are in an enclosed section of the box. Fine for loading, an absolute nightmare when you are unloading (if you're travelling two) unless you have a very short-necked horse/pony! This is because if you're travelling two, you can't move the partition, so you have to get the horse to contort its neck round somehow to get it out of the box and down the ramp!

This is an accident waiting to happen and if your box has any sharp bits at all, the horse will find them and cut its head when trying to exit the box!

My horses have all travelled very well rear facing, but I've yet to find a rear facing box that takes more than one horse comfortably.

 

[Tnavas]

When I got my truck the horses travelled facing forwards and I could hear them all the time - thumping and bumping when I slowed down. One would get himself so wound up slithering and sliding around.

So I had the truck adapted and now the horses travel facing backwards and at times you would think we had left them at home. They travel really well arrive cool and calm and there is no sliding around/.

 

[sonjafoers]

Not a lorry I know but I've gone from a front facing IW trailer to a rear facing EquiTrek trailer and mine travel so much better now.

 

[Nagling]

We've got a Renault with double doors at the back. Had it for 5 years and the horses always load and travel well. One loads herself. They never arrive anywhere hot or stressed. I prefer these to trailers too because you can hear what is going on in the back so I feel you drive even more sensitivly to your animals movements. I remember hearing about research quite a while ago that horses travelled much better facing backwards.

 

[dooleyday]

I have a rear facing 3.5 ton and both my ponys travel fab in it. That said I don't think I would like to travel anything bigger than a 14.2 in it as they do sway a bit. please be careful where you buy it and check the mileage is correct by using the VOSA website. I have been cought out with mine!

 

[Maesfen]

My ideal box would be a side loader, facing backwards with a ramp at the back too for coming out.
Years ago we had a four box, two facing forward, two to the rear with side and back ramps, front and back stalls had windows at their heads. the rear stalls had doors at my boob height (about 4ft6In) and we never had any trouble at all with anything trying to get over in fact you never heard of things doing this, perhaps they were better mannered/handled/travelled/more respectful, take your pick, I just don't know but there must be a reason for it being commonplace to hear of things jumping/wedging themselves over. Is it the drivers, the way they are handled, the design of the boxes or the lack of horse sense on the part of the owners and a myriad of other things but something must be wrong for it to happen so often.

 

[nikCscott]

My boy loaded and travelled perfectly until I bough a beautiful rear facing lorry then he starts arriving at places all sweaty then started refusing to load. So sold the box and got an old forward facing- 4 months later he's still stubborn to load but once up the ramp is as happy as larry lamb.

Have 2 friend who have the same backward as I had and both theirs are fine so guess it just depends on the individual, could you hire one 1st?

Good luck and if you do go for it the Chaigleys are so nice to drive!

 

[Maesfen]

How about hiring a transporter just for a test run, could be the best £50 you spend rather than buying something without trying it?

 

[irish_only]

Out of my reach and probably many of us, but we looked at the Oakley 2 horse rear facing box at Burghley. Very well designed as you would expect, instead of a breast bar there are doors which go to the floor, with quick release catches, and the back grooms door is very wide, and described as a safety feature so that if a horse does try and escape that way it fits through very easily.
No - we didn't ask how much

 

[idx]

My ideal box would be a side loader, facing backwards with a ramp at the back too for coming out.

Me too! I would also love a box where you could change the configuration from rear facing to front facing to herribone depending on what suits your horse - rather than having to sell up and start again if you find you horse doesnt like a particular travelling position (surely to change from rear to front facing could be easily done?).

ALso, if it has a proper rear ramp this would allow you to get the horse out if the box ended up on its side in an accident - large doors at the back would not help in this scenario.

 

[henryhorn]

We found whenever travelling mares loose they always chose to stand facing diagonally backwards.
I'd go for the rear facing box every time, it means they can use their back ends when you brake, but do check whatever you buy has sufficient protection for the driver in an accident, some of the 3.5 boxes are death traps according to my box repair man...

 

[Tnavas]

Me too! I would also love a box where you could change the configuration from rear facing to front facing to herribone depending on what suits your horse - rather than having to sell up and start again if you find you horse doesnt like a particular travelling position (surely to change from rear to front facing could be easily done?).

ALso, if it has a proper rear ramp this would allow you to get the horse out if the box ended up on its side in an accident - large doors at the back would not help in this scenario.

This is what my box can do. It has a luton over the cab, the horses travel in the centre and I have accomodation in the back. When facing backwards there is a solid partition that folds forward into the accomodation and bolt with big spring loaded bolts into the walls of the box. This means I can chose which way the can be trucked.

I've had a couple of horses in the truck that won't load and turn right, they are more than happy to load and turn left, so they go in first, turn left - the outside partition is put into place and they are turned round to face backwards. Only works with one stroppy one at a time.

 

[idx]

Evelyn - that sounds perfect!

 

[Holly Hocks]

We found whenever travelling mares loose they always chose to stand facing diagonally backwards.
I'd go for the rear facing box every time, it means they can use their back ends when you brake, but do check whatever you buy has sufficient protection for the driver in an accident, some of the 3.5 boxes are death traps according to my box repair man...

Totally agree with this. I had my bulk head strengthened with steel bars after my elderly gelding started leaning on the bulk head with his arse and I could see it bending in towards me at the side of my head!!!! It cost me £180 at a steel fabricators to fit it with solid steel bars which are bent in slightly towards the horse area so now he can lean on it all he wants and I can't feel it. Best £180 I ever spent.

 

[cider loving mare]

Thank you all, for sharing your thoughts. I'm just so desperate to get my own transport, that not thinking about the bigger picture. The box I'm going to look at loads from the side, not sure about unloading, and now also have lots of other things to look at and questions to ask.

 

[FinkleyAlex]

My 14.2 refuses to travel forward facing or in a trailer - hiring a herringbone horsebox is too expensive so we travel him in a rear facing horsebox and he travels beautifully. He had an accident in a trailer years ago and would not load again for love nor money - however just a few times in a rear facing lorry and he happily steps in to travel. As he's on the smaller side and it's very compact in there he would have great difficulty getting over the barrier at the front, however if I were to buy one new I'd probably have a grill installed just in case.

 

[Tnavas]

Evelyn - that sounds perfect!

It is great - I love my truck - runs outside to hug truck!

 

[Flowers187]

I've got a 3.5ton back faceing box! My horse loves it! Its taken a while for my younger horse to figure out that she has to turn on (she'd only been used to walking straight forward on a trailer), but once she figured it out she was fine. Took my other mare on to a competition an hour away the saturday and I was very impressed with how well she travelled in it. I found the first 10 minuites she shuffled about around corners and then after she'd got her balance I barely heard a thing. We had ours converted ourselves and we had a steel frame put in for behind us/by the horses bum, so that its safe if the horses we're to kick or if we had to emergency stop. We also had a easily removable breast bar that pulls off and we have 2 big back doors so the horses can easily get out in an emergency. I've found its much more stable than bigger boxes as the horses are situated in the centre of the wheels. Mine has a payload of 1.35 ton (I got a weight certificate too), so if I want to take too horses, my mom will follow in the car with all the kit in, so only the horses and my dad are in the box so we dont go over.

 

[miss_bird]

I have to say i hate them and would never use one again unless extreme emergency, i found my horses travelled really bad in the one i used, my tb mare fell over 30 times in what should of been a 20 min journey and ended up taking nealy 2hurs due to having to travel along at 5mph and even slower on corners.
I have travelled same horse in trailer and herrinbone and never had an issue.
Also i found 80% of the others did not settle and kept kicking backwars the whole time.
I will add this is just my experience