Recommend me a horse transporter - Scotland to Lincs :)

DJ

DJ

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Hello lovely people,

As title, will be bringing my pony home in a couple of weeks. I know Eric Gillies as the obvious choice, but I wondered if any one had any other recommendations?

Thank you :)
 
Why would you want anything other than Gillies? :) If you search on here you will see that their name comes up consistantly OVER TIME - that to me, stands for a lot.
 
Always use Gillies especially going from Scotland to England or vice versa. My riding club hired Gavin Jamieson to take a bunch of horses to the Nationals for the last couple years and had no complaints. Not sure if he is still on the go though as did hear something about him not but that might not be accurate. Cost wise though Gillies is very reasonable and they always manage to fill their lorries so you dont have to worry about it costing more if there is less horses travelling one week.
 
gunnergundog said:
Why would you want anything other than Gillies? :) If you search on here you will see that their name comes up consistantly OVER TIME - that to me, stands for a lot.
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Gillies are excellent, but in my experience and that of friends, they aren't remotely interested if you or your destination is off the beaten track so then you have to find someone else.
 
If you want a cheap shared load then Gillies are your best choice

However if you want an individual load and take your ponies full wardrobe and travel on board yourself then we recommend Julie Magnus

www.jmrt.co.uk

We use her for all our transport, highly recommended
 
MotherOfChickens said:
Is that right? Thought I hadn't seen the lorries about-anyone know why?
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Im not surprised he ceased trading. he was usally impossible to get hold of or answer his messages. if i hadnt been utterly desperate at the time id have given up and gone somewhere else. Seems most of his customers did. However, his driver, Seth Douglas was amazing and i know he has now set up on his own so it is possible he has bought out Gavin's transporter if its still on the road but that's only a guess. I would highly recommend Seth though. Douglas Horse Transport, based in Dumfries
 
I think Jamieson went bust. Not surprised as I had an awful experience with him in September. Pony was supposed to be picked up at 5pm from the edge of Wales. 1am he was picked up. He went to Penrith before he got off the truck which would have been at least 3am-4am. Back on the truck for 9am and he got to me at just gone 7pm soaking wet as he was under the skylight that they had ripped off on someones tree. The poor pony was desperate for a drink and was starving.

The truck was lovely though lol!
 
MotherOfChickens said:
Gillies are excellent, but in my experience and that of friends, they aren't remotely interested if you or your destination is off the beaten track so then you have to find someone else.
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I live in a tiny, tiny village on the north coast of Scotland, about as off the beaten track as it gets, and they collected a horse from my neighbour about three weeks ago. They will come, but if you want a cheaper shared load from a remote area, you can't be too picky about date.
 
CarolineJ said:
I live in a tiny, tiny village on the north coast of Scotland, about as off the beaten track as it gets, and they collected a horse from my neighbour about three weeks ago. They will come, but if you want a cheaper shared load from a remote area, you can't be too picky about date.
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My sister lives really off the beaten track in Inverurie Keith hall but they have been brilliant and they come from the south to Scotland every Tuesday. My boy travelled from Windsor to her and I would never think about using any one else. My only irk is that they do not feed hay- which IMO they should revise!
 
EKW said:
I think Jamieson went bust. Not surprised as I had an awful experience with him in September. Pony was supposed to be picked up at 5pm from the edge of Wales. 1am he was picked up. He went to Penrith before he got off the truck which would have been at least 3am-4am. Back on the truck for 9am and he got to me at just gone 7pm soaking wet as he was under the skylight that they had ripped off on someones tree. The poor pony was desperate for a drink and was starving.

The truck was lovely though lol!
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My new equine purchase was supposed to be picked up at lunchtime. Had seller on the phone to me in panic when neither of us could get hold of Gavin and he still hadn't turned up by 6pm on the arranged day. A hundred panicky phone calls and voice mails, texts went unanswered which really pee'd me off.
All we wanted to know was was he actually still coming or not as seller at her Yard waiting and was about to go home. Finally turned up to collect horse 6.30pm. When horse finally arrived my end horse was fine but journey time only 2 hours.
yup,. EKW, Gavin's lorry was indeed lovely.
Still the most stressful experience ive ever had trying to arrange transport for a horse though. This was August '13.
 
lula said:
Im not surprised he ceased trading. he was usally impossible to get hold of or answer his messages. if i hadnt been utterly desperate at the time id have given up and gone somewhere else. Seems most of his customers did. However, his driver, Seth Douglas was amazing and i know he has now set up on his own so it is possible he has bought out Gavin's transporter if its still on the road but that's only a guess. I would highly recommend Seth though. Douglas Horse Transport, based in Dumfries
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Yes I heard he ceased trading but wasnt 100% sure as just word of mouth. I knew Seth started up on his own with a smaller lorry. Not sure if he has bought Gavin's. Its usually a slow process of upgrading to bigger lorries for transporters. So expensive!

Aww Keith Hall isnt off the beaten track. Gillies regularly seen delivering in NE Scot. Would say Highlands be more difficult but as someone said, if you are completely flexible on dates then they usually will manage sometime.
 
CarolineJ said:
I live in a tiny, tiny village on the north coast of Scotland, about as off the beaten track as it gets, and they collected a horse from my neighbour about three weeks ago. They will come, but if you want a cheaper shared load from a remote area, you can't be too picky about date.
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I can only say what we've found *shrugs*. They wouldnt deliver to my home earlier this year and 10 years ago they wouldnt pick up from Wales-shared load or no. I am not saying they arent good-I've seen the deliver horses at yards and they've all travelled well, just that I've personally not been able to use them and each time I was completely flexible on dates. I think its a shame to see a local business go under after trading for a long time tbh but I can't imagine its an easy job for a small operation.
 
I've noticed on a local facebook page that Cardiff Horsebox Hire is going from Wales to Scotland later this month so would probably welcome a reverse load for part of the journey and would divert for it. You might get a good deal. I think this is Equestrian Fairy on here, but I might have got that wrong!
https://www.facebook.com/HorseboxhireCardiff
 
Gillies. They were great with my lad who is difficult to load.

I wasn't so keen on them not getting hay, but actually after 6 hours on the lorry all my horse wanted to do when I chucked him in the field with his new mates was eat. It was very uneventful since he was far too hungry to care about the other horses.

Also not heard anything bad about Aberdeen Horsebox Hire.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
I can only say what we've found *shrugs*. They wouldnt deliver to my home earlier this year and 10 years ago they wouldnt pick up from Wales-shared load or no. I am not saying they arent good-I've seen the deliver horses at yards and they've all travelled well, just that I've personally not been able to use them and each time I was completely flexible on dates.
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Sometimes the issue is not the date but the access for their 10 stall Oakleys, which form the majority of their fleet. In the past I've had a horse led down to the nearest village for a pick-up and another I boxed myself to a large yard 30 miles away where they did the pick-up from.
 
Roland at Perth equine transport.

Lol at Inverurie being off the beaten track. Oh how the other half live. I dream of the metropolis of Inverurie! ;)
 
I thought Gavin Jamieson was still going? I've used Gillies several times just because they are always dotting about. The only thing I dislike is that they refuse to provide hay during transit (they say due to allergies but they could feed haylage instead), IMO its just asking for colic and very bored horses staring at a metal wall for hours!

Ha ha, I also laughed at Inverurie considered off the beaten track!! Hardly! Bloody hope it isn't or our business which is Inverurie won't last very long!
 
I too PMSL at Keith-hall, Inverurie, being in the backwater!
I have used Gillies, but needed to transport to local comp yard for pick up, was very pleased with them.
 
foraday said:
If you want a cheap shared load then Gillies are your best choice

However if you want an individual load and take your ponies full wardrobe and travel on board yourself then we recommend Julie Magnus

www.jmrt.co.uk

We use her for all our transport, highly recommended
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I seconded this - she moved my 4 boys from Lincs to Yorkshire really nicely and they all had there travelling querks!
 
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