Peasfriend
Well-Known Member
I have posted this in another forum, so apologies if you have read this already.
Those of you who have Richardson trailers with the three rubber mats on the floor, please read this.
Coming back from volatis' on Saturday with Pickle, we were flagged down by a passing motorist. Pickle had gone down in the back of the trailer (with surpirisingly little noise or jolting) and, when I opened the jockey door, was laying down, how he might lay in the stable, with his neck under the breast bar. (We travel without a partition). The mats had rucked up and he had been standing on the bare floor, which was obviously very slippery due to him with poo. He had slipped on the floor for whatever reason - on a straight bit of road. My dad was driving, and he is an incredibly careful driver.
We were very very lucky. Pickle didn't panic. It could have been much much worse than it was. However, it did leave me thinking that we couldn't have been the only people who had had this problem with the mats rucking up. So today I rang the workshop at Bearts (where we bought the trailer), and explained my concerns. To be told that yes, a few other people had had this problem. I explained very calmly what had happened (while thinking why the hell had someone not warned or told us when we bought the trailer? ), and what could we do. And he said that Richardson's were aware of this problem, which is primarily caused by them using thinner mats in their newer trailers - the bits that are designed to hold the mats in place invariably break off, and so the mats move. They had since replaced the three mats with a one piece mat.
We can have a one piece mat fitted for £100, or we can bolt down our existing mats. Needless to say, nothing will be going in the trailer until this is sorted.
I have since rung Richardson Rice and spoke to somebody, who said that this had happened to literally a handful of people and, when I asked why people hadn't been informed of the possibility of this happening he said, and I quote, "it wasn't serious enough to warrent a public message/recall". He also said that the newer trailer were fitted with a one piece mat because clients preferred it, and it wasn't because of the risk of the mats moving. He was quite blase about it, and left me feeling a little annoyed to say the least.
Please be aware of this - I would hate anyone to go through what we went through on Saturday.
Can I also ask if anyone else has had this problem? I'd be really interested to find out - I'm horrified to think I put my horse into a trailer with a potential fault that the manufacturer's were aware of.
Those of you who have Richardson trailers with the three rubber mats on the floor, please read this.
Coming back from volatis' on Saturday with Pickle, we were flagged down by a passing motorist. Pickle had gone down in the back of the trailer (with surpirisingly little noise or jolting) and, when I opened the jockey door, was laying down, how he might lay in the stable, with his neck under the breast bar. (We travel without a partition). The mats had rucked up and he had been standing on the bare floor, which was obviously very slippery due to him with poo. He had slipped on the floor for whatever reason - on a straight bit of road. My dad was driving, and he is an incredibly careful driver.
We were very very lucky. Pickle didn't panic. It could have been much much worse than it was. However, it did leave me thinking that we couldn't have been the only people who had had this problem with the mats rucking up. So today I rang the workshop at Bearts (where we bought the trailer), and explained my concerns. To be told that yes, a few other people had had this problem. I explained very calmly what had happened (while thinking why the hell had someone not warned or told us when we bought the trailer? ), and what could we do. And he said that Richardson's were aware of this problem, which is primarily caused by them using thinner mats in their newer trailers - the bits that are designed to hold the mats in place invariably break off, and so the mats move. They had since replaced the three mats with a one piece mat.
We can have a one piece mat fitted for £100, or we can bolt down our existing mats. Needless to say, nothing will be going in the trailer until this is sorted.
I have since rung Richardson Rice and spoke to somebody, who said that this had happened to literally a handful of people and, when I asked why people hadn't been informed of the possibility of this happening he said, and I quote, "it wasn't serious enough to warrent a public message/recall". He also said that the newer trailer were fitted with a one piece mat because clients preferred it, and it wasn't because of the risk of the mats moving. He was quite blase about it, and left me feeling a little annoyed to say the least.
Please be aware of this - I would hate anyone to go through what we went through on Saturday.
Can I also ask if anyone else has had this problem? I'd be really interested to find out - I'm horrified to think I put my horse into a trailer with a potential fault that the manufacturer's were aware of.
