Towing fears!

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007Equestrian

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Potentially a silly question solved by “just get on with it” but I am terrified at the thought of towing a trailer. I’m a pretty confident driver, I just have a complete mental block for towing.

A small lorry ironically doesn’t scare me, it’s the idea of the trailer jack knifing that terrifies me, or heaven forbid it toppling over or the hitch failing.

Does anyone have any tips for overcoming these (silly!) fears? Horse is an excellent traveller, it’s the owner that needs help!
 
I took mine out the first time on the motorway, we picked a quite time, and drove from junction to junction and back, which sounds mad but it just got me used to the braking distances, sloping starts and really I only had to worry about the traffic in front of me. The other place is an industrial estate on a Sunday, like a learner driver, so you get used the length and judge parking up and reversing.
 
honetpot said:
I took mine out the first time on the motorway, we picked a quite time, and drove from junction to junction and back, which sounds mad but it just got me used to the braking distances, sloping starts and really I only had to worry about the traffic in front of me. The other place is an industrial estate on a Sunday, like a learner driver, so you get used the length and judge parking up and reversing.
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Oh stop I hadn’t even thought about starting uphill… with an electric handbrake… the fear! 😂
 
I had never towed before but I had to go and collect the trailer 10 miles away so I had no option but to get on with it. I just drove round for an hour in traffic, through town and on our country lanes empty before taking it back to the farm. I’m still useless at reversing so ask the farmer who reverses his 20 horse polo pony juggernauts to do it for me. I do drive an automatic with sat nav which I find makes towing with them on board when you don’t know where you are going so much less stressful.
 
Just go steady - even steadier than you think you need and lots of practice runs. A fab tip for reversing is the following: lift the hand up of the direction you need to go.

So when reversing start backing up, then stop (and importantly deep breath!) then assess which direction the trailer needs to go. If it needs to go more to the left, start reversing and slowly lifting the left hand up on the wheel, this will cause the trailer to back up to the left. And the same on the right, if the trailer needs to go more to the right, feed the right hand up the wheel.

I taught friends to reverse by standing behind the trailer and simply calling out which hand they needed to lift up to get into the space. If you think about it in these terms rather than trying to change your car reversing instincts its much easier.
 
Definitely have some training from an HGV instructor - and using your own vehicle and trailer. Honestly it will make such a massive difference to your confidence.

The way the HGV instructor taught me to reverse was simply to sit facing forward, hands at the bottom of the steering wheel, then if you want to see the trailer in the left hand wing mirror, move your hands to the left, and vice versa for the right. Just go slowly. It's SO easy, you'll be amazed!

I went from having a complete block about reversing the trailer to bring really confident in one lesson!! 😊
 
Agree with those suggesting some proper training, go out with an instructor for a morning or so. I was of an age where I had to take the B&E test (before that was scrapped), I did it at the age of 17 almost as soon as I’d passed my normal driving test and I can honestly say the intensive 2 days/test on day 3 course I did was the best money I ever spent.

It set me up brilliantly in terms of confidence and as soon as I was independent I was out competing regularly on my own even at 17/18. Most importantly I was taught properly about hitching up, vehicle weights, loading and speed limits (all by chatting while driving, not boring classroom stuff) and how to reverse. I said right from the beginning I wasn’t going to be one of those women who can’t go backwards! I tow once in a blue moon these days and am pleased to say I can still reverse as well now as 20 years ago, probably due to the good grounding I had at the start.

I get why it’s a bit scary and overwhelming but honestly it’s a skill you’ll have for life once you’ve mastered it.
 
This is the wrong time of year for it but best thing I did for learning the reverse was going out in the field. No pressure there so I could take my time learning how to move it around and I set poles out to manoeuvre around and back up to etc. I also took drives out with my dad who is very experienced at towing (including animals) which I found invaluable. Good luck!
 
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Rowreach said:
I’d forgotten you no longer have the trailer test in GB. It’s still a requirement in NI, and thank goodness I reckon.
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I had to take the test but my mum, for example, could have taken my trailer and horse out perfectly legally with no practice/training. There is no way I would ever have let her and the idea of it was pretty terrifying!

Personally I was disappointed when they scrapped it in the UK.
 
I’d 100% recommend getting some professional training even though incomprehensibly it is no longer a legal requirement to take a trailer towing test.

I’m one of the old f@rts who taught themselves to tow. I did a lot of practising of reversing etc in an empty supermarket car park in the days that supermarkets weren’t allowed to open on Sundays,
 
Northern Hare said:
Definitely have some training from an HGV instructor - and using your own vehicle and trailer. Honestly it will make such a massive difference to your confidence.

The way the HGV instructor taught me to reverse was simply to sit facing forward, hands at the bottom of the steering wheel, then if you want to see the trailer in the left hand wing mirror, move your hands to the left, and vice versa for the right. Just go slowly. It's SO easy, you'll be amazed!

I went from having a complete block about reversing the trailer to bring really confident in one lesson!! 😊
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I’m totally trying this!!
 
If you can get a couple of lessons or go with an experienced friend. Then once you are confident towing on your own, take the empty trailer with you on as many every day drives as you can. You will get used to it, good luck!
 
A friend taught me to tow with her trailer and her horse in it, but my car (so no pressure!). Her husband helped me figure out reversing with some diagrams on a piece of paper as that worked best for me.
I took the test a couple of years later when I wanted to pull a double trailer and so went over the weight for towing without the license (which I find stupid as the double is easier to tow than the single). My biggest tips would be practice as much as you need, and if you're female, tell all well-meaning but unhelpful mansplainers to shut up. I find they distract me and half of them don't have a clue anyway. Dad has strict instructions to not say a word unless I'm about to hit something.
 
Have a practice with the trailer empty. And reversing isn't difficult. Centre the steering wheel and put a piece of tape at the bottom, where 6 o'clock would be on a clock face. If the tape moves to the left, your trailer will start to move left, if it's on the right, it will move right. Once the trailer is moving, follow the trailer as you would follow a corner kerb when reversing.
 
I've been towing for well over a decade, but after a towing issue (mechanical) on a dual carriageway, and a non-towing car accident (not my fault), and then a related brake failure, I'm now an anxious mess towing. I have no advice, but it's not a lot of fun. I can't drive down a hill without wondering if the brakes will work. I did tow the pony to Wales last year - I took a ridiculous route and annoyed a lot of people in the Cotswolds by driving slowly, but we survived. I don't feel any better about potentially doing it again this year though.

Reversing is piss easy though. I reverse a lot of non-horse trailers day to day, and once you have the hang of it, it's easy. It's just a question of going somewhere with lots of space - like a big carpark at a quiet time, and working it out.

The most important thing is that you shouldn't try to tow a pony if you can't reverse confidently. You never know when you'll need to do it unexpectedly, and having a pony on the back limits your options. I saw someone in a pick up towing a large-ish trailer (tree surgeon, I think) who went down a dead end, and clearly had no idea how to reverse. There was space, but he obviously just didn't understand how to do it as every attempt made it worse. In the end he drove off by off-roading across the grass and pulling out onto a big, busy A road. Absolute madness.
 
I am a mean reverser, but the least helpful advice that I ever have had about reversing was given to me loudly, repetitively and unasked through my open car door window as I was already correctly lining up the outfit to reverse the trailer down a drive.

‘Whichever way you want to turn the steering wheel, turn it the other way’. Again and again. I could happily have throttled him by the end of it.

He owned a trailer sales place and clearly assumed that no woman could reverse a trailer without being mansplained to.
 
I tow every few days, at the start ya it was daunting but now I forget I even have a box on!

Can you use a yard to drive around to start or a field? Thats how I teach people if they ask! Collecting bedding/feed with the box is a great way to start too!
 
I did the trailer training and passed my test about 6 years ago! and I honestly don't know how anyone would be confident to go out without doing this level of training! I would 100% recommend completing a days towing course, so you can learn how to handle any risky situations, how to reverse properly! but even after all of that, I'm always relieved to get home safe and sound.
 
007Equestrian said:
Potentially a silly question solved by “just get on with it” but I am terrified at the thought of towing a trailer. I’m a pretty confident driver, I just have a complete mental block for towing.

A small lorry ironically doesn’t scare me, it’s the idea of the trailer jack knifing that terrifies me, or heaven forbid it toppling over or the hitch failing.

Does anyone have any tips for overcoming these (silly!) fears? Horse is an excellent traveller, it’s the owner that needs help!
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My fear was so bad, I sold the trailer and bought a 3.5t lorry. I love the feeling that my horse is ‘with me’. Not swinging behind in the trailer.
 
Definitely practice as much as you can with an empty trailer, reversing is easy once you get the hang of it, find somewhere where you won’t gather a crowd of people and just practice reversing and turning the steering wheel, you will soon figure it out. Practice pulling away from junctions smoothly and slowly and plan your breaking from further away than you usually would without a trailer. I learnt many years ago and someone said to me to think about having your mother’s prized China set loose and trying not to rattle it around, made me focus on smoothness and not cornering hardly etc.
 
I went out a few times with a friend and empty trailer and then had a play at reversing in the field. Once you’ve got the hang of it, it almost feels a bit safer with the horse in rather than being an air bubble bouncing around on the back. With reversing you just have to find out what works for you. I don’t mind people seeing me back but can’t be doing with people giving me the old “left hand down, no right hand down.” Leave lots more room for stopping and take corners slowly and smoothly. Good luck! 🤞
 
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