Transporting Your Horses

One of the most exasperating experiences a horse owner can have is to get into a scenario where he or she wants to transport their pony somewhere far, but can’t do that because of the absence of a trailer or horsebox. For pony owners who have never owned a trailer, getting one can seem just like a hopeless dream.

I have news for you if you’re one of these frustrated horse owners. You can move your pony around without a trailer, but it calls for an inventive approach. You have to also be ready to make some compromises.

If it’s a question of transporting your horse to the vet, a frequently unavoidable need, you may get an offer of help from someone in your yard. If nobody offers help, you need to ask for it, assuming that there are people with trailers, because without asking you may not get, and without getting you aren’t going to be able to take your pony to the vet. It’s always possible to show your good intentions by offering to pay for the fuel consumed and the use. If you are intimate with someone who owns a trailer, you can try and fit your competition dates with theirs for the same events, so your pony can hitch rides. Obviously, this implies that you will have to sacrifice your own preferred events for the events your benefactor favors. If you’re really very fortunate, you could even convince your benefactor to take your pony to your own preferred events once in a while. Who knows, you could actually open your benefactor’s eyes to the charms of events he hasn’t participated in so far. That would indeed work to your advantage.

You need to also take part in events in your own immediate vicinity. The possibility is high that there might not be enough variety or quality of performance in your immediately area. Your options would be very limited because you would have to ride your horse to the events and still keep him fresh enough to participate. Essentially, you can just ‘warm up’ your pony before the event. You also have to consider that after the event he has to be ridden back home, and that would further restrain the events you might participate in.

It is extremely costly to hire a horsebox, nonetheless it will probably be worthwhile if the event you are attending is very prestigious or if your pony has exceptional possibilities of winning something. You could also see whether there are other pony owners in the vicinity with whom you could split costs, assuming they are going to be at the same event you are. Before you finalize a contract for hiring a horsebox, confirm that a driver is included in the contract. If no driver is included, and you have got to do the driving yourself, you’ve got to have the correct driving qualification and satisfactory insurance.

Another choice is to purchase a horsebox jointly with some others. This isn’t going to be easy, as you are going to need to be wonderfully coordinated on who uses the horsebox. If all your events coincide, there will be no problems, but that is a distinctly doubtful possibility. You can only enter into this sort of arrangement with somebody you are really intimate with, and with whom you enjoy complete mutual trust. Even then, you must execute an all-inclusive contract on who pays how much for shared use, individual use, damages, repair jobs and so on. A small disagreement can destroy a close relationship, so you really have to exercise the greatest of care.

Whatever way out of your horse-box-less worries you find, it should hopefully give you the chances you’ve been wanting for your pony. Even partial mobility is far preferable to no mobility. Every event you can attend without your own horsebox is an additional bonus. Just make absolutely sure that absence of your own pony transport does not become an insurmountable wall for both you and your pony.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers go here