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glenatronA couple of weeks ago we got the horse box serviced- many of the regular service things were fine, but we had a new cambelt fitted and a few other things, so it was some quite serious work. On the way to the Silversand clinic last week, the horsebox broke down, almost exactly at the half way point. We have roadside recovery for it and we managed to get the lorry recovered, shift Zorro to another horsebox and - because I'd taken the afternoon off to provide a leisurely drive - although we were late it wasn't the end of the world and we had a clinic to get to.
The horsebox got rescued on to a local commercial vehicle repair place and they found and fixed some problems, so it ran fine to get us home.
Yesterday was a big day because the vets finally thought Small Pony was doing well enough to come home, so off we went to get him. As we got over the hill on the way back from the hospital, just at the point where the road turns to single-carriageway, there was a burning smell, a couple of loud bangs from the engine and the cab started to fill with oily steam. As we were on a downhill we were able to roll a fair distance to the nearest layby and then we had to wait, with post-surgery Small in the back, for rescue.
I was just so angry, even though I had nobody really to be angry at. I'm not mechanically inclined and I really don't have anything I can do but to trust mechanics when they say an engine is sound, but I just wish that they would actually be trustworthy about it. With the adrenaline from having everything break down on a busy road and the worry about Small I was barely holding it together.
It was frustrating because we were quite near to home, particularly as the crow flies- we could have walked a healthy horse back from there, but not Small in his current condition, so we had to get a rescue horsebox in, and the police had to close the road while we moved him briskly from one to the other ( a time to really appreciate having a supercool pony who loads and leads without question ) and get him home, then I had to go back and sit with the lorry to wait for the rescue guy.
It turned out to be the same driver who rescued us the week before and who I think would be pretty tired of seeing that little lorry by now.
By the time we got it back to the repair place who did the original service where these problems started, it was well after midnight, and I still had to drive home, ranting all the while about Hampshire and their inexplicable inability to signpost any of the roads I needed to take, so I kept taking wrong turns. By the time I got home I was so exhausted I was barely angry, but I was still a bit angry.
Still, Small is home and happy. He has swapped into Zorro's stable on the more open side of the barn and our yard owners have cut a window for him to look out at the world through, so that is very good news. It will be a long six weeks of box rest, but at least he's back with us.
The horsebox got rescued on to a local commercial vehicle repair place and they found and fixed some problems, so it ran fine to get us home.
Yesterday was a big day because the vets finally thought Small Pony was doing well enough to come home, so off we went to get him. As we got over the hill on the way back from the hospital, just at the point where the road turns to single-carriageway, there was a burning smell, a couple of loud bangs from the engine and the cab started to fill with oily steam. As we were on a downhill we were able to roll a fair distance to the nearest layby and then we had to wait, with post-surgery Small in the back, for rescue.
I was just so angry, even though I had nobody really to be angry at. I'm not mechanically inclined and I really don't have anything I can do but to trust mechanics when they say an engine is sound, but I just wish that they would actually be trustworthy about it. With the adrenaline from having everything break down on a busy road and the worry about Small I was barely holding it together.
It was frustrating because we were quite near to home, particularly as the crow flies- we could have walked a healthy horse back from there, but not Small in his current condition, so we had to get a rescue horsebox in, and the police had to close the road while we moved him briskly from one to the other ( a time to really appreciate having a supercool pony who loads and leads without question ) and get him home, then I had to go back and sit with the lorry to wait for the rescue guy.
It turned out to be the same driver who rescued us the week before and who I think would be pretty tired of seeing that little lorry by now.
By the time we got it back to the repair place who did the original service where these problems started, it was well after midnight, and I still had to drive home, ranting all the while about Hampshire and their inexplicable inability to signpost any of the roads I needed to take, so I kept taking wrong turns. By the time I got home I was so exhausted I was barely angry, but I was still a bit angry.
Still, Small is home and happy. He has swapped into Zorro's stable on the more open side of the barn and our yard owners have cut a window for him to look out at the world through, so that is very good news. It will be a long six weeks of box rest, but at least he's back with us.
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Date: 3 Jun 2010 17:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Jun 2010 21:31 (UTC)