Horse boxes. Again.

[glenatron]

My horse box needed it's MOT at the start of June, which was fine except that it needed a bit of work so I got a guy to come out and look at it and he was like "oh yes, needs a bit of welding, but certainly doable." I expected it to be expensive and I had budgeted a certain amount of money towards the repairs ( roughly a third more than I paid for my car ) so I wasn't too worried about it. But then he went around and tapped the underside with a tiny hammer and it gently dissolved into a cloud of russet leaves which is apparently not a thing that healthy metal does and probably at that point I should have just said "scrap it" but of course I didn't. I had a budget for repairs and I knew the engine is in a reasonable state and the rear axle should be pretty solid. As long as it was ready by the Steve clinic in mid July it would be fine.

Well, it's mid July. I have burned through all the money I had reserved, all the other money I had and a lot more that I borrowed off Sari. Today we discover that there was another huge area of rust hiding behind one of the back wheels. There is no possible way it will be ready by Wednesday so I now have to do a last minute panic to try and find someone who can take us to the clinic or I am stuck unable to bring Iris, which is the worst possible outcome. Steve has strongly cut back on teaching in Europe- he wasn't here at all last year and he's only going to be around for one clinic in southern England this summer, which is the one we are booked on and that I have paid for. I couldn't get a refund at this point if we can't make it, so although paying someone else to drive us will push the price up over £1000 for the clinic, it's that or lose a very rare chance to learn with my horsemanship mentor riding Iris.

I just hate horseboxes so much. No matter how much I spend on buying one it seems I always get ripped off and end up with a dangerous or unreliable vehicle that costs a vast amount to maintain. In the last year I am pretty sure this box has cost me something in the region of £10000 - if I had scrapped it after the wheel fell off and just paid someone to bring Iris and I home, it would have saved so much money.

It's frustrating and after a while it just makes me want to give up but there's something I really need to do and I absolutely don't want to miss out on it, but it is making me so stressed and unhappy right now and once again, like almost every single time I have attended one of these clinics, the shadow of transport woes will be cast over an otherwise enjoyable weekend.

I have had enough, but at the same time I don't know what else I can do. I'm just stuck and I'm terrified of anything else happening to jeopardise the weekend. It's starting to make me go a little bit crazy. Not to mention the ridiculously hard day of work I have tomorrow in order to get things set up ahead of going on leave. The pressure is just rising and rising and it is very hard to accept it and let it go in the way I normally would. I just want things to work.

Comments

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Worth being maudlin over, as I know since I've had electrical issues with the trailer, and have noticed that our truck isn't quite right.

I hope you can find someone to haul you, and yeah, it might be time to scrap the horsebox! Depending on how much you travel with Iris, it might not be worth it to have one.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I'd like to get out and compete and take Iris around the place more but to be honest the expense of this box means I could still pay people to chauffeur me around the place and it would work out cheaper.

My biggest concern is emergency transport, that is pretty useful to have.

[(Anonymous)]

Agree on emergency transport. My trailer's at home, so I don't have it on-site, but the barn owner has a trailer and would transport if needed. Is there anyone local you can talk with about this?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

There probably is, I think maybe Sari knows enough people around the village that someone would be able to give me a hand in an emergency, especially as the vet hospital is only about twelve miles away so it's not a huge journey.

[gnapp.livejournal.com]

Nu fun at all. If it isn't horses that fall apart just before an event, it's cars, or horse boxes... Good luck finding a way!
(And, still, this is better than box floor dissolving into metal flakes with horse inside... good thing you did that check. I remember the feeling when I discovered my ramp was on the verge of having a hole in it - after unloading the horse back home. Scary.)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

The day last summer when the wheel fell off while we were doing 50 on the dual carriageway was certainly not among my favourites.

[serennig]

OMG that's a wicked lot of money to have had to sink into a horsebox.

Emergency transport is only good if it works...

[penella22.livejournal.com]

You know how bad cars are called lemons over here? I think at this point you could make horsebox lemonade.

Having sunk that much money into it, if it will in fact be useable in the end I suppose the best most useful thing you can do at this point is to just keep going. But this makes me seriously question the value of your horsebox mechanic. If things were done properly, all major patches of rust would've been found at once. I feel it is possible he is string you along to get the most money. Your horsebox doesn't sound great but the mechanic doesn't either. Perhaps a second opinion is the best thing.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Well, I think this guy is pretty trustworthy, the last bit he found was kind of hidden behind one of the back wheels and under the fuel tank. He's been able to show his working throughout and the welds is sound, but it is taking quite a while.

I just feel like the condition it is in now, getting it finished and then selling it is my best chance to get the money I spent on it back. Then I'll consider how I can get around the place in future once that is done :(

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I feel your financial pain. Hope you and Iris get to your clinic and manage to enjoy yourselves despite all the transport woes.

Old horseboxes are a gamble, and not a form of gambling in which many people win, I think... My brother spent a fortune on one once that ended up slowly rotting in a corner of the field until he paid someone another fortune to take it away.

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

How annoying! I hope things are better off at this point? Bummer about all the money you've dumped into the box.

Also, it's weird that your horse trailers are actually a vehicle, whereas ours are just pull behinds. :)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

We have quite a few trailers here, but I can't afford to run a car big enough to tow one as a regular vehicle, so I would need to have both trailer and car just sitting around most of the time, at which point I might as well have a regular box instead. Also I have heard of more really nasty wrecks involving trailers than boxes.

Unfortunately I have no mechanical aptitude so I am really bad at picking them out apparently.

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

Oh, that makes complete sense. For some reason I was thinking the majority of your transports were boxes. I can't think of one time that I've ever seen a horse box here in the States. I agree that having a truck to pull the trailer, and then also a car to use for daily driving, is expensive!

[penella22.livejournal.com]

I've seen exactly one horsebox here in the states. I do wish we had more. glenatron's mechanical experiences aside, they do seem more sensible to me than trailers.

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they do make more sense!

[siberian-angel.livejournal.com]

I am crossing all my fingers for you, Ben!