Well.
Its finally happened!
We have our own transport!
Growing up I watched all the pony club kids heading out to training, competitions or even for beach rides when ever they wanted. While I have been lucky enough in the past to hitch a lift with other people, it means that I have always had to rely on someone heading somewhere, having the space for Eva and being kind enough to offer that space. It means I could never really control what outings I wanted to go to and although I am extremely grateful for all the lifts Eva and I have been given in the past I am really looking forward to deciding I would like to go somewhere and not having to awkwardly ask if someone else is going and would they have room for my rather large 17.2hh mare.
What I don’t have is a car that can tow. Or the license to tow.
So I don’t have full freedom quite yet to head out whenever I want.
Although I will say that the thought of me towing my precious cargo gives me the boak!
What I do have is my dad who has towed us in the past and is happy to come up to take us out as long as I give him notice because – and heres the catch – he lives three hours away. That just means I need to plan ahead which is very easily done! It still leaves me in a far better position than before.
After some thought and research I went for a brand new Ifor Williams 511! Eva is a big lady standing a 17.2 therefore the 511 was the obvious choice.
Originally I was looking at second hand. As I have waited for a long time for this I didn’t want to get something too old that might need a repair soon therefore I was looking at trailers around the five/six years mark at the oldest.
However, Ifor williams hold their value so well that even after 5 years they were still valued at just below the brand new price and the well kept ones were gone within a week!
The more I looked the more I thought that buying brand new would be the better option for me. I was lucky enough to have the saving to buy it, I wouldn’t have to worry about repairs or the floor and I would know the full history of it. All were big ticks for towing round my precious cargo!
The trailer came with a partition which I am going to remove as Eva has travelled well in the past having the full trailer to herself and I have the full width breast bars for that. I’m going to keep the partition in storage some where as it may come in useful if I want to travel two horses in the future.
Of course horses wouldn’t be horses without some sort of spanner in the works and that is Eva has been out of action with her hock. But she is back in work now so all going well she’ll be fit a ready for when we hire a cross country course!
This year we wont get to any eventing due to timing but I’m hoping over winter we can get out to some showjumping and maybe some dressage. Then it will give us a good start to get out and about next year!
The Scottish Equestrian 