Emma’s blog – The breakdown

As equestrians, I think we can all agree that breaking down with our horses on board is one of our worst nightmares. So my heart sank when I heard my friend, Emma, say that this had happened to her.

Fortunately for Emma, she had breakdown cover, so if this isn’t something you have I’d start by advising you to speak to Lancaster Insurance to get this arranged. It’s stressful enough if you’re on your own, let alone with your “babies” in the back and wondering how you’re going to get them to safety.

I was still about an hour from where the horsebox had broken down. The only positive was that it was only about a mile from where we were going to compete and not on a main road.

The first thing Emma did was to call the equestrian centre to see if anyone would be available to help. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a tractor big enough. The horsebox is a 12t lorry, so not the easiest to manoeuvre. Luckily, they did give her a number for a local farmer who was available to come out and tow her into a safe place on the showground. Another advantage was that her dad didn’t work too far from where she was so, even though I wasn’t there to offer support, he was able to get there to be with her until the cavalry arrived. At the time, I really needed to focus on getting my horse there safely as, if you remember from my previous blog, the weather was pretty horrendous.

After about an hour I was nearing my destination, so I called Emma for an update on how she was getting on. The tractor hadn’t arrived yet, but there wasn’t much I could do, so we agreed I’d head straight to the show centre to get Arlo unloaded and settled in. Then, when Emma finally arrived, it would be all hands on deck sorting her two boys out.

I got Arlo to the show centre, found our stables and started to get him settled in. Then I got another call. Emma was in tears, as there had been a crash. My first questions were: “Are you OK? Are the horses OK?” Luckily, the answer to both was yes. A car had tried overtaking the horsebox and tractor, hit another car and caused a three-car pile-up, narrowly missing the horsebox. I couldn’t believe it. This is why it is so dangerous breaking down with horses on board. How frightening for Emma and them!

By the time I saw the box being pulled into the show centre by a rather large tractor, the boys had been loaded up for about five hours, and had obviously endured quite the ordeal when the car crash had happened within metres of them. I must admit it was a huge relief to see them coming off the box in one piece, and extremely calm too considering what they had been through.

It was about 8pm when we finally unloaded them and got them safely into their stables, but that was the important thing: they were safe. And looking at them, you’d really have no idea anything had happened.

The horsebox was then retrieved by the breakdown company, who were fantastic throughout, ensuring the horses were safe and catered for, and the box was transported to the garage efficiently.

What a nightmare! Made better by kind strangers, friends and a brilliant breakdown company.