Mates Rates Horse Transport

Mates Rates Horse Transport Local, National and International Trips. Fully insured professional Type 2 horse transporters.
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This is our “Ice Cream Van” pose…Any guesses as to why we call it this?!Here we have the handsome Nemo on our loading pr...
14/01/2025

This is our “Ice Cream Van” pose…
Any guesses as to why we call it this?!

Here we have the handsome Nemo on our loading practice number 5 :)

Look, I know we’re all counting the days down to warmer months, but let’s take a moment to appreciate the beauty winter ...
12/01/2025

Look, I know we’re all counting the days down to warmer months, but let’s take a moment to appreciate the beauty winter can bring 😍

Here’s our Top 9 photos of 2024 :)Happy New Year everyone!
01/01/2025

Here’s our Top 9 photos of 2024 :)

Happy New Year everyone!

From all of us - Natalie Rice, Caroline Rebecca and Justin Llewellyn-Li, we wish you a very happy new year!Thank you to ...
31/12/2024

From all of us - Natalie Rice, Caroline Rebecca and Justin Llewellyn-Li, we wish you a very happy new year!

Thank you to all of our clients for your support throughout 2024.

Thank you for trusting us with your horses ❤️

And thank you to the clients who have had to trust the process when it comes to helping work through their horses problems with loading and travelling.

Happy New Year and we hope to see you in 2025 ✌🏻❤️

A final international trip completed this year for these two gorgeous babies!Always a pleasure working with our wonderfu...
21/12/2024

A final international trip completed this year for these two gorgeous babies!

Always a pleasure working with our wonderful team of people to make our international trips run smoothly 🙂
Equine Shipping Ltd
EHS / European Horse Services

This year we’ve done:
Fontainebleau
Milan
Belgium… around 5 times now?!
The Netherlands - twice!
Germany
Calais

Next year we hope to do more 🙂

So for a transparent, door to door service with a direct route, confident and kind handlers, give us a call 🙂

The handsome Gio off to America 😍
14/12/2024

The handsome Gio off to America 😍

On our way back from Düsseldorf today with this gorgeous boy, checking in on him before we set off on the tunnel, hangin...
07/12/2024

On our way back from Düsseldorf today with this gorgeous boy, checking in on him before we set off on the tunnel, hanging up a water bucket for him and refilling his hay net. Then a short final leg to his new home in the UK.

A trip to Belgium for handsome Gio.Stabled overnight in Dover, and then a smooth crossing to Calais to where he’ll next...
06/12/2024

A trip to Belgium for handsome Gio.
Stabled overnight in Dover, and then a smooth crossing to Calais to where he’ll next catch a flight to LA and then on to Canada!

Next stop for us - Düsseldorf!

Paperwork organised by Equine Shipping Ltd 🥳

Empty route headed from Sussex to Sheffield on Friday 22nd November!Dedicated load but with a shared load price!Message ...
18/11/2024

Empty route headed from Sussex to Sheffield on Friday 22nd November!

Dedicated load but with a shared load price!

Message us with postcodes or call on 07988 655108

💫 Oakley stallion stall
💫 DEFRA Type 2 transporters
💫 Direct route
💫 Drivers who are horsemen and women - the utmost care given to your horse. We treat them as if they were our own 🫶🏻

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here!Belgium 3 times in 2 weeks!A few photos of the horses we’ve transported 🙂And rest ...
08/11/2024

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here!

Belgium 3 times in 2 weeks!
A few photos of the horses we’ve transported 🙂

And rest assured that we adore every single one of them ❤️

PS: I know what I’m asking from Santa this year 😍

Shout out to Equine Shipping Ltd for sorting the paperwork too!

What Does A Transporter Do?Quite simply, we transport your horse from A to B.But is that really it?For us, it isn’t.Our ...
20/10/2024

What Does A Transporter Do?

Quite simply, we transport your horse from A to B.
But is that really it?

For us, it isn’t.

Our role is primarily for the welfare of the horse(s) we have in our care. But with that often comes an awful lot more!
We provide emotional support for our clients - some of whom are making some incredibly tough decisions around the future of their horses. Some simply need us to take the emotional weight out of transporting.

We meet some amazing people on our travels. Sometimes we find ourselves in deep connection with whoever we are travelling with - and although that connection may be fleeting, it’s always a really wonderful time spent.

We will go above and beyond for your horse - sometimes we have found ourselves leading horses through fields to assist their owners in getting them to their turnout space, or helping owners shuffle stables around to accommodate moves, or even we’ve found ourselves helping bathe a horse pre show!

Sometimes we have waited a long time for owners to even catch their horses in from a field before we can load them.

So we’re not just a transport company. We are three caring human beings who simply want to do a good job by you and your horse.

(The best pic of the 3 of us! auburn.flashapril.and.i natsequine)

Morning everyone!Just a quick message to say that I (Caroline) am having a mini break with my girl so won’t be getting b...
05/10/2024

Morning everyone!
Just a quick message to say that I (Caroline) am having a mini break with my girl so won’t be getting back to messages until late Sunday :)

Today I took our very own Justin’s - .flash - horse, Flash, to the water treadmill.I wanted to highlight some of the tho...
01/10/2024

Today I took our very own Justin’s - .flash - horse, Flash, to the water treadmill.
I wanted to highlight some of the thought processes we go through when we transport anyone’s horse!

Our first picture is of Flash in the wider setting of the Oakley with the haynet on his left. Flash is a big big boy and so whilst he does fit in the partition, I know he’ll be much happier with the wider setting.
On our way to the , I could see Flash was happier standing diagonally to the right of the box. This didn’t stop him turning to have a munch of some hay, but he always went back to the right hand side afterwards.
Picture 2 is on our way home where you can see that Flash has the haynet on the same side as the way he has chosen to stand. He munched and munched the whole way home.

Conversely, my very own little lady, April (.and.i ) was most definitely not keen on the wider setting! She displayed this by standing in various different positions before resting where we see her here and not eating any hay. And that girl loves to have a good munch.
And therefore April will always remain in the partition :)

So whilst your horse is with us, we do love to give them our full attention and always strive to travel them in the most comfortable position that we can :)

Empty from Leeds area to Sussex Friday 4th October.Guaranteed shared load available!Can divert :)✨ Lovely, safe 2023 3.5...
27/09/2024

Empty from Leeds area to Sussex Friday 4th October.
Guaranteed shared load available!
Can divert :)

✨ Lovely, safe 2023 3.5t Oakley Stallion stall.
✨ Experienced, kind and empathetic drivers
✨ DEFRA Type 2 lorry and drivers ❤️

Comment below or message your route for a quote!

Camp time for and .claire !Convoy featuring special guest - the OG lorry :)Have a lovely time ladies! ❤️✌🏻
27/09/2024

Camp time for and .claire !
Convoy featuring special guest - the OG lorry :)

Have a lovely time ladies! ❤️✌🏻

Super Nova yesterday with more loading practice!Always grateful to owners who are so in tune with their horses and wanti...
25/09/2024

Super Nova yesterday with more loading practice!

Always grateful to owners who are so in tune with their horses and wanting the best for their emotional needs too.
Nova is a mare who is so so giving. She’s also incredibly stoic so it was so important that we never pushed her above threshold. All of our sessions with every horse - the aim is to never allow them above threshold, but Nova’s signs are incredibly subtle.

With horses like Nova, who are quiet in their signs and also so incredibly willing, it’s easy to just keep on pushing them. The danger of this is when they go above threshold, they can hurt themselves and yourself but also it just means that they have another reason to not be in the lorry - because it’s another negative association - they’ve yet again said “no” quietly and they have been ignored. So all we do by pushing them, is reinforcing the idea that we don’t listen and they can’t trust us.
So we don’t do it! We keep them successful, happy, playful, relaxed. And then they work with us too :)

In the photo, we are playing with turning Nova in the lorry with the ramp shut. Nova is a horse we would travel without the partition because she’s not a big fan of small spaces. So to build her confidence in the lorry we played with turning in the space :)

When you’re a tall boi and having a play on the ramp…Would love to see his POV of us on the ground 😂❤️Super duper Carame...
23/09/2024

When you’re a tall boi and having a play on the ramp…
Would love to see his POV of us on the ground 😂❤️

Super duper Caramel today finding calm around the lorry.

Always lovely working with his wonderful Mum, Liz! We love singing from the same hymn sheet and building our tribe of owners and transporters who advocate for the emotional needs of the horse ❤️

The last time Caramel travelled, he was transported to his new yard. Each time he’s travelled, his world around him has changed. Every horse copes with that sort of thing differently, but it’s a classic example as to why sometimes a horse won’t load. They associate the lorry with big changes - changes to their humans, their surroundings and their herd.
So it was lovely to be able to turn up, have a play with zero pressure and show Caramel that lorries don’t always mean big changes.


Up to 4 spaces headed south from Peterborough area on Thursday 19th available!Can divert if necessary.Two stallion stall...
16/09/2024

Up to 4 spaces headed south from Peterborough area on Thursday 19th available!

Can divert if necessary.

Two stallion stall lorries.
Caring, compassionate drivers.

PM for rates :)

Address

Mates Rates Horse Transport
Haywards Heath
RH17

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 8pm
Sunday 9am - 8pm

Telephone

447988655108

Website

Alerts

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Videos

Keeping the lorry clean in this weather is a full time job in itself 😂 Cora enjoys a trip to the car wash though!

Come with us to the Netherlands! @emmaurrutiadressage and Kane have their new adventure together and it’s been a total pleasure to help them on their way :) Kane travelled like a total star :) We made stops to enable him to drink and rest. It can be such a long day for the horses when we transport them across the channel. This time we chose the Eurostar because it’s a super short 35min crossing. It can get hot in there, but we have our lovely fan systems that run on a separate battery to the engine so we were able to keep the air flow for Kane for the duration of the crossing. We used a collaboration of Equine Shipping LTD and @fetlock_co for paperwork. Team work makes the dream work! Shout out to @natsequine who had to put up with my singing for two days (also sorry Emma... I’m sure l’ve murdered a few songs for you 😂) Good luck, Emma and Kane! We hope to see you soon and looking forward to following your adventures ❤️

Another fab session for @kahlua_tb over at the water treadmill with @lauraschrotereventing Plus a little pit stop over at Greggs for a coffee and sausage roll ;) #matesrateshorsetransport #horsetransporter #sussex #oakleyhorseboxes #supersport

Did you know that we really really ❤️love❤️ our @oakleyhorseboxes SuperSport?! Lovely wide back door, moveable partition, fans in the horse area, thermometers to measure the ambient temperature… and then for us it is lovely and spacious in the cab with 5 seats! Happy horses and happy drivers 😍 #matesrateshorsetransport #everyjourneystartssomewhere #oakleyhorseboxes #horsetransport #horsetransporters #sussex

A Day In The Life… sort of! My days usually look like this: School run Dog walk Muck out my horse (sometimes this is just whenever I can squeeze it in!) Drive Come home Dog walk School run Dinner Bedtime for the small one Gym/home work out Return client messages! It’s full on, but I wouldn’t have it any other way ;)

A 2023 recap 🫶🏻 Thank you to all of our amazing clients and of course to our incredible team of drivers who are also, and most importantly, our friends. Here’s to 2024 and another year of goals and possibilities! #matesrateshorsetransport #everyjourneystartssomewhere #recap #2023 #horsetransport #horsetransporter #sussex

A 2023 recap 🫶🏻 Thank you to all of our amazing clients and of course to our incredible team of drivers who are also, and most importantly, our friends. Here’s to 2024 and another year of goals and possibilities! #matesrateshorsetransport #everyjourneystartssomewhere #recap #2023 #horsetransport #horsetransporter #sussex

Today it was my (Caroline’s) turn to go out in the lorry! April’s first time in it too. Off we went to @kate_pheasant_equestrian for a lesson in the gorgeous sunshine ❤️ #everyjourneystartssomewhere #matesrateshorsetransport #sussex #horsetransport #horsetransporter #training

IYKYK… 😂❤️

To all of our clients, past, present and future, Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your love, support and faith in us. Thank you to our awesome drivers who embody our ethos and have helped us grow ❤️ We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year :) All our love, Caroline and Justin

#matesrateshorsetransport #sussex #horsetransporter #oakleyhorseboxes #horsetransportuk #horsetransport #everyjourneystartssomewhere

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