Mates Rates Horse Transport

Mates Rates Horse Transport Local, National and International Trips. Fully insured professional Type 2 horse transporters.
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It’s always a pleasure taking these lovely ladies and their horses to their various different locations!Millie, Hannah a...
13/04/2025

It’s always a pleasure taking these lovely ladies and their horses to their various different locations!

Millie, Hannah and Flick are usually dropped off somewhere along the South Downs Way and then do a long ride, spanning several days, back to Lewes!

Friday evening we took them to Norman’s Bay for some perfect evening beach riding 🌅
And this time they opted for a lift home too 😜

Gorgeous Exmoor pony, Curry, was taken to be a part of a really gorgeous little herd of wild Exmoor ponies in Hook today...
11/04/2025

Gorgeous Exmoor pony, Curry, was taken to be a part of a really gorgeous little herd of wild Exmoor ponies in Hook today 🥰

Another successful trip working with the wonderful Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust ❤️

Here at Mates Rates Horse Transport, we are no stranger to the various things horses do when they don’t want to load.One...
08/04/2025

Here at Mates Rates Horse Transport, we are no stranger to the various things horses do when they don’t want to load.

One of the things we are always striving to understand is…

What Are Our Horses Trying to Say?

How do we work out what the “issue” is? What does their body language tell us about what might be going on in their head?

And then how do we make their experience positive, safe and supportive… and also crucially at a pace that works best for them - not at a pace that *we* want.

The number of times we see such vast improvements from horses with loading issues when we take the time to really listen and give them a voice.

And the improvements aren’t just in the loading - it’s seen in the riding, felt in the relationship between horse and their human, seen in the competitions. The benefits to finding a positive , and consistently positive, experience with loading and travelling will only bring positive results.

So the thing is… imagine how good it could be…

What if solving your loading and travelling issues could be the key to your equestrian success - whatever that may look like to you.

Do message us if you would like some help and support with your loading and travelling issues.

❤️

🛫Coming To an Airport Near You!🛬✈️We are excited to announce we have purchased our first Cargo Plane! 🛩️Fitted with stat...
01/04/2025

🛫Coming To an Airport Near You!🛬

✈️We are excited to announce we have purchased our first Cargo Plane! 🛩️

Fitted with state of the art loading platforms and containers.
Two fabulous pilots, on board grooms, first class and economy class available for the budget conscious or for the boojie traveller.
In flight entertainment for both horses and passengers.

Available for long haul international flights and national ones too.

Concerned about how your horse will load onto a plane? No worries! We can bring our plane to you to do loading practice! 🥳🥳✈️✈️

A beautiful sunny morning at Lingfield Park Resort :)
27/03/2025

A beautiful sunny morning at Lingfield Park Resort :)

Empty Lorry Thursday 3rd/Friday 4th AprilSussex to Dover&Calais ⛴️ to Netherlands 🇳🇱International paperwork can also be ...
22/03/2025

Empty Lorry Thursday 3rd/Friday 4th April

Sussex to Dover
&
Calais ⛴️ to Netherlands 🇳🇱

International paperwork can also be undertaken by us 🙂

Competitive rate available.

Please send us a message for more information :)

What a Journey!Here we have the lovely Denise and Nemo on another successful outing - this time to a new venue to Nemo -...
18/03/2025

What a Journey!

Here we have the lovely Denise and Nemo on another successful outing - this time to a new venue to Nemo - Felbridge :)

Nemo, you might recall, is one of our “trickier” horses to travel. He’s quite the stressy horse as he doesn’t find being in a small space very enjoyable.
With lots of practice, we were able to make his experience slightly more pleasant, however what he really needed was more help on the ground.

Yes, the triggers are being shut in an actual horse box, but we can help support him better by giving him tools to help manage his anxiety without it being about loading and travelling.

This is well beyond my own expertise, so we enlisted the support of the lovely Josette Planer who has been giving Denise and Nemo tools to help manage Nemo’s big feelings.

So yes, loading practice is a huge part of helping horses find comfort and confidence in loading and travelling, but an awful lot more can be done on the ground without a lorry.

This is where wonderful groundwork trainers come in handy.
Where they can help us find different ways to help horses feel more secure in themselves and therefore when we present them with tricky situations, they can feel confident and safe.

Henry and Blue at their first BS show at Felbridge today…Making light work of our gorgeous jump! 🥰❤️Has anyone else jump...
16/03/2025

Henry and Blue at their first BS show at Felbridge today…
Making light work of our gorgeous jump! 🥰❤️

Has anyone else jumped it?!

Empty from Sussex to Llandeilo Friday 14th March!Shared load price but with the luxury of a dedicated load.Happy to dive...
11/03/2025

Empty from Sussex to Llandeilo Friday 14th March!

Shared load price but with the luxury of a dedicated load.
Happy to divert along the route.

Please message or comment below :)

A post from Justin today! I’ve been working on the ground with my own boy, Flash, over the past few months to help estab...
10/03/2025

A post from Justin today! I’ve been working on the ground with my own boy, Flash, over the past few months to help establish more of a connection with him. I’m not riding him at the moment as we help him work through some of his anxiety (and mine!) and nervousness (and mine!) following his kissing-spine surgery over a year ago. Despite his size, he’s a beautifully sensitive soul – which is perfect for me in so many ways as I consider myself a sensitive rider and horseman myself.

In this series of photos and videos with Liz (), I am trying my best to ground myself to our surroundings and to him, and then communicate with him by reaching out with my heart first and foremost by imaging a tether of loving energy connected between our hearts. When I reach out to him, it’s through that channel first that I try to ask questions and hear responses. I also imagine us in our own bubble of energy, protected and cocooned from everything outside – to that end, it’s just us.

Anyways, just a small thought. But I thought you’d like to know that that’s how I approach my life with my own horse…and that that reflects onto all the horses in our care. We will unashamedly reach out to your horse with our hearts, and in doing so let them know that we’ll take care of them whilst they’re in our charge. We will cuddle them, hug them, touch noses with them, we will fall in love with them. This is what this means to me - I know Caroline (.and.i) and Nat () feel the same.

Much love (to you and your horses!)

J

What is a “Legal Horse Transporter”?When it comes to looking after our four-legged best friends, we all know how importa...
10/03/2025

What is a “Legal Horse Transporter”?

When it comes to looking after our four-legged best friends, we all know how important a good farrier, keeping up to date with vaccinations, physio, access to good forage, supplements is…

But what about when we need to transport them from A to B?

Whether your horse needs to get to the vets, or if you’re purchasing a new horse, moving yards or attending a show/clinic and you use a professional transporter, here are some things you should check are in place before you part with any money.

✔️ DEFRA certifications - any professional transporter should have a Type 1 certificate from DEFRA. This enables them to transport horses UP TO 8 hours.
For over 8 hours, they need a DEFRA Type 2 for their drivers AND their lorry.
Type 2 horse boxes have specific requirements such as a temperature gauge, fans and ferry lashings.
Type 2 drivers will have gone through an additional exam which also includes a driver assessment on how they handle the horse and drive the horse in the horse box.

✔️ Any vehicle over 3.5t requires an Operators License or an “O License”. There are strict rules in place around drivers hours and maintenance to ensure the vehicle and drivers are safe and road worthy.
If you have a transporter in a trailer, they will require an O license as the combination with a horse on board would mean it’s over 3.5t.

✔️ Transporting Internationally - all vehicles over 2.5t are required to also be on an O license. Specifically an International O license. (We have one of these)
The vehicle also needs to have undergone a check in Ireland or in Belgium to certify its use in the EU.
Drivers also have to have a certificate of competence to transport internationally.

🤓💻 Insurances 💻🤓
✅ Hire and Reward insurance
✅ Care, custody and control insurance
✅ Equine breakdown

(Hire and reward insurance is the only legal requirement but the others are worth checking - just in case of a breakdown/blow out)

I know this seems like a lot to wrap your head around, but crucially, if you ask a transporter for their relevant documents and they start to get defensive or argue that things aren’t required, then you know that they are likely to be doing it whilst cutting corners.

One thing about us, and anyone we recommend, is that you can rest assured we are doing it properly and by the book.

Your horse is in the most caring and of hands ❤️

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

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