Welfare / / 2 min read
The horsebox floor check almost nobody schedules
A national trade body has restated its flooring guidance after a horse was fatally injured when a lorry floor failed. The rot that causes it hides under the matting you never lift.
Written by Harriet Lightfoot
The facts
- What happened
- A horse was fatally injured this summer when the floor of a horsebox failed. His owners chose to make the story public so that other owners would check their own vehicles.
- Who is advising
- The Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association, a national trade body, publishes a best-practice guide for commercial horsebox flooring.
- Why it hides
- Rot, corrosion and deterioration can sit unseen beneath rubber matting and floor coverings, and in some builds beneath the floor structure itself.
- Common causes
- Inexperience when floors are fitted, corners cut at the build or conversion stage, floors refitted badly, and simply never inspecting.
- The advice
- Inspect often, lift the matting so the floor can dry, check seals and drain tubes, feel for soft or springy patches, and look at the underside and around the wheel arches.
Every part of a horsebox gets looked at by somebody. The tyres get kicked, the brakes get tested, the tow hitch gets a glance before every trip. The floor is the one component carrying the full weight of a live, moving animal, and it is the one nobody schedules a look at, because it is covered by matting and it looks fine.
That is the whole problem. Water gets under the matting and stays there. The surface stays dry and reassuring while the structure underneath quietly gives up. By the time anything shows on top, the damage has been happening for a long time.
This is not a complicated job or an expensive one. It needs ten minutes, dry weather, and a willingness to lift the mats and put your hands on the floor. That is the entire task.
What this means for you
- If you own a lorry or a trailer
- Lifting the matting is the check. Not looking at the floor, lifting the mats off it, letting the boards dry, and pressing along the surface for anything soft or springy. Do the same underneath and around the wheel arches, where water collects and nobody looks.
- If you borrow, share or hire transport
- Ask when the floor was last inspected and who did it. It is a reasonable question and a good operator will have an answer ready. If the answer is vague, that is information too.
- If your yard shares a lorry
- A shared vehicle is one where this check belongs to nobody in particular. Put a name and a date against it, the way you would with a first aid kit or a fire extinguisher.
- If you are buying second hand
- Floors are among the most expensive things to put right and the easiest to hide with new matting. Have it looked at by somebody who knows what they are looking for before money changes hands, not after.
The floor is the only part of the vehicle the horse is actually standing on, and the only part we cover up and stop looking at.
What to do
Pick a dry day and lift the rubber matting out completely. Leave the floor open long enough to dry properly rather than just uncovering it and putting the mats straight back.
Before the next long journeyPress and walk the whole floor, listening and feeling for anything soft, springy or hollow. Pay attention around the wheel arches and at the edges, where water sits.
Look at the underside of the floor, not only the inside. Some deterioration only shows from below, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed.
Check the seals, the floor coverings and the drain tubes. Blocked drainage is what keeps water against timber long enough to do damage.
If anything is doubtful, stop and have it inspected by someone with the right experience. A floor is not a component to take a view on yourself.
Before it carries a horse again