Benridge Horse Transport

13/10/2026

On Saturday we had a yard move in the diary for the lovely Mitchell, a 16.3hh, four year old RID. We have transported him before back in July, and always keep in mind that not only is he a youngster, but he had also not had a positive transport experience prior to that. When we arrived he knew that something was up and was slightly anxious, not wanting to come away from the pile of hay in his stable. Once on board, we travelled very slowly to allow him to find his balance, especially as there were multiple busy roundabouts on the route. He soon settled in for the ride and travelled beautifully, giving him another positive experience under his belt. It won’t be long before travelling like a pro becomes second nature to him.

We wish him much happiness in his new location and hope to see him soon!

12/10/2026

What a fabulous first cross country experience for Vara and Sara yesterday at Ivesley Equestrian Centre! Vara loves to jump, and after a few leads from a friend to build confidence, she got the hang of it and was confidently jumping the fences on her own!

The more that Vara is getting out and about and doing things that she enjoys, the more confident she is getting with loading. Yesterday was a new test…she normally prefers to load in a quiet environment and without an audience or any distractions. Yesterday it was anything but quiet at Ivesley and there was the lingering question - how long will it take her to load? We need not have doubted her as she loaded easily and was soon on her way home after her schooling session. What a superstar!!

07/10/2026

06/10/2026

A follow-up trip to Alnorthumbria Equine Vets yesterday for the beautiful Maeve. It has been so nice to see this lovely mare responding so well to treatment with each trip.

When we first started transporting Maeve, she was a tiny bit sticky loading. Over the last few months, and with each trip out, her confidence has increased incredibly, and she now loads without a second thought. Not something that you normally see when a horse’s trips out in the horsebox are to the vet.

04/10/2026

A yard move this morning for the lovely Buzz. When we started the journey he was initially rather “expressive” with quite a bit of neighing and some stomping about in the box. Once we got on the road he settled straight down and even dozed off at one point.

03/10/2026

We often joke that we feel like ships passing in the night and that was certainly the case yesterday… as Stephanie was coming up the A1, returning to base after dropping Poppy off, she passed Susie who was heading down the A1 to collect the lovely Hades, who had a return visit scheduled at Hambleton Equine Clinic. Hades had a follow-up assessment following what had been a very serious puncture wound in his foot. Thankfully he was given the thumbs up yesterday and it is now a case of remedial shoeing for his continuing treatment.

03/10/2026

Yesterday was a first travelling experience for the beautiful 3yr old Poppy - and what a clever girl she was! Her owner had done their homework and spent a considerable amount of time practicing calmly loading her onto and off a trailer. When it came time to load her for transport yesterday, we opened the back doors of the horsebox so that she could see all the way through - as she would if she had been loading into a trailer. She confidently walked straight on and settled in for her journey. It’s so important that each experience, especially at this age, is a positive one, as these are the building blocks for the rest of their lifetime. We look forward to seeing Poppy again when she returns home after being backed.

01/10/2026

We knew it was coming but actually seeing it in lights this morning really hit home. This is our local petrol station in Durham… £2.01 a litre for diesel. Last night it was £1.99 a litre 😳

It certainly got us thinking about something that’s always controversial but definitely worth highlighting and discussing.

There seems to be a misconception that horse transporters make a ton of money. The reality is, that as a small business, the price that we charge for a job isn’t simply what we earn from that job. Far from it!

There’s an awful lot that has to be paid for before that money ever becomes something we can actually call a profit.

On the surface there is the diesel for getting from our base to the collection point, from the collection point to your destination, and then either the return journey to your original collection point or back to our base. Then there are the “hidden” costs…

* Horsebox insurance - where our premiums can be greatly affected by the claims that other transporters make
* Care, custody and control insurance
* Business insurance
* Equine Rescue Service should we ever have a breakdown
* Horsebox servicing every three months or 10,000 miles - whichever comes first
* Tyres every 10,000 miles
* General horsebox repairs
* Payment of our external drivers and admin staff
* Cleaning supplies and disinfectant
* Uniforms
* Paper and printer ink
* Phone bills
* Bank charges
* Accounting services
* Various software licenses
* Tax and various corporation fees

…and everything else that comes with running a business.

The cost of running our 4.25T box, or anything over 3.5T for that matter, is even greater as there is the added cost of an "O" License, a PMI (Preventative Maintenance Inspection) of the vehicle every 12 weeks - this is in addition to a vehicle service, paper rolls for the tachograph, daily inspection checklist log books, ongoing training for DCPCs, and the need for a Transport Manager just to name a few.

And then there is the time that isn’t actually spent transporting — answering queries, preparing quotes, cleaning and disinfecting the horseboxes, answering messages, doing paperwork, planning the routes for jobs, coordinating drivers, washing uniforms - lots of washing uniforms, as we use a clean uniform for every job, and social media updates when we have time for it 😳

None of those hours are normally chargeable to a customer individually but somebody has to pay for them. Ultimately that cost has to be covered by the business.

So when a customer gets a quote and thinks “but it's only 25 minutes down the road” it’s worth remembering that the figure at the bottom of the quote isn’t what goes straight into the transporter’s pocket.

A large percentage of every job is actually paying for the cost of simply being able to turn up and do that job in the first place, in a safe, maintained and clean horsebox with qualified, experienced and compliant drivers. These are the realities of running a small business.

So, when diesel is £2.01 a litre at your local petrol station, you really start to notice just how much it costs to provide the services that customers want/need, all whilst staying legal and compliant.

The customer may pay the bill… but the business pays for everything that makes doing the job possible.