I can't reverse my trailer

[Japanesejazz]

So I bought a lorry. I do love my lorry, she's a very old, low mileage 7.5 tonne
It's just cost me £1135 to get her through plating. Nothing wrong with engine etc, but the rust/corrosion is killing her.
I've recently had her valued at £7k from a dealer
I've certainly had my money's worth, time to let her go?
I'm starting to get worried that one of my horses is going to put a leg through the floor! (It's not, the garage assures me)
I can't go back to my trailer, I'm a nervous wreck towing
Or do I just keep her and accept that I'm going to need a lot of welding every year?

I would find it more stressful worrying about the floor than towing! I’m v confident with a trailer, though, one of my few natural talents

Could you rent/borrow (and pay for a service) a trailer for a few weeks and tow every day? Include reversing and anything else you’re unsure of, without a horse on board? Build confidence then add a horse for the last few days and do short trips, then longer ones? I taught myself to tow by practising this way

With reversing, I find that under rather than over estimating how much to turn the wheel is best
If you want to reverse in a straight line, you turn the wheel towards the wing mirror you can see the trailer in
To turn the trailer left, turn the wheel right

I've got a trailer
Not used it since I've had the lorry, people at my yard borrow it and I have it serviced regularly.
I'm not good at reversing with it (I could potentially get better if I practiced a lot) I'm actually alright pulling it without a horse in, will go and collect hay etc
Once horses are on board I'm such a nervous wreck I'm a danger to myself and everyone else on the road! Every time it moves I think the horse has fallen over
I've got a camera on the lorry which can switch from rear view to horse view so I can see them
My daughter competes and is quite good at it, so we need transport

It’s just practice, practice, practice....

I got my trailer a year ago and for the first 2-3 months I was a nervous wreck every time we took it out (I’d be awake half the night before a competition or rally I was so worried!). And it wasn’t helped by having a teenage backseat driver helpfully telling me what I was doing wrong

I got a couple of trailer lessons purely concentrating on reversing and just practised lots on my own with no horse in the back. And gradually I just got more used to it ... I can now reverse into a parking space (not perfectly but I don’t embarrass myself!) and a couple of months ago we found ourselves 300 yards down a single track lane which was blocked by a flood and had to reverse the entire way back ... and we all survived! It helps that DD’s horse is an absolute saint to load and travel, so that minimises potential stress when we’re out and about.

When we were investigating possible transport options I realised I couldn’t justify spending huge amounts of family money on a state of the art lorry (nor would I have anywhere to keep it); hiring a self drive lorry every time would be hideously expensive after a while and I didn’t want to risk driving the kind of lorry I could afford easily. Buying a trailer was easily the most cost effective way of getting dd and dhorse out and about (we already had a suitable towing vehicle) so I just had to suck up learning to tow ... I probably won’t ever love it but I no longer have sleepless nights over it

You can get cameras for trailers do you can check what your horse is doing - we just look through the window and if he’s munching hay, assume he’s ok!

Lorries are money pits in my experience.
Ours cost 2.5k in just repairs last year and I decided to cut my losses. It wasn’t that old (2004) but everything was dropping to pieces.
The one I had before that cost 2k in welding.
Plus the runnings costs I don’t think I would have a lorry ever again!

We compete away a lot and a lorry with living (plus a loo) is essential. Ours is pretty old (1985) and has flown through the last few platings, various repairs in between but that is par for the course. Trailers terrify me!

The Caravan Club offers towing lessons ... though I guess you may have to be a member. A quick Google suggests that there are also trailer towing courses out there, which might be the answer.

Cameras in the trailer - there are some on the market.
Towing lessons.
Practice. Practice. And then practice.

I was rubbish at reversing, 3 point turns etc when I first got a trailer. Quite the old hand by the time I swapped it for a box. As someone else said - it is VERY easy to over-turn the steering wheel and end up jack-knifing. Don't overestimate how much you need to turn the wheel to get the trailer to reverse. It really is just a matter of getting out there and doing it, preferably with an empty trailer so that the nerves don't kick in.

Also, I found it much easier to reverse by not using my side mirrors if possible, and opening the door and actually hanging out the side to physically see where i was going. Of course that only worked if I was reversing into my sight line!

I'm quite good at towing it empty
Once the horse is in, I'm a danger to myself and all other road users!
Thank you for all the tips, I would definitely miss the living part of the lorry

Depending on your towing vehicle you could get a trailer with living area.

Get some towing lessons and concentrate on reversing.

I was lucky that our yard had a huge coal yard at the back where I could practice without fear of crashing into anything and olenty of space to correct oversteer.

Thirty years ago when I was young and reasonably attractive I used tosolve the reversing and loading problems by simply playing the helpless woman and getting a passing male to do it for me - can't believe I did that or that it worked so often!

Could you consider selling your 7.5t and getting a 3.5 or 4.5 van conversion with an aluminium floor? Less like a 7.5t and easier to drive.
This sort of thing: classifieds.horseandhound.co.uk/horseboxes-trailers/horseboxes-for-sale/3-5-ton-horsebox-2013-citroen-relay-low-milage-new-build-531564
You do need to check payload, & if your horse will fit (ours won't as too long) but people at our yard have one and there is plenty of room in the back tack area for everything you need for a good day trip out