A HORSE transportation service fit for a future king, has proved a big hit with local equestrians.
Former Grenadier Guard Dec Newton, from Woodland, is no stranger to looking after and transporting horses. He spent 26 years in the Army, 14 of which included looking after the Household Cavalry horses.
Mr Newton said: “All the horses that the foot guard have in the parade came from my stables.
I looked after the officers’ horses including Prince Williams, so I had plenty of experience transporting them.”
Since retiring from military service eight years ago he has been working alongside father-in-law Bill Gardner supplying birch fencing.
But to maximise his equestrian experience, he and his wife Louise, a keen horsewoman who has ridden and driven horses all her life, set up their own transport company Big Bear Equine Transport, providing a first-class chauffeur service for horse owners two months ago.
Mrs Newton said: “As a team we wanted to create a safe, reliable transport company that puts horses’ welfare first.
“When we set off, we thought it would be transporting nationally but since we started, we have done a lot of local runs because people see it is more cost effective to use us than to run their own wagons for a one-off job.”
Their 3.5-ton stallion box transporter has a movable partition, and is fitted with CCTV and is capable of transporting two horses at a time.
As well as vet visits and yard moves, the couple are able to transport ponies to shows and are fully registered for equine roadside recovery. She added: “We are getting a nice local clientele business and getting some national runs as well.
“I’m quite surprised at how well it has taken off locally and it’s really nice to have the support.”
Mrs Newton said: “Between each job the transporter is cleaned down and disinfected using Defra approved products and we can transport two horses at a time.”
Each job is priced individually and based on the number of miles. We do have a minimum charge within a 30-mile radius.
For more information about Big Bear Equine Transport email bigbearequine transport@gmail.com.
