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On the trail of some urgent lessons
To tow a trailer on the highway you may now need to pass an additional driving test. Sarah Todd set out for a lesson.
"I GOT off to a flyer this morning and should be with you about 10am," was the smug note of my telephone call to Mark Stenton.
Come 11.15am and he was setting off to collect me from an industrial estate where I'd all-but abandoned my car; unable to face another trip around Sheffield's one-way system.
Shame-facedly following him out into the countryside where his family runs a riding school, scenarios of how the day could get any worse flashed before my eyes.
"It will be an automatic…" my mind raced.
Half-an-hour later and yes, for the first time in my life, I was – as predicted – turning the key of a vehicle with an absence of either clutch pedal or gearstick.
"You'll be fine," assured Mark, a qualified driving instructor who uses his lifetime's worth of horsey knowledge to provide courses in trailer towing. "It will save you worrying about stalling or changing gear."
Having just bought a trailer, it's a new skill that had to be learned. It was no good hoping that there would always be a "nice chap" to smile at and ask to help with any reversing.
"Ninety per cent of my clients are ladies," confirms Mark, whose wife Melissa and brother Damian help his mother Vicki run Smeltings Farm Riding Centre. "Like you, they want to be able to take their horse to shows without worrying whether they'll be able to handle any situation that crops up."
And what about the male of the species?
"While it's all too easy to generalise, the 10 per cent that are men tend to find it harder – they don't listen as well and find it more difficult to admit that they need help."
Other customers are those who passed their car driving licence after 1997, who are now required, depending on the weight of the trailer they are towing, to take an additional test.
Before we get behind the wheel Mark runs through the basics of hitching a trailer up, passing me a very useful booklet with more detailed information on topics such as the law, insurance and other handy hints.
Having lowered the steering wheel and pumped up the seat we are ready to go. After a lap or two of the paddock we get down to some reversing.
"The key to reversing is to do everything very slowly and gently," says Mark. "Try to avoid oversteering – make any adjustments small. Also remember to clean and adjust your mirrors so you can see down both sides of the trailer."
With Mark explaining the importance of keeping equal amounts of trailer visible in each mirror – gently steering towards any side that has more trailer to correct it – going backwards seemed nothing of a challenge compared to that morning's journey. Incidentally, he was right about the automatic. Although Mark does offer a manual vehicle, it's well worth trying the gearless version as it enables you to get on with reversing without worrying about (if this makes sense) the driving.
It was time to tackle going backwards around a corner, so some showjumping poles were mocked up to mimic a road junction or parking bay. This is the point to forget everything that anybody has already told you – all those confusing old stories about steering in the opposite direction to that which you want to go in – and just make your mind go blank.
Mark is an advocate of the "Australian method", which involves setting off with both hands at the bottom of the wheel on the six o'clock position. Then simply move the wheel about half a turn in the direction you want to go, setting the car at the right angle to the trailer for the turn. Once the trailer has come across your mirror, it's time to turn the steering wheel – hands back to normal position – in the direction of the mirror that's filled.
With bits and bobs to sort out, like remembering to allow for kerbs, I come away with some much-needed confidence.
"That lack of confidence is the most common problem people have," says Mark, who combines teaching people to drive with helping out at the family's riding stables. "That coupled with going too fast and oversteering.
"People also forget, sat in their comfy vehicles, that the suspension in a horse trailer is really basic. They might not feel the potholes in the road but any horse in the trailer will. This makes planning ahead, such as allowing plenty of time for a journey, vital. I've lost count of the number of times riders have complained about their horse not wanting to go in the trailer – there really is no wonder the speed some people drive at."
A two-hour introductory course with Mark costs about 60, with rates negotiable for group bookings such as riding clubs. Everything is very well set up at the riding school, but he will travel to your own venue.
Heading home and the city no longer bothers me. Well, when you've reversed a trailer what's so scary about three-lane traffic?
Mark Stenton, Smeltings Farm Riding Centre, Ringinglow Road, Sheffield –07917 660634 or www.equestrian-training.co.uk
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Friday 25 May 2012
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