Trailer Travesty

I briefly mentioned before that I have managed to hock my entire life to get the brand, sparkling new trailer.

Well, like most people with shiny, new, expensive objects, they want to take them out and play with them.

So, a couple months ago, I set a date and time for the other pony wrangler who rides Donni to meet me at the barn & we would haul to a local park to ride.  It would be a good adventure to take the girls off property, while getting my feet wet actually hauling said new, expensive object.

I hooked up the trailer to pull it out as it is parked up next to the barn.  I put my foot on the brake and it went to the floor.

Oh dear.

Long story short there is that I blew both front and rear brake lines and my emergency brake didn't work.

I managed to stop the truck by putting it in park and fortunately, there were no horses involved and I had only coasted a couple feet down the barn driveway.

I had recently decided to get a US Rider Membership. I tend to end up in unfortunate situations and thought that towing would be a good idea.  Thus, I decided to call US Rider.  The gal answered the phone politely and notified me that a local towing company would come out to pick up the truck.

I went into the barn to wait around until the tow driver appeared.  Well, the tow driver appeared a half hour later, looking straight out of Duck Dynasty.  This normally isn't an issue, as my own father could fit in quite well on that show. 

Mr Duck seemed to yes ma'am things appropriately as I said that the brake lines blew and that I had zero control over the truck brakes.  I had disconnected the trailer and he said he was comfortable taking the truck to my home about five miles away. 

So I went back into the barn and then started the Trailer Travesty.

The Barn Guy was sitting on his porch drinking coffee and watched the Series of Unfortunate Events that began to unfold while I was happily tacking up my horse.

Mr. Duck decided that I had no idea what I was talking about and decided to drive my disabled truck up the bed of his tow truck.  Well, as someone might guess, there were no brakes.  The truck hit the top of the tow vehicle and rolled backwards.

Guess what was sitting right behind the truck?

My trailer.

Seriously.

My truck hit the hitch on the trailer and displaced it backwards several feet, burying the jack deep into the grass and mud.  It broke part of the hitching mechanism.

My favorite part is that Mr. Duck proceeded to winch my truck up and then took off without mentioning The Accident.

Long story short is that it involved law enforcement, Barn Guy, lots of phone calls, photos, and documentation.  The Deputy proceeded to call Mr Duck an idiot since it was easy to see where the truck hit my hitch and the truck was actually stuck on my hitch at one point. 

The owner of the towing company finally stepped up and decided to do the right thing after the deputy was involved, despite Mr Duck's insistent that I had no idea what I was talking about, Barn Guy was lying, and that clearly my brand new trailer had the hitch broken in some other fashion. 

Too bad my photos were time stamped less than ten minutes after he left.

So in the end, at least my trailer was repaired and thus ended the Trailer Travesty of 2016. 

My poor trailer, never yet used, and already has been in the shop. 

I would suggest, women, that as I have found out more than once, there is a heavy assumption that women are not capable, have no idea what they are talking about, and must be ignored.  I am still frustrated that clearly Mr. Duck thought there was some braking system left, despite me saying so. 

So, please consider this and if you end up in a situation where there is towing involved, I would suggest staying to make sure everything is handled properly.  Take photos before, during, and after.  Take names.

I almost allowed myself to end up on the hook for a repair, simply because I trusted someone to do the right thing.