UK - Invention makes horse float-loading safer, easier

Spending hours loading a reluctant horse onto a horsefloat or trailer could be a thing of the past, thanks to an award-winning invention by a British woman.

The invention of a harness that helps one person to load a horse safely by Cath Brown, a lecturer in Equine Science at Aberdeen University, won top place and £4000 in the university's Blue Skies Thinking competition.
Cath got the idea for the harness after having problems with her own horses.

"My mare used to load fine, then reverse out when I went around the back to secure her in the trailer. My gelding sometimes loads beautifully, and other times just plants his feet and refuses to move. I almost always have to load on my own, so the harness is a combination of various ideas I've played with over the years to solve both these problems."

Competition co-ordinator Professor Dominic Houlihan said the judges were won over by the novelty of Cath's idea and her strong business plan.

Since winning the competition, Cath has also been awarded a £5000 business development grant by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Her business, Solo Equestrian, aims to supply a range of innovative products to help horse people.

The float-loading harness is patent pending, and will be on sale later this year.