Tracy and David. Thank you for my purchase. I believe the decision to buy a Writco Antiscramble Calypso float is one of the best decisions I have ever made.    

I decided to buy an antiscramble float because my best horse, Aloha Desert Opal, had turned into a very bad scrambler in  my old standard float. Even when I crawled around corners at 2 km/hour, her feet would be scraping badly on the side walls and  she would arrive at our destination in a lather of sweat. I knew it was only a matter of time before she went down in the float. So I stopped taking her out. We live in mountain forest country and the roads are rough gravel, steep and windy. They also have mounds built across them to divert water flow.  I did a fair bit of research on different floats, including talking to owners of various brands. Then I went and checked out the float builders, including the only other manufacturer to Writco, who build this style of float. From the start, I was impressed with the  professionalism of Tracy and David at Writco.

They were real horse people who custom build good quality floats and they know what horse owners need. They took the time to properly explain things to me. I ordered a Calypso Antiscramble float, with some extras to make camping away at Endurance Rides or Camp drafting more comfortable. The completed float is quite beautiful and very functional, without having any safety issues or user problems to operate. Last weekend, with some trepidation, I loaded my darling scrambler into the right hand bay, hoping to take her to an endurance  ride about 90 minutes drive from our place. I brought the adjustable chest bar back against her chest for added support. I stayed in the float with her, while my husband drove slowly forward a few yards. Out of habit, Opal panicked immediately and pushed her rump backwards onto the rump bar and into the centre partition and all her legs went in the opposite direction towards the side wall. My husband stopped driving, but Opal stayed frozen like that for about 3 minutes. Her legs were stiff and straight and close together at a sharp angle to her body. I could not get her to move anything, let alone pick up a leg to bring it back under her body. So we decided to pull her adjustable side bar further out from the wall, so she would have even more support for her body. The other horse just stood calmy but Opal was too terrified to move. We could not unload her as she had too  much weight back onto the rump bar. Finally, she relaxed enough to stand properly again with her legs under her body and I physically spread her front legs for her. When we drove a few more metres, she still threw her weight back and onto the  centre partition, but her legs were wider apart and not as far out from under her body. It took us about 20 minutes to drive the first klm, stopping regulary to let Opal think about things. She gradually was learning that she had plenty of room to spread her legs in this float and that there was additional support for her body.

I could hardly believe how smooth the ride was in this float compared to my float with slipper suspension. That float was so rough and jerky traversing the mounds across our road. It was also great not having all the dust to breathe in. The air vents in the roof and Gas lift rear door kept everything nice, cool and clean. Opal arrived safely at our destination and she was not even sweating. The last time I took her out in the old open sided float, she almost scraped the kickboards off, and arrived lathered in sweat and the dust had turned to mud on her coat and she was blowing muddy mucous out of her nostriles. WHAT A  DIFFERENCE!! Opal did very well in her ride and finished with a heart rate of 36. Thanks Guys we are less stressed and we are sure so is Opal!! Our ride home was even more of an improvement and we are sure every trip will only build her confidence, now there is no stopping us!!     

Jill Moss, Boonhah Qld