So yesterday I was heading back from a barrel race with 1 horse in the trailer when I saw up ahead there was smoke rolling across the road. It was a SUPER windy day and initially I thought a house was on fire but coming closer, it looked like a “controlled burn” that got way out of hand. It was really bad but cars were going through it slowly. I slowed way up, put my flashers on and proceeded cautiously. As I began to enter the smoke it was suddenly somehow thicker and got pretty scary. 

Meanwhile in the cluster of cars that was heading towards me was a mini couper darting in and out of lanes, cutting people off and trying to get in the front before it turned to a one lane.

So here I am in the smoke and all I can see are the road lines so I’m focusing on that and taking it slow with my flashers on when I see a red looking vehicle almost half-way in my lane. I veered to the right, he hit me anyways and then I tried to straighten out as there was a drop off ditch on the right. I ended up crossing the other lane, the left ditch and ended up in a farmers field.

 It sounds from talking to the other drivers that the front car, going the opposite direction as me locked up his brakes and I am thinking the red Mini Cooper was behind him.  I am thinking that he swerved to miss the front car, ended up in my lane and then hit me. There were 4 cars that rear-ended each other in the other lane, I veered across that lane behind all that and a Jeep almost T-boned my trailer but stopped in time. 

My horse is a bit banged up and bruised but she got away pretty lucky. She does have a hematoma in the muscles involving her left hip and the vet said she may need up to 6 weeks of stall rest/ hand walking before that dissipates. 

The mini couper that hit me fled the scene.

The front car that locked up is brakes admitted fault and said he caused it all. And then there’s the person burning on an incredibly windy day. 

I have to call my insurance on Monday and get things started. Anyone have any advice or been through something like this before? My truck is a 2015 F350 with not even 46k miles on it. I LOVE that truck. The bed is bent from the trailer hitting it, the driver side tire is flat and the wheel is bad. Brake line is busted and leaking fluid and who knows what else there. The trailer was hit in the front, and has damage to the running board and on the nose from hitting the truck.

OMG! How very terrifying!  So glad you and your horse are ok!!!

No experience (thank the good Lord) but I am so glad you and your girl came thru ok .  That had to have been so very scary

Thank the Lord, that you and your horse are going to be ok!! No words of advice..just best wishes!

Well that just SUCKS!!! I would just wait to see what your insurance will do, hope its a good company that can help you and hope the other driver has insurance. 

Holy cow, that must’ve been terrifying! Glad you and your hosre walked away, and hope she doesn’t have any long lasting damage!

I would just wait to see what the insurance has to say. And if you can have the truck and trailer checked out by a good garage.

WOWSA ...... thankfully, you and your horse were not hurt. That could have been really bad !

I am so sorry you experienced that.

I can't tell you much about insurance, but I was also in a trailer accident about 9 years ago. My horse walked away with a banged up head and some scars on her face. It took me about 6 months to get her into a trailer again. Be patient with your horse, but also be patient with yourself. I am still ultra paranoid when I haul because of that wreck, so don't rush into hauling again until you're ready. Prayers that everything works out in your favor!

Thank goodness you are both okay, that’s the important thing!

Insurance should be able to help you figure out where to start.  Pick a mechanic and a trailer place you trust.  I did some major deer damage a few years ago and we chose to use a shop that was accredited by our insurance to make things smoother - the shop was terrible, we had to take the truck back several times including 6 months later for an issue that they are lucky didn’t result in an accident or worse.  Next time we’ll use our mechanic even if we have to do a little more legwork with insurance.

You should have already called your insurance. You need the other person’s insurance too. At least the one who admitted fault. I think the police can put out some kind of info to the body shops around if the Mini Cooper has repairs. Not sure about that.   Your insurance has to stand behind you in filing on someone else’s insurance. In TX you have to file on someone’s insurance because your insurance cannot. You need to get it going now. Do not put it off. You also need an accident report from the police,DPS, or whomever

I have the police report number. They said we had 3 days to start the process starting on Monday because dmv is not open on the weekend. Calling first thing in the morning

Get a notebook and keep notes re times / dates and what you talk about whenever your talk with ANYONE about this accident -- and keep all documents.   Keep all notes / documents about your horse's injuries and treatment costs -- ask for reimbursement for that, too!  And take your own photos of all damage to truck, trailer and horse.  

I have wrecked a truck and trailer before. Mine it was icy and we lost control and jack knifed into the ditch, no one else involved. All you can do is turn it into insurance and see what they say. Hopefully you got the other person’s information. We got an estimate at a local body shop and gave that to our adjuster right away.  You will have to stand your collision deductible and either fix or total the rig. Depending on your policy, you may have rental reimbursement if you need to rent a rig. Glad your horse and you are okay, just be sure to get both of you checked out! Thankfully in my accident we both just had some scrapes and busies was all but my truck and trailer were totaled because we bent the frame of each. Just take some down time to recover while your insurance figures things out.

How scary! So glad you and your horse are okay!

So I have been thinking a lot about the wreck and about what all could’ve happened. The last car in the pile up going the opposite direction as me was red and had rear end damage although no one had rear-ended her. It is very similar to the color paint that is on my trailer and through all the smoke I had never seen the red Mini Cooper that the other drivers had seen, I only saw the wrecked cars at the scene. I was trying to think if I could have hit her when I came across the lane.  The damage to her vehicle starts on the left driver side near the gas tank and goes back towards the bumper and her bumper was ripped off.  The damage to my trailer is the very front driver side corner.  At this point I believe it was her vehicle that wa in my lane and hit my trailer.  There was no  paint or points of impact on my pick up and the paint on my trailer looks to match her vehicle.  If I had come into contact with her when I was turning left and crossing that lane of traffic, there is no way that there could have been damage to the very front of my trailer without it hitting my truck as well. Because my truck would’ve been turned to the left blocking that spot.  That impact definitely happened when I was veering to the right and my truck was out of the way and open that spot up.  I spoke with my insurance this morning and told them all of that and gave them the case number. I am waiting to hear back from the claims adjuster.  It does make me feel better that it does not sound like it was a hit-and-run like the other drivers were saying that it likely was

I went into urgent care yesterday. I’m just stiff/sore in my neck and my elbow is super bruised from I think the steering wheel? X-rays were clean though. My horse has a couple more vet appointments this week to follow up and am going to set up an appointment with my friend to have magnawave on her, especially the hip and she’ll probably need a chiro too. We’ll see what all the vet recommends

As a forester and someone who has taken forestry law- the main person at fault is the person doing the burning. Call your local forestry commission and ask who to call to see if a burn plan was registered with the state. They are supposed to call in, get weather and conditions, file for a burn plan and then proceed with the burn. If it was an actual wildfire or suppression mission- car is at fault unless the person who started the fire can be found. It doesn't look like it was actually windy that day, but there wasn't an updraft to carry the wind up into the sky so it stayed low. There could have been a high pressure system above or a temperature inversion keeping the smoke low. Humidity could have played a factor too. If you can find out who set the fire- the insurance company will want to know. The also relieve the liability of the other driver who caused the mini cooper to jump out. Their insurance will go after the fire starter too.

Yes. If they for some reason total the truck or trailer out, provide them with the specifics of your paperwork from the dealership on the truck, all of them. They have to reimburse you for the value of the truck. They won’t want to, and they’ll drop you right after, but they have to. Same as the trailer. 

We call and get a burn permit everytime we burn.  And, we put out signs etc. 

As long as we get one in GA, we are covered.  If you don't get one you are SOL

I was in this wreck last year.  I was driving through an intersection at a three way light when this lady hit me.  She lost her brakes which I know is shocking considering what her vehicle/trailer looks like.  It was a crazy accident that both my horse and I walked away from without a scratch.  My horse was thankfully in the middle stall, but the lady hit right at the LQ part and the horse part wasn't even compromised.  She had no insurance and my insurance (Farmer's) actually took good care of me.  They gave me a fair price to replace my trailer, my truck a little less so, but they did cover all of my chiro bills plus some for pain and suffering.  It took be about 6 weeks to replace my rig and then another two months or so before I was comfortable hauling again by myself (my poor husband!).  Even today, a year later,  I am still nervous about hauling and even driving.  It was the craziest experience of terrible and fantastic luck all at the same time.  When you are ready to settle your medical bills, make sure you write a demand letter and ask for pain and suffering.  Google how to do it if you don't have an attorney.  There is a calculation formula they use.  I wrote a solid letter and included pictures and they paid me what I asked for without negoitiating.  PM me if you want.

Good Lord it was a blessing you and your horse were fine--that's so scary.

The claims adjuster is going to pick up my truck from the tow yard tomorrow. . . He said according to the computer model, my truck is probably totaled. I LOVED that truck. I got a GREAT deal on it. It's a '15 F350 King Ranch that had 19k miles on it when I bought it and was around 45555 when it got in the wreck. It came with the font end leveled, air bags under the bed with a compressor on the truck and wired into the cab, a rolling bed cover, spray-in bed liner and I'm sure some upgraded options. I'm not sure how that's going to go or how they even put a number on it with all the options and I'm nervous that the amount they offer is not going to be enough to replace it. I took a look at underside of the trailer and I think the frame is bent there too and it is likely also totaled.  It is a '00 Keifer 3 horse gooseneck w/4ft short wall that I spent the last year insulating, sealing, and was in the process of hanging furring strips and putting the floor in... I have an idea of what it's worth but not sure how to back it up.... I think the plan is to wait and see what the insurance offers and I am expecting it to be too low at which point I will consider a civil suit. Being the only person there who should not be even an ounce at fault, I think I have multiple options. My insurance company does not seem to think that my horse's vet bills will be covered in the offer. I did just review my policy and it looks like on my policy I have "Pet Injury Collision Coverage." Which again, not being at fault, my insurance shouldn't have to pay those bills but neither should I and again, I will consider other options if I need to. 

My friend told me that the third day was when I would start hurting and she was right! Definitely don’t put in a claim/settle in your medical bills until you know 100% what you are dealing with medically. Once you settle that’s it and you can’t go back for more money.  If you do a little googling you can find some of the criteria the insurance company uses to determine it. A baseline is 2-3x your medical bills. You can also account for missing out on events you had planned to go to (for example I had to miss a big race because I didn’t have a rig) and they also consider if it was your fault at all.  I clearly didn’t ask for enough because they accepted it right off the bat, but I didn’t even know you could ask for it. My chiro gave me a sample demand letter and I was surprised to see pain and suffering. 

Even if you aren’t hurting in the next few days you should at least go to a chiro and have them check you. My pain was not too bad but I did not have full mobility in my neck. My chiro made a good point that if I let it go then it get worse and worse over time. 

I am really sorry this happened to you. It sucks. You do everything right, you have a safe rig and maintain it properly, you drive carefully and all of that doesn’t matter when it comes down to others out there. If you need someone to talk to I’m here for you. It definitely takes an emotional toll.