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Veteran
Posts: 120
| BroncoBetty - 2016-11-24 6:46 PM
 I have made the trip from the NW to Texas 3 times with 4 horses. One of them was 29 years old at the time. I planned my stops and overnighted at fairgrounds so they could relax and roll in a bigger pen or even arena (make sure you check all the gates) I also stopped about every 5-6 hours in a safe place and unloaded to walk out the kinks.  I agree with another poster about keeping the trailer cleaned out. Keep a vet kit handy with Banamine or Colic Stop. I kept buckets of water in the trailer with just enough water to keep it from sloshing out and didn't overfeed hay.Â
Horsemotel.com and Horsetrip.com are good for overnight boarding and fairgrounds information. Happy travels!
Â
I'll definitely check out those sites, thanks! I'm only hauling two and one is a 4 year old who hasn't been hauled much, the other has been hauled a lot but his longest trip is 6 hours or so. I don't have a living quarters but could sleep in the gooseneck if we did end up staying somewhere overnight, but I think we will try to go all the way through with lots of breaks! | |
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Veteran
Posts: 120
| Tx3turns - 2016-11-24 11:12 AM
Welcome !! You'll love it down here. Lots of barrel races. Stephenville is a nice area. Summers are killer but you just learn to deal with. Stock up on fans for horses if they're kept up.Â
I'm excited for all the barrel racing opportunities!! It's going to be weird going from 1 or 2 races a week in the summer, to having somewhere to go almost every night! | |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 764
 
Location: Stephenville, TX |
nicole.b - 2016-11-25 2:30 AM BroncoBetty - 2016-11-24 6:46 PM  I have made the trip from the NW to Texas 3 times with 4 horses. One of them was 29 years old at the time. I planned my stops and overnighted at fairgrounds so they could relax and roll in a bigger pen or even arena (make sure you check all the gates) I also stopped about every 5-6 hours in a safe place and unloaded to walk out the kinks.  I agree with another poster about keeping the trailer cleaned out. Keep a vet kit handy with Banamine or Colic Stop. I kept buckets of water in the trailer with just enough water to keep it from sloshing out and didn't overfeed hay.Â
Horsemotel.com and Horsetrip.com are good for overnight boarding and fairgrounds information. Happy travels!
 I'll definitely check out those sites, thanks! I'm only hauling two and one is a 4 year old who hasn't been hauled much, the other has been hauled a lot but his longest trip is 6 hours or so. I don't have a living quarters but could sleep in the gooseneck if we did end up staying somewhere overnight, but I think we will try to go all the way through with lots of breaks!
Edited to add: As far as your 4 year goes, I would make sure before you leave that he loads willing and safely or he may have to stay on the trailer. Nothing worse than getting in a standoff about loading or getting away friom you. It depends on your trailer but we have pulled out dividers to give them more room and hauled a horse loose to turn around if that's an option.
Â
Edited by BroncoBetty 2016-11-25 8:43 AM
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
 
Location: Arkansas | When we took Two about 8 hours to North AR for a vet visit on her back legs, we stopped and let her rest on the way up. Coming back we stopped at the back of a large truck stop that wasn't busy and unloaded her. We let her walk around and also eat her supper and just hang out for awhile. She's been hauled thousands of miles and knows the drill, so I felt safe doing this. Since it was her legs we were dealing with I felt she just needed to get out and move around. Not sure that all five of ours I would trust this much, but with her I wasn't too worried. | |
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 Veteran
Posts: 146
| I would not unload unless you are 100%+++ sure your horses will easily load back on, won't spook at odd sounds or traffic etc. The last thing you want is a horse that suddenly doesn't want to load or a horse that spooks at a passing truck and gets away from you. We have always let horses rest on the horse trailer. We stop about every 3 hours and let them rest for 15-20 minutes, offer water with some electrolytes and refill hay nets. Agree with having a well stocked first aid kit for horses (and humans). Ace or something similar, Banamine, vet wrap, something to stop bleeding etc. and a list of large animal vets along your route. Have a list of horse hotels along your route just in case you need to stop for a night.
If you have the $$ hire a professional horse transport to haul your horses for you. When we move this next year that's how we will move our horses. Doing a charter so the horses will have the entire van to themselves with box stalls. They will have a 2 night layover which will give us time to get to the new place ahead of them. While expensive, we need the trailer to load up all the cats and their pet carriers. It would probably be less stressful to have the cats professional shipped and haul the horses ourselves! | |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | 4Horse - 2016-11-26 6:27 AM I would not unload unless you are 100%+++ sure your horses will easily load back on, won't spook at odd sounds or traffic etc. The last thing you want is a horse that suddenly doesn't want to load or a horse that spooks at a passing truck and gets away from you. We have always let horses rest on the horse trailer. We stop about every 3 hours and let them rest for 15-20 minutes, offer water with some electrolytes and refill hay nets. Agree with having a well stocked first aid kit for horses (and humans). Ace or something similar, Banamine, vet wrap, something to stop bleeding etc. and a list of large animal vets along your route. Have a list of horse hotels along your route just in case you need to stop for a night. If you have the $$ hire a professional horse transport to haul your horses for you. When we move this next year that's how we will move our horses. Doing a charter so the horses will have the entire van to themselves with box stalls. They will have a 2 night layover which will give us time to get to the new place ahead of them. While expensive, we need the trailer to load up all the cats and their pet carriers. It would probably be less stressful to have the cats professional shipped and haul the horses ourselves!
Very good advice, theres nothing worst trying to reload a horse thats tired of being in a trailer all day, I would find fairgrounds if I were travel and wanted to unload for a few hours, its would be safer then a road side rest area.. When I hauled long periods of time I would just pull over in a rest area along the way and just let the horse rest in the trailer and offer them water and fill hay bags. Even when you stop to eat find shade to park the trailer under so the horses can rest..
Good luck on your trip and Welcome to Texas, we're big and theres awesome things here to see and do.  | |
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Veteran
Posts: 120
| Southtxponygirl - 2016-11-26 9:31 AM
4Horse - 2016-11-26 6:27 AM I would not unload unless you are 100%+++ sure your horses will easily load back on, won't spook at odd sounds or traffic etc. The last thing you want is a horse that suddenly doesn't want to load or a horse that spooks at a passing truck and gets away from you. We have always let horses rest on the horse trailer. We stop about every 3 hours and let them rest for 15-20 minutes, offer water with some electrolytes and refill hay nets. Agree with having a well stocked first aid kit for horses (and humans). Ace or something similar, Banamine, vet wrap, something to stop bleeding etc. and a list of large animal vets along your route. Have a list of horse hotels along your route just in case you need to stop for a night. If you have the $$ hire a professional horse transport to haul your horses for you. When we move this next year that's how we will move our horses. Doing a charter so the horses will have the entire van to themselves with box stalls. They will have a 2 night layover which will give us time to get to the new place ahead of them. While expensive, we need the trailer to load up all the cats and their pet carriers. It would probably be less stressful to have the cats professional shipped and haul the horses ourselves!
Very good advice, theres nothing worst trying to reload a horse thats tired of being in a trailer all day, I would find fairgrounds if I were travel and wanted to unload for a few hours, its would be safer then a road side rest area.. When I hauled long periods of time I would just pull over in a rest area along the way and just let the horse rest in the trailer and offer them water and fill hay bags. Â Even when you stop to eat find shade to park the trailer under so the horses can rest..Â
Good luck on your trip and Welcome to Texas, we're big and theres awesome things here to see and do.Â
I know for sure my older one will load easily and won't spook but who knows with the 4 year old! lol she may just have to take the front stall and rest in the trailer while the other one gets unloaded.
Thanks for all the great tips! | |
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