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Veteran
Posts: 120
| My family will be moving to Stephenville in January and we are so excited!! It is going to be about a 1,300 mile trip and I've never made the drive before! Any tips?? We really don't want to stop and lay over so we will be splitting the driving and taking the horses out to stretch as needed. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
   
Location: In the Hills of Texas | We made a 1200 mile trip back and forth to Texas from Ill to NW of San Antonio many times before moving. We made a stop about every 6 hours and never had any problems. Many times it's hard to find a safe place to let them out. Our horses drank good and we would offer water and refill hay bags when we stopped if they were empty.
Welcome to Texas! You will be going when it's cold. The downside of Stephenville in winter is that it seems that the wind is always blowing.
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 A Barrel Of Monkeys
Posts: 12972
Location: Texas | Welcome!! You'll enjoy winter but come summer, you'll want to go back. |
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Location: in the ozone | I suggest don't unload - you never know if one will decide not to get back in, footing could be worse than ou thought, grass in the area could be sprayed with weed killer (poison), etc. Just stop every 3-4 hrs & let them rest good - offer water on the trailer & let them relax their legs. We always feed hay bags that we've soaked the hay with water - gets some moisture in their systems & also something to munch on along the way if they want. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Where are you moving from? |
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Veteran
Posts: 120
| Thanks everyone! These are great tips. We are moving from Idaho! |
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Location: Illinois | Lucky you!!!
I agree what others said above. I'd stop every 6 and just make sure the horse are happy and you'll be fine! How exciting! |
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Veteran
Posts: 120
| Yes we are very excited!! Hopefully the trip goes smoothly. The summers will be a hard adjustment for us but it'll be worth it! lol |
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4627
Location: Texas | Very exciting! Best of luck with your travels! |
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Safe travels and hope you love your new home. |
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 Shoot Yeah
Posts: 4273
Location: Where you need a paddle... Oregon! | When we drove from Oregon to Vegas a few years ago we Googled fairgrounds along the way and were able to stop and let them out. A couple of places had arenas where they could run and stretch. They traveled really well - even in the heat. |
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 Yard Ornament Collector
Location: BFE, Texas | 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. |
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Expert
Posts: 1255
| When I moved to Washington to New Mexico I stopped every four hours to get out and walk and stayed the night where they was a fairgrounds and I let them out for the night. |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| Good luck!
I want to move TO Idaho (or Utah maybe), lol. Whereabouts in Idaho and do you know of any reasonably priced horse type places for sale??
Hubby has tried to get me to move to Texas since I mat him but I just can't take the heat and humidity of East Texas or the rattlesnakes (and lack of grass for my ponies) in West Texas, so we are still here in the frozen North. I fell in love with that area out west a long time ago. I figure If I'm going to be cold, having gorgeous scenery would be a plus. |
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Boot Detective
Posts: 1898
| Check weather and road conditions for your line of travel so you don't run into any surprises. I like to unload every 4 hours or less and let them walk around a few minutes and drop their heads to eat some hay or feed and drink. They need to drop their heads to let their sinuses drain AND clean the manure out of your trailer so they aren't breathing in tons of ammonia. Once you arrive and get settled, you MUST go visit Teskeys store in Weatherford. You will recuperate instantly. Safe travels and welcome to Texas.
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| If you don't have a trailer where they can drop their heads I would definitely stop every 4 hours or so snd unload. We map out fair grounds with arenas when available. There was an article not too. Long ago about his bad it is fur horses when they can't drop their head and clear their airways. Welcome to Texas, I love it here!! |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | Welcome to Texas. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 764
Location: Stephenville, TX | 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.
Horsemotel.com and Horsetrip.com are good for overnight boarding and fairgrounds information. Happy travels!
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Veteran
Posts: 120
| rodeoveteran - 2016-11-24 11:44 AM
Good luck!
I want to move TO Idaho (or Utah maybe), lol. Whereabouts in Idaho and do you know of any reasonably priced horse type places for sale??
Hubby has tried to get me to move to Texas since I mat him but I just can't take the heat and humidity of East Texas or the rattlesnakes (and lack of grass for my ponies) in West Texas, so we are still here in the frozen North. I fell in love with that area out west a long time ago. I figure If I'm going to be cold, having gorgeous scenery would be a plus.
We live in the Boise area and have loved it! We've been here almost 10 years...it seems the housing market here is insane!! We looked and looked for decent horse property or just somewhere with some acreage at a decent price, but most seem to be in the 400k-500k range. There are always exceptions though and lots more houses are hitting the market every day! If you look at towns outside of Boise - Kuna, Middleton, Parma, Homedale to name a few, you might be able to find more property!
It's beautiful here and the people are very friendly - the horse community is pretty nice too. In the summer there are jackpots usually once or twice a week and rodeos usually every weekend. In the winter we usually have 2-3 jackpots per month as well!
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Veteran
Posts: 120
| quickdraw - 2016-11-24 11:56 AM
Check weather and road conditions for your line of travel so you don't run into any surprises. I like to unload every 4 hours or less and let them walk around a few minutes and drop their heads to eat some hay or feed and drink. They need to drop their heads to let their sinuses drain AND clean the manure out of your trailer so they aren't breathing in tons of ammonia. Once you arrive and get settled, you MUST go visit Teskeys store in Weatherford. You will recuperate instantly. Safe travels and welcome to Texas.
Oh my gosh we just visited Weatherford about a month ago and I drained my bank account at Teskey's!! lol I was in heaven! |
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