I’ve traveled quite a bit of long
distances with my horses (on the road for 4 days or so at a time). I stop
every 2 hours or so because I need to pee. I just pull over at a rest
stop and use the toilet in the LQ of my trailer. Gives a chance for the
horses to stop moving and for me to check on them to see if they need anything
(and give them carrots to make sure their appetites are still good). Neither
of my current horses want to pee in the trailer, so I also get them out every 4
hours. This seems to be a comfortable amount of time between pee stops. I
let them graze at this time too. I generally travel long days when I’m
on the road, so I also stop for around 45 minutes for lunch. I get the
horses out and walk/graze them and then I’ll tie them to the trailer with
a bucket of water and a beet pulp mash to eat while I eat my lunch. I’m
really big on feeding quite a bit of beet pulp (and really wet) when I’m
on the road to help the hydration status. Typically they get it in
the morning before we leave and a couple times a day at the longer stops.
Then, of course, again at night when we stop.
I plan my stops before leaving so that I
know where I’m going each night. I prefer to have a place that I
can turn the horses out each night. Even some of the fairgrounds will
give you an arena or a larger area if you ask for it. Anyway, I make sure
they have at least an acre to move around in, roll, romp and whatever they feel
like each night on the road.
My older horse thinks these trips are
great adventures and is always up beat and curious about out whereabouts. The
younger one was not as upbeat last year on our trip to and from Texas. He worries
more. Having the older one along with him helped some, but I still
worried about him and the amount of stress.
Generally, I traveled about 12-14 hours
each day, but with the frequent stops it takes those kinds of hours to make the
miles one needs to make in a day.
From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of kramspott@xxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007
9:59 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Long distance
hauling
This
is in respect to going to endurance rides outside of my region, maybe visiting
the beautiful Swanton Pacific some day.
Does
anyone have any experience with horse trailering over long distances that they
would like to share? I guess specifically a couple horses traveling in an
average LQ trailer. Stopping every 2-3 hours for a pit stop, water,
more hay if needed and just to stay still for 5 - 10 minutes.
How
many hours can they comfortably travel like that before it would be pretty
important to unload them and let them walk around and stretch their legs?
We're talking about sound endurance horses without lameness or stiffness
issues.
Thank
you for any advice
--
Kathy SE
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