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Re: [RC] Long Trailer Rides / Recovery Times - Joe LongMichelle Aquilino wrote: According to the AERC rider handbook: "Horses trailered more than three hours need 12 hours to recover; more than five hours requires a full day." What is everyone's rule of thumb here? How long of a trailer ride does it need to be for you to try arriving two days before the ride (and thus giving the horse a full day to recover)? How short of a trailer ride would not require getting there much earlier than when vet-ins start? Etc... Thanks =) Remember that the handbook is aimed at beginners, and so it properly is conservative with its advice. Remember also that horses are individuals and some suffer more stress in a trailer than others, and some recover faster than others. Also, the quality of the trailer, the nature of the roads, and most of all the skill of the driver all impact how stressful the trailer ride is. I won't give anyone advice on how many miles requires a full day of recovery. I will say that I have often trailered eight or ten hours arriving only 12 hours before the start, and have not experienced any problems. One thing I do is make sure to get the horses off the trailer every three to four hours to stretch their legs, get a chance to cough and pee, and most of all to get water. -- Joe Long aka ChipRider jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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