25 Things You Need to Know When Traveling With Your Horse:
I am going to share the planning steps I have taken to organize my road trip with my horse. I have owned American Quarter Horses for 14 years and up until recently I have never traveled with my horse. That is not to say my horse has never traveled because he has, but I have always left the detail of that to my coach. My main focus has always been to ride and not to show so I didn’t have much call to learn about all the ins and outs of traveling with a horse.
Over the last year I have planned a horse trip of a life time and I would like to share what I have learned with you. These tip will help you plan your own trip no matter how big or small. For me I went big and planned a 3 month long, across the U.S. adventure with my horse Irish and my mom to Reining Horse Trainers and National Parks.
What are your goals for the trip?- Is your horse up for the challenge of the trip you have planned?
- How long will the trip be?
- Set a budget for the trip.
- Do you have anyone that would travel with you? This is a safety issue so even if your buddy does not ride you can always go to places that they will enjoy too.
- How are you going to get your horse and yourself to your destination?
- Can you even drive a horse trailer? Practice a lot before you hit the road. I hired an RV trainer to teach me and it was the best money I spent to have a pro teach me all I needed to know.
- Is your truck big enough to pull the kind of trailer you want to haul?
- Where are you going to board your horse? Show grounds, Lay over farm or a friends.
- Where are you going to stay? Show grounds, camp grounds, State or National Park, friends or hotel.
- Does your horse trailer well? Take your horse on short trips to see how he /she does before you hit the road.
- Do you need insurance for your horse and if so what kind? Horse insurance companies offer mortality insurance all the way to loss of use insurance.
- Do you have proof of ownership of your horse? If your horse is registered with a bread organization that is a great way to show proof of ownership. If not, check with the states you are going to and find out what they will accept as proof. Take photos of your horse with you. I also took photos of him with my trailer and included the license plate in the photo.
- Call your veterinarian as soon as possible to schedule any needed care and health certifications appointments. Be sure you have a negative Coggins that is current for the state you are going. Some state require it to be within 12 months some are 6 months.
- Know what the health requirements are for your horse at your final destinations. It is best to contact each states department of agriculture to find out what is required by that state. This is also a good time to find out if there are any quarantines in effect. Also ask about what kind of documentation they require on the health certifications.
- Know what the health requirements are for all the states you are traveling through to get to your final destination. Even if you are not staying in a state you must meet their requirements to pass through.
- Check with your farrier to know if you need to have any special instructions for shoeing your horse if it needs to be done while you are on the road. Consider having them make an extra set of shoes for you to take with you if you are going to be gone longer than your horse’s shoeing cycle.
- Are you going to be traveling in Branded States? These are states that require a Brand inspection to leave the state. You can do a life time brand inspection for your horse in the first branded state you stop in. A life time brand inspections is good in all brand inspections states for as long as you own your horse. You need to do this even if your horse is not branded. You don’t need to get your horse branded to have a brand inspections done. This information is available through the state’s department of agriculture. Be sure to ask about brand inspection as well as health certification requirements when you call.
- Are you going to be traveling out the U.S.?
- Know your route. Map it out before you leave, GPS is great but we all know it can leave you hanging and you really don’t want to be doing that with a horse.
- Know where you can stop to take a break and get gas, food and water. Plan to stop every 2 – 3 hours. Give your horse water, hay, untie them, and evaluate their overall status.
- Consider signing up for road side assistance company that handles helping people with horses and trailers. There are two that I know US Rider and Trail Guard. If you have AAA they will not be able to help you as well as these other companies that deal with horse trailer roadside needs.
- Don’t forget to make arrangements for someone to care for your home.
- Make sure your vehicles are all in good working order and that your license, registration, insurance and inspections are all up to date. Don’t drive a vehicle you are not licensed to drive. If you need a CDL license get it.
- HAVE FUN!
I will be addressing all the tips in more detail in future blog post. I will also be blogging about all the horse training techniques I learn on the way.
Click this link to read – 6 goals for a horseback riding trip https://horsetaillegacy.com/1u6v
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Thank you to Peggy McGee for all your editing skills.