How We Haul Horses Long Distances 

Had to laugh at that reminder of my father and teenage years.

I rode when I was a kid ! And I loved it! And when I got older Bills and a job happened! I wish I just stuck with horses! We got scammed by our Government and Schools to be their slaves! At 55 I am back with the horses till I die! FJB

I know! Love this handsome horse

You know, we've never found this rampant stomach acid theory to be true. Ranch horses often work 8-10 hour days and they don't eat from the time they leave in the morning until they get home at night. Even when we aren't working our horses, they are fed once in the morning and once in the evening. We've never experienced any chronic colic problems save for an old Haflinger with bad teeth and none of our ranch horses have had ulcers. Before horses became pets and yard ornaments, horses often worked long days alongside their owners without any problems. Even wild horses in the west often have to travel many many hours between feed and water. So I don't know how to address your question. This is a relatively new "theory", this notion that horses have to constantly be eating or their stomach acid will kill them. It just doesn't have a ring of truth to me given our experiences with working horses with no chronic health problems to speak of. If I was looking for a reason for ulcers and gut problems in modern horses, I would probably look at horses being kept artificially and living most of their lives in stalls with no natural herd dynamic and the rigors and redundancy of the performance horse world. I'm not trying to be dismissive of this stomach acid concept that many people seem to believe, it's just that I've had horses for over 50 years. Pat has had them for over 70 years. Living in the west, we don't have them on pasture. You've obviously seen our place! And our horses are fit and healthy and they all eat twice a day.

Wonderful video. Thanks for all you guys do. Always educational....and always entertaining!

Ideally you would teach your horses to load in a more open trailer first. The concepts are much the same but horses are claustrophobic animals so any advantage helps build their confidence and trust in you: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qoTILIVs-hM.htmlsi=dOq5WzvJIM7hm1EH ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c0LsM5Hvg5E.htmlsi=8oz-qk8Yi2ZksiCy

Nope.

Start in a small corral and teach your horse to face up and hook on. Each time you catch him in the small corral, lead him to the place where you brush him and give him some grain in a bucket. This will teach him that there is a reward for getting caught. Don’t bait him with grain in the corral. When he’s waiting at the gate to get caught, you should be able to catch him in a larger area.

That is correct. We prefer an open stock trailer with no dividers. We often haul our horses saddled so dividers are a problem in that situation. We want our horses to be able to shift around if they need to. We can hang a bucket of water easily. Also if we're hauling just one horse cross country, we can turn the horse loose in the trailer.

Vibration, stress, and not eating as much as they are accustomed to.

No. We only haul 3 to 4 horses depending on size and we load them all in the same direction.

Send us an email to debpuckett@gmail.com and we’ll visit. We used to live in St David. Pat day worked for Tammy Owens and Lincoln Dahl and Zach Mayberry and I rode with George Monzingo many years ago.

@@PatnDebPuckett OMG, know them all! will send an email. wonder if we've actually met or are related LOL!

We just haven't found that to be the case in 20 years of cross country horse hauling.

I’ve definitely had a different experience hauling horses long distances through out the years. I think everybody in the rodeo industry would also agree. Check out any rodeo across the country and you’ll see that people are hauling valuable horses in slant trailers with dividers. Much greater safety benefits for owners and horses. God bless

2 1/2 to 3 feet depending on the horses.

And I'm sure you know what you're doing and stay off the highway during blizzards whenever possible. Pat was referring to people who plan cross country trips across I-80 in January for no good reason😎

The biggest fear is all of the other ne’er-do-wells that live in town that do not pay attention to their driving, especially when you have a load of horses, the freeway is icy, and the wind is blowing.

No. We've never worried about that but we don't have anything electrical or any propane in our trailer that would catch on fire unlike many people who have fancier trailers. In any case, I think it's more likely for a horse to slip on a slick mat than to have the shavings catch fire. The shavings also seem to discourage flies from swarming in the horse trailer. Shavings or some kind of bedding keep it generally cleaner and nicer for the horses.

@@PatnDebPuckett Here in Central Kentucky we have several commercial carrier horse vans and they had two fires last year that were blamed on sparks from a flipped out cigarette or something that ignited the shavings in one and two hay bags in another. Thanks for your reply I have learned so much from you both.