Preparing For Commercial Transport

Just the mere thought of sending your horse on a commercial transport can be unnerving to say the least. As a horse owner you need to be sure you can move the horse without hesitation, especially in emergency situations ie; emergency trip to vet for colic or injury, escaping from a hurricane or other act of mother nature. Your horse and you need to prepare before the need arises to save his life.

It should be understood that most commercial vans are 18 wheelers handling 15 horses in a straight load configuration, with single, stall and ½ and box stall configurations. To the horse it’s a huge horse eating monster.

To load a horse in one of these trailers there are ramps extending from the side doors with plywood sides. These ramps are probably 3 feet wide and steep. Once inside the horse will have to turn and back into a stall. Then be cross tied and be able to stand fairly still while in transit. The trailers have various configurations, but most probably your horse will be walked in towards another horse then be made to back immediately into their stall.

All of this sounds relatively easy, but to the untrained horse a giant task, especially with all of the scary things around them. Your horse must be able to lead forward on queue with as little hesitation as possible. We realize the horse is curious and afraid of confined spaces but nevertheless he needs to be able to accept the lead and move forward. Then once that is accomplished he needs to stop….stand and back into a confined space.

This is a true experience for a transporter especially when the horse plants his feet and simply refuses to do anything. We practice a degree of natural techniques, but we have a limited time to work with a horse and train them to do these simple tasks. All of the confusion and stress related to loading is truly a detriment to successfully training the horse. One of the first things we do is to see just how supple your horse is we lead them towards the trailer to see if they shy away, then using the lead rope have him circle us on command and stop, then gently pull back on the lead rope to see if he will back up.

Should a horse walk towards the trailer and stop dead in his tracks before he reaches it, it’s probably going to be interesting to try to get him on the ramp much less up and in. Most horses will walk to the ramps and possibly put a foot or two on it then quickly back away. This is their way of ensuring they aren’t being trapped, and we let then do this, but walking up a narrow ramp with plywood sides is still a major undertaking.

If and when he finally loads we now have the introduction of an entire new experience. He must face other horses he doesn’t know, but still pay attention to the loader. Then on command easily back into a confined space with no way out except over the handler. Most standing stalls are approximately 3 feet wide and 7 to 8 feet long, usually with a horse standing next to him. All of this is really scary to the horse and then with all of the new sounds and smells it becomes a truly stressful experience.

The above is a standard but there are exceptions to the trailer configurations. Some haulers use standard slant trailers with rear load step up. Others use straight load 4 to 6 horse with rear and side ramps. The rear ramps usually measure the full width of the trailer and are a much lower slope angle of side ramps. Side ramps are usually 4 feet wide and 4 4.5 feet long causing them to be steeper.

To properly prepare your horse you need to work on the following:

Do whatever is necessary to get your horse to accept the trailer without fear.

Train your horse to walk forward and stop on command.

Ensure your horse will walk into a confined space with sides preferably on a slope.

Train your horse to back into confined space with no way out except forward.

Get them to be cross tied in the space and stand still for extended periods.

We totally agree with the trailer loading training as indicated in the Parelli course. However as a commercial transporter it’s impossible to be able to sit until the horse gets in, and then if they will not back and stand cross tied with other horses and stall configurations it’s unsafe. The horse could just go crazy and injure himself, the handler or other horses. If they go crazy while traveling they could kill themselves. With this in mind most transporters will have no choice, but to leave the horse in the interest of safety.

We do use natural methods to get them to load successfully, but others use whips, butt ropes, chains, winches, and just fear which sometimes works. But if the horse is abused in any way during load he will probably not load a second time.

We also worry about a young or green horse being able to stand for long times with all of the strange noises and smells associated with travel. For example; passing trucks, exhaust fumes, dust, clanking of chains, fuel smells, air brakes and many many others.

In some cases we suggest box stalls to allow the horse to be untied and therefore able to move away from fear as they would normally do. Being untied they will not thrash and hurt themselves. As for older horses sometimes the stress can simply be the confined single stall, old bones need to move, so a stall and ½ works well.

As the owner it’s your responsibility  to help your horse accept the trailer. Unfortunately most think of a trailer trip as a fun trip to a show or trail ride. In these cases using a privately owned unit, it doesn’t matter as to how long it takes just that you get there and have fun. However, when using a commercial hauler time is expensive and they not only have a responsibility to you, but to every other horse and owner.