How to Haul Horses

"Hi! This is Sharon Booth with Goldenrod Performance Horse representing Expert Village. We are now going to talk about how to haul your horse. The basics are if you have never hauled a horse, don't do it yourself. You need an expert in hauling, that is a good driver, that knows how to load the horse, how to unload the horse and how to haul with that kind of weight behind you. But basically you are going to need if you are going to do it yourself, practice. You need this horse trailer. A horse trailer must be of sound build. This one is an enclosed trailer. There are many types including stock trailers so you need to make sure that you have a good solid trailer and on the inside, hopefully you have a tack room or if you don't have a tack room, you have somewhere to put all of your tack that you are going to take with your horse. The inside of the trailer needs to be strong as well. It needs to be a place to tie your horse so that your horse can't move around in the trailer. In this case, we have different slats in our trailer and it is a slant load so that the horses ride at a slant instead of just straight forward or just straight backwards. There are many ways to a haul a horse and many types of trailers and that is something that you should review with a good trainer or other horse owner that has done this before. Also, you want to make sure that the vehicle you are using to haul this horse is in good order. That not only are your trailer tires up and full of air to take the additional weight but the vehicle that you are using, the truck or van or some kind of large vehicle that can take hauling a horse is in good running order so that you have no breakdowns on the road. As it can be very dangerous for you and your horse to be broken down on a freeway or other highways and always watch the traffic. Be sure that you slow down way before your time so that you don't come to a screeching halt throwing your horse down in the trailer. There are so many safety rules for hauling horses that you need to review that with either someone at the feed store, your veterinarian or a trailer agency that sells horse trailers. They should know some of the basics as well as your trainer on how to haul a horse safely and make sure that your horse learns how to load in and out of the trailer as safely as well. Have a good time going with your horse."