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New User
Posts: 4
Location: Appleton, WI | Newbie here, trying to plan for our first multinight long distance trip. Wondering how many hours you can safely travel in a day without stressing the horses too much, and then how long you need to stay at a campsite before resuming the trip. We took a trip from northeast Wisconsin to middle Tennessee as a non-stop, and it took the horses two days to recover before they were ready to show. I'm not worried about showing, just trail riding in this instance. Thinking about a trip from Wisconsin to the Black Hills or perhaps further west. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 657
  
Location: Rayne, LA | We regularly do 10 hours, but have done 15 a number of times with no negative results. We are hauling mules not horses. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 690
Location: missouri | We usually make stop/checks every 4-6 hrs to let them rest still... beyond that, we take them out and walk them, water them, and proceed after about one hour. On a trip, like SW Missouri to Black Hills, we have two or three overnights at horsecamps pre-sceduled. Always have hay and water available. |
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Member
Posts: 20
Location: Lake Mills, Iowa | We travel to the Black Hills frequently with horses. We are from north central Iowa. 9.5 hours. We drive straight through. We will make fuel stops only, and leave at 2 a.m.. No issues with the horses. You can overnight in Mitchell at Cabelas. FYI, the water is not good at the corrals so haul your own. You can also overnight in Murdo at the rodeo grounds. There are some places around Chamberlin also. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 657
Location: Rayne, LA | We do let them have hay bags |
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Expert
Posts: 1989
Location: South Central OK | It really depends on the horses and how experienced they are along with the temperament. Well seasoned haulers can stay on the trailer for a day or more, while nervous or inexperienced horses might only tolerate 6 hours. Properly wrapping the legs and hauling on shavings can help with leg fatigue and encourage horses to urinate respectively. I've known horses that would not pee on the trailer, so these horses will need more stops and time outside of the trailer. You really don't know what each horse can tolerate until you haul them long distances. I've hauled a few that were such idiots that once they got on the trailer they did not get off until we got to the destination. FWIW, if you wrap the legs get a good lesson from a vet or race horse/hunter trainer because wrapping wrong can bow a tendon and ruin your horse. Only wrap if you know what you are doing, if not then double the shavings in the trailer floor. Always offer hay, it helps to keep them busy and ease a nervous stomach keeping the ulcers down in a nervous hauler. Carry all your liniments and be ready to fight stacking, wind puffs and general leg swelling. Don't make a long haul on new shoes, have your trim/shoe about 2 weeks before your haul. Carry a tube of bute inside your vet box, it will help reduce swelling too. Have fun and keep your phone charged! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 326
Location: central IL | We just got back from an IL to AZ snowbird trip. 1,700 miles one way. We make day 1 the longest, then tapered off days 2 & 3. We've been traveling long distances for the past 13 years and have had great experiences. When we travel, we stop every 4 hours for fuel and rest. We never let the horses out of the trailer but do drop the windows most of the time. We put ample shavings in the "pee spots" along with pellets that absorb the urine. Most horses don't want to splash. I offer water but I've never had any of my horses actually drink. Some eat hay while others would just nibble. You'll learn your horse's MO in no time. I never grain the morning of the long days, but do use a probiotic like Fastrack or DAC DDA. Also, ventilation is important even if it's super cold. We've traveled in both frigid winter temps and July triple digits. Never travel with all windows shut. If possible we try overnighting where runs are available as opposed to stalls. When asking opinions, you'll get all kinds of different advice. This is what has worked for us and after consulting with our vet back when we set out on our "maiden" trip. Notice the only "advice" I mentioned was regarding the ventilation. Best of luck and Happy Trails along with safe travels. (Just back from AZ & TX. Heading to CO this summer and Black Hills in Sept. See you there?) |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 326
Location: central IL | Tried to edit my post but couldn't. Didn't really address the question.....sorry. Some of our Day #1 of cross country trips have been up to 14 hours. Then Days 2 & 3 we usually pull an average of 10 - 12. Hubby doesn't ride, so these trips have always been hauling a single horse. We've hauled 4 different ones over the years. I'm a trail rider. I usually do a short ride the first day or 2 as opposed to letting my horse stand around in a stall. A lot depends on how conditioned the horse was prior to the trip along with the change in elevation. Hope that better addresses your inquiry. |
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New User
Posts: 3
| Hey guys, this is kinda related. Im planning a trip across three States and want to camp along the way. I need a new generator, but don't want a really loud one - not great for the horses. I found this 2000 Watt Inverter Generator Comparison site, but Im still not sure about sound. Any tips? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 326
Location: central IL | In answering Nick about what generator to use, there is a huge website all about generators, different brands and sizes along with information about solar power. I got the website off of Nick's profile since I was going to PM him about the one we bought a year ago. If you do go to his website, you can read all about using different generators since Nick has quite an extensive blog there.
And much more on the blog section of Nick's generator page.......
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How long can you safely travel without stressing horses?
