I am getting ready to make a trip from North Carolina to the VERY bottom of Texas...mileage total one way is 1556... and am wondering how much it is going to cost me to get down there...

Here is what I have so far...

1556 Miles one way ( 3112 roundtrip)

12-14 MPG

34 gallons per tank of fuel

one way....around 111-129 gallons of fuel or 222-258 round trip...

We are GUESSTIMATING average fuel cost to be $2.50 a gallon

which puts us at a total cost of $550ish round trip..

Does this sound right? AND does anybody know for sure what the national average is or even the average for the state we are travelling through? NC, SC, GA,AL, LA, MS,and TX..

ANY sugguestions?

Try these sites for diesel price guestimates:

http://www.flyingj.com/fuel/diesel_CF.cfm?state=ALL

www.gasbuddy.com

www.dieselboss.com

Have a fun trip!

Well unfortunately...with my work schedule...3 days there and 3 back just can't happen...we are leaving Thursday at around 5pm and hope to get there Friday around 7pm...2 drivers rotating...

get to hotel on friday evening and sleep..get up Saturday and ride the horse...Leave Sunday early morning and drive to Louisiana to stop for the night ( horse motel) since that is about half way home...get up early monday morning and drive the rest of the way home...

Any suggestions for hauling one horse that long of a distance? We are planning to remove one of the partitions in the slant load for a wider, bigger stall for the horse...

He is older (17) and a good traveller but i dont want a worn out horse when i get home..maybe some bute for the trip home? Wrapping legs or no?

Here in my piece of S. Texas gas is $2.00(for gas, I don't have a deisl).  I filled up this morning. 

Here is what I have so far...

1556 Miles one way ( 3112 roundtrip)

12-14 MPG

34 gallons per tank of fuel

one way....around 111-129 gallons of fuel or 222-258 round trip...

We are GUESSTIMATING average fuel cost to be $2.50 a gallon

which puts us at a total cost of $550ish round trip..

I entered this info into microsoft streets and trips and came up with (from chesapeke Va since I didn't know where in NC, to brownsville and came up with  1754.8 miles, 29 hours and $320.

Okay lets back up and reread my second post and let me clarify...

Going to pick up the horse from Texas....so he is only making the return trip and we are stopping halfway in louisana to spend the night and let the horse off to rest. ...stopping every 5 hours til we get to our stoping point.( 12 hours)

So for the return trip...one partition removed from the slant load for a bigger stall, hay in a hay bag, bedded with shavings, ( still debating wraps) etc

I would definitely not bute.  It's really hard on a dehydrated horse's kidneys (it can cause damage), and it's very likely if he's in the trailer that long that he will be dehydrated.  Same for banamine. 

I would keep soaked hay in front of him, and try to keep the GI tract going during the trip.

Info on the dehydration link: http://www.horse-previews.com/1196articles/1196vetcorner.html

http://www.ruralheritage.com/messageboard/virtualvet/4568-7.htm

This is something we are really careful about with distance horses that go into distress, because they are often in some state of dehydration just arriving at the competition after trailering.  Hydration is almost always the first step in treatment before administering medication when something goes wrong.

If you can just pull over and let him rest for an hour or two in the trailer every 4-6 hours, the trip will be a lot easier on him.  Don't let him eat grass around rest stations...  It can be treated with herbicide.  There are distance riders who have had very sick horses from that as well.

Just keep it simple:  lots of hay and water (soak the hay in a big bucket before you put it in his feeder so he's taking in water with his hay).  Rest him when you can.  You'll do fine.

Happy Trails,

Michelle

I've done a similar trip with my horse - Toronto to Cape Breton - with an overnight stop with a stall half way (I think it's about 1200 miles each way).

This was on a small 2 horse - I removed the partition to give him more room.  Hay in front of him - stopped every 2-4 hours and offered water (which he usually took a good drink of - he always drinks a lot). I did wrap - but I don't think it is necessary. He came off the trailer in good shape the first night and hopped right back on in the morning - and was fresh and not tired when we got there.

My filly did the same trip in reverse with a shipper at 18 months - tied in a stock trailer - no wraps, lots of hay, bedded in shavings - they did the trip straight through with only short stops to rest and offer water and she was great when she got here too.

" Don't let him eat grass around rest stations...  It can be treated with herbicide.  There are distance riders who have had very sick horses from that as well."

Wow, good point about the herbicides on grass at rest areas. I never would have thought about that.

Issue of wraps. It's a toss up. I do wraps, but only do trips of 2-3 hours one way. Have never done anything longer so not sure if I would wrap or not. I also do bell boots on my horse, all 4 feet, to protect  the heels and coronet band. Have seen and have had a horse clip himself quite badly while trailering. If the horse is not used to having wraps finding out whether or not he needs them or not on a 26 hour trailer trip is not a good idea, leave them off.

For me the wraps are for peace of mind and their safety standpoint over using them for support.

Reg -

The price of EVERYTHING at stops on the Thruway are always way higher than if you exited. It's because the franchises have you in their clutches, plus I'm sure they have to do a kickback to NYSTA in order to sell at those stops.  If you use US20 along the south side of the Thruway, you can get better prices - but you also have to slow down and put up with small towns and villages. At least the Thruway is smooth and cared for. (Can you tell I'm a misplaced New Yorker? LOL)

Anyway - it sucks here in Michigan. Diesel has been higher than regular gas for months and months ... my friends with Diesels are griping about it...  regular gas was 2.09 last week; this week it's 2.35 and diesel was $2.39 ....

That's what I need to do. I'm getting tired of paying $2.65 a gallon for diesel!!

Here in "my town" diesel ranges from $2.31 to $2.36/gal and this is NOT a big town. It's ridiculous how one station can be 5 cents more and you go a mile down the road and it will be 5 cents less. I think it's a big joke. When it comes down to it whether I am going to save a dollar to fill up at one station I really don't care anymore. So raise the prices and lower them, raise them, lower them, bring it on!

Plus, when my diesel is getting 19 mpg, I won't complain.

  I can't offer any words of wisdom on the long haul; think plenty of good advice has already been given(especially the one about offering water at both "ends" of a stop...and about not letting your horse graze around rest stops;learned something new myself, there-thanks!)I only trail ride my "big", nowadays, and for now, am not hauling long distances to ride! I HAVE hauled those long distances showing(though it was only one way in a day, then the return days later-from Albuquerque area to OK City, to Estes Park, CO and Cheyenne, WY, and to Ft. Worth, to the Will Rogers)-but only with minis, not bigs. Good luck with your trip! Gotta say-I am another who is pretty darn tired of the price of diesel-I am retired and on a very fixed income; last week, diesel was $2.49 here, while reg. unleaded was 20-25 cents/gallon LESS-a total rip-off, charging so much for diesel, IMO!! I went way out on a limb to buy diesel for its power?long life/ mileage/better fuel mileage--and now this!!

Margo

I've heard of people doing that - how exactly does it work (not that I have a diesel) I've heard you need to start it up on actual deisel and then you can switch to the oil?  Is it a large cost to set it up?