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Posted on Saturday, Aug 5, 2000 - 9:54 pm:

I will be moving my horses from Colorado to Minnesota (a Paso Fino and a miniature). I do not have a trailer and was thinking of using a transport company or a private individual who would trailer the horses for me. I was going to sell the horses and leave them in Colorado, but I realized I was far too attached to them. Does anyone know the cost of transporting, how to transport safely, drive straight through or stop overnight? Is anyone interested in trailering my horses to Minnesota? Irene

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2000 - 1:16 am:

Hi Irene,

My husband and I just transported my pony mare from Alberta to Minnesota. We researched several avenues before making the decision to transport her ourselves. Our trip was approx. 1300 miles.

During our research stage, I phoned several transport companies. The majority of the larger companies offered bi-weekly coast to coast service. Most offered a choice of box stalls or a standing style stall. The length of trip averaged between 2 to 4 days. The average price for my pony mare to be transported ranged from $800.00 to $1100.00 dollars, depending upon stall size and the number of horses booked on the trip. The more horses booked on the trip and the smaller your choice of stall the less expensive your quoted price. We also found that the companies only offered a quoted price, depending upon the gas prices some companies add a gas surcharge to the quoted price.

Another option was to advertise on a few internet sites that you have a horse needing to be transported from point A to point B. A private transporter may have spots open on his/her trailer and be interested in taking a extra horse to help absorb his/her cost. This option seemed like it would be about 50% less than a professional transport company. However, I did not feel comfortable with this idea.

My husband and I decided to pick up our horse ourselves. Since we have family in Alberta we turned the trip into a holiday. The initial drive was 19 hours including rest stops. On our way home with "Lady" our trip was just 2 days. We own a older style 1.5 horse size trailer, easy hauler, low vibrations and with our truck pulling it we noticed very little difference in fuel mileage. We stopped every 3 hours (which worked out well since we would fill up with gas or have lunch etc) for at least 20 minutes to let Lady rest. Then we would stop every 6 hours and unload her..walk her for 20 minutes then offer water and let her rest for a good 45 minutes. We stopped overnight at a B&B that could accommodate Lady with a small paddock. Then resumed our travel the next day. We had 13 hours of driving the first day and 9 the next. She is a good traveller and drank without hesitation when water was offered. We fed only a grass hay during travel to help avoid chances of colicky behavior. We requested a paddock for her at the Bed and Breakfast (B&B) so that she would have room to stretch on our overnight stay.

Finding overnight horse/people accommodations can be a challenge. Since we were travelling thru Montana and North Dakota it was abit easier since it is horse country. I mapped out our journey, then used the Yahoo.com yellow pages to find B&B's at possible town stop locations. I then phoned the various B&B's to ask if they could accommodate a horse, surprisingly most could! We gauged our travel speed on Lady. We had the ideal B&B stop (which I did reserve) then I had the list of about 20 other B&B options if we needed to stop earlier.

As for transport safety, your trailer and truck is of number one concern. We gave our trailer a through inspection and even purchased new top of the line tires for it. The tires played a major role in the ride comfort.

We enjoyed our trip. The cost of gas (one way with Lady), food, lodging and misc items worked out to be approx $350.00 dollars.

Good luck in your decision making. If you do not own a trailer or have the time to transport yourself you may find hiring a transport company is the way to go. You should be able to get a good discount for two horses.

Cheers,
Julie

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2000 - 1:29 am:

Sorry Irene! I just reread your message and I must have been blind not to notice you clearly stated that you do not own a trailer. We didn't either before our trip and so we purchased our "new" 1.5 horse trailer for $300.00 dollars. Then we put new tires on it and installed new lights..the floor etc was good. So for the average price of the professional transporters we were able to purchase the trailer, have a gas budget...and in the end we keep the trailer.

I sympathize how attached you are to your horses. My husband thought it would be much easier just to sell Lady and buy a new horse in Minnesota. However after owning her for 13 years, I felt I could not do that.

Julie

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2000 - 11:00 am:

Hello All,
We have a forum on this topic with many posts and recommendations at: The Horseman's Advisor: Care for Horses: General Care: Trailering Horses.
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2000 - 11:42 pm:

Julie, Where do you live in Minnesota? When we get there it would be fun to meet you. Thanks for the tips on trailering. You have been very helpful. When I was a kid I had a paint mare named lady. Now I have Duke, the Paso Fino, and Pepe' the Mini/shet cross. Thanks again. Irene

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2000 - 11:44 pm:

Julie, Where do you live in Minnesota? When we get there it would be fun to meet you. Thanks for the tips on trailering. You have been very helpful. When I was a kid I had a paint mare named Lady. Now I have Duke, the Paso Fino, and Pepe' the Mini/shet cross. Thanks again. Irene

Posted on Monday, Aug 7, 2000 - 2:55 am:

Hi Irene,

We live just north of the twin cities. Are you going to be in the twin city area? Minnesota is a beautiful state, very green. However we sure do miss the Rocky Mountains!

If you would like to chat here is my email address: jdonnelley@hotmail.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,
Julie
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