Cherry Hill - Trailering Your Horse: A Visual Guide to Safe Training and Traveling

HORSEKEEPING SKILLS LIBRARY

A VISUAL GUIDE TO SAFE TRAINING AND TRAVELING

CHERRY HILL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY
RICHARD KLIMESH

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by
publishing practical information that encourages
personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Deborah Burns and Marie Salter
Copyedited by Doris Troy
Cover design by Eugenie Delaney
Cover photograph by Richard Klimesh
Text design and production by Susan Bernier
Production assistance by Jennifer Jepson Smith
Photographs and line drawings by Richard Klimesh, except where otherwise indicated;
line drawings on pages 39, 42, 103, 118, and 130 by Alison Kolesar
Indexed by Susan Olason/Indexes & Knowledge Maps

2000 by Cherry Hill

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. For additional information please contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247.

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Printed in the United States by Versa Press
10 9 8 7 6 5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hill, Cherry, 1947
Trailering your horse : a visual guide to safe training and traveling / Cherry Hill.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-58017-176-1
1. HorsesTransportation
Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Horse trailersHandbooks, manuals, etc.
I. Title.
SF285.385 .H55 2000
636.1083dc21

99-043744

Thanks to the following for their help with this manuscript:

American Horse Council, Washington, DC

B&W Custom Truck Beds, Inc., Humboldt, Kansas

Double Diamond Halter Co., Inc., Gallatin, Montana

Draw-Tite, Canton, Michigan

Equine Travelers of America Inc., Arkansas City, Kansas

Farnam Companies, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona

Featherlite Inc., Cresco, Iowa

Fold-A-Feeder, Big Piney, Wyoming

4-Star Trailers, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Tim Gueswel, La Porte, Colorado

Johnson Barns and Trailers, Phoenix, Arizona

Max-Air Trailer Sales, Fort Collins, Colorado

Scott Murdock Trailer Sales, Loveland, Colorado

Reese Products, Inc., Elkhart, Indiana

Lonny Smith, Cresco, Iowa

Sundowner Trailers, Inc., Coleman, Oklahoma

Turnbow Trailers, Oilton, Oklahoma

101 Horsemanship and Equitation Patterns

Stablekeeping

Longeing and Long Lining the English and Western Horse

101 Longeing and Long Lining Exercises, English and Western

Beginning English Exercises

Intermediate English Exercises

Advanced English Exercises

Beginning Western Exercises

Intermediate Western Exercises

Advanced Western Exercises

Horse Health Care

Horse Handling and Grooming

Your Pony, Your Horse

Horse for Sale

101 Arena Exercises

Practical Guide to Lameness (with Dr. Ted S. Stashak)

Maximum Hoof Power (with Richard Klimesh)

Making Not Breaking

Becoming an Effective Rider

Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage

From the Center of the Ring

The Formative Years

We are a mobile society and we often want to take our horses with us when we go. Whether traveling to a weekend horse show or trail ride, moving across the country, or taking a horse for an emergency visit to the vet, you need to know safe trailering practices.

Safe trailering starts with a good rig a suitable trailer and an adequate towing vehicle. An important key to low-stress trailering is spending time on training and familiarization lessons for your horse. For your actual trip, youll need to pack the right gear and emergency equipment, learn how to drive while pulling a trailer, and know how to take care of your horse en route.

Whether you are a man or a woman, I really encourage you to become familiar with all aspects of trucks, trailers, training, and traveling: You will gain the knowledge, confidence, and experience to have a safe trip with your horse.

As my cover girl, I chose my high-mileage Quarter Horse mare, Zinger, aka Miss Debbie Hill (named after her sire, Smutty Hill, not me!). Zinger and I have done a lot of traveling together since 1975, when I purchased her as a yearling in Washington. I moved her from the coast to Washington State University, where I was doing a summer sabbatical, then back up to Alberta, Canada, where I had a full-time teaching position in the equine program at Olds College.

When my husband and I returned to the States in 1977, we had only a two-horse trailer, so we had to make two trips to haul our three horses and belongings to the Midwest. Sassy and Poco went on the first trip, which meant Zinger came second and shared the horse trailer with a bookcase and a filing cabinet in the adjoining stall. When normal winter weather turned into a wicked storm, we still forged ahead, hoping to get through the worst of it. Ill never forget passing the Montana Highway Departments wind sock that had been so whipped by the gales that the only thing left was the metal ring. After that, we passed a sign that said, CAUTION. HIGH WIND AREA AHEAD! The 70-mph winds and Montanas icy roads finally forced us to pull over in a truck stop, where we shared the crowded parking lot with countless semis and passenger cars. Although keeping Zinger in the trailer protected her from the wind, eventually I had to unload her and take her for a walk to loosen her up, as she had been standing for many hours already.

It was everything you dont want for a trailering trip: an icy parking lot, winds trying to rip off the trailer doors when you open them, and a crowded scene with many diesel engines rumbling. In spite of all this, Zinger was steadfast and reliable in her unloading, and when it came time to put her back in the trailer, she walked right in.

This is just one of Zingers early road-trip stories. She followed me to Iowa, Illinois, and on to Colorado. Over the years, she and I have trailered to many lessons, shows, clinics, trail rides, and cattle drives. Shes reliable. Shes a veteran.

Thats why I chose Zinger for the cover and for several of the training and traveling demonstrations inside the book. A horse like Zinger is worth her weight in gold. You can make your own horse a Zinger if you follow the advice and procedures youll find here.