Transcript:

[0:03]

Welcome to this video podcast on horse transportation — where have we been, where we are today, and impacts on the horse. My name is Dr. Chris Mortensson. I’m an equine science educator, scientist, advocate, and professional. I’ve been in this business for over 20 — going on 30 — years, and horses have been my life. I’ve done a lot of research in horses, and preparing this podcast this week really brought up a lot of memories because studying the stress of transportation is one of the things I looked at in my PhD, as far as stress and effects on horses. So it’s going to be an interesting podcast when we talk about the impacts of travel on our horses, what we can do to dampen those impacts, and at the end of this podcast I’ll give you some tips so when you’re trailering your horses or transporting your horses, you can make the journey smoother for them so that when you do get to your destination, they’re ready to go relatively quickly. We’ll look at some of the data, especially for performance — do you want to travel the day of your competition or the day before? We’ll look at what some of the science is telling us.

[1:18]

And then, as I record this in the year 2024, we have the Summer Olympics coming up in Paris, France, and so you’re having horses from all over the world descend on that country. These horses are going to have to travel from Australia, New Zealand — that’s probably as far away as they’re going to come from — all the way to Europe. But then you have horses from Asia and South America, and then obviously North America flying over the Atlantic Ocean, coming up to compete in the Olympic Games. So how do they get there? We’re going to cover a little bit of that today too, because it is a fun topic — I mean, it just really is.

[2:03]

One of the reasons we’ve studied a lot of this is because we know it can be stressful for horses, and so there are a lot of studies out there looking at the impacts of transportation on the horse. Out of all the livestock animals in the world, horses move around the most. And if you really think about it, any weekend you can go out on the road and, wherever you live, you’re going to see horse trailers — or what we call down here in New Zealand, horse floats — horse boxes. Horses are on the move all the time. I even found this quote from Dr. Ted Friend from Texas A&M. He is one of the biggest scientists when it comes to animal welfare, looking at everything from circus elephants all the way to horse transportation. He was in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M, and I got to know him — his office was just around the corner from mine. To quote him, he said: “Around the world, horses are transported more than any other type of livestock animal.”

[3:20]

That’s where his interest in research was. They’re on the move with us, they’re still side by side with us, and we’re going to talk about the history here in a second — how in every corner of the planet, as we’ve moved, horses have moved with us. Now of course you have cats and dogs and things like that, but as far as large animals — moving these large animals — it’s pretty incredible what we do with them.

[3:45]

One of the studies I’m really going to pick from — and literally, I had 30 to choose from, and there’s even more out there — is “The Effect of Transport and Exercise on Behavior of Sport Horses” by Barbara Padalino out of the Department of Veterinary Medicine in Italy. She does a nice overview. We’ll look at some other studies, but here, this data is a little dated. She said in the United States alone, over $2 billion is spent transporting horses — it’s probably closer to $2.5 billion now — around the country each year. It’s expensive, but it can be stressful and dangerous for horses. We’ll talk about that.

[4:46]

In her opening, she talks about — and this triggered a lot for me too, as far as my friends in the horse industry — going somewhere in another country and buying a horse. Or let’s say you live in the United States — you want a horse from Texas and you live in Florida. Well, that horse has got to move from Texas to Florida. When I was a professor at the University of Florida, many of my students from out of state trailered their horses down. But let’s say — and there’s a study on this — you’re buying horses from Italy and transporting them to Argentina for polo and other sports. How do we get them there?

[5:28]

Horses are being transported by air quite a bit — we’re going to look at that — but the horses in that particular study were moved by sea, in box stalls on a ship, sailing across the vast Atlantic Ocean like they did hundreds of years ago. This was data from Dr. Pete Gibbs, one of my mentors, and in Barbara’s paper she quoted him: the typical Texas horse owner transports 2.5 horses on 24 trips per year, at 380 kilometers per trip. Horses are on the move — especially in places like Texas, where Dr. Gibbs was the extension specialist — going to reining competitions, cutting competitions, rodeos, barrel racing… They’re on the move. And like I said, every weekend, no matter where you live in the world, start noticing — and I’m planting this seed in your head — all the horse trailers on the road. You’ll start going, “Wow, I didn’t realize.”

[6:53]

If we go back to the basics, when horses first began this transportation journey — in a previous podcast I talked about the history of the horse. The history of domestication is about 5,500 years ago, when horses were considered domesticated animals. Initially, it was by road — either horses were pulling carts, being ridden, or being driven as herds across the Eurasian landscape, probably down into parts of Egypt and Africa, and up into Europe. That was how horses were transported — on their own hooves. But there were some advancements a few thousand years ago where horses were transported by boat.

[7:59]

The earliest records we have of horses being transported — other than on their own hooves — was the Persians, about 1500 BC. That’s 3,500 years ago. They were transported by boat, and if you think about it, we’ve talked about the history of the horse and their importance to the militaries of the day — if you had cavalry and horses, you were more successful on the battlefield. My heart goes out to those horses, because they’ve bled and died with us over the millennia. But as a military technology, horses were critical to early civilizations. And 3,500 years ago, they loaded them on boats — not massive sailing ships, but maybe powered by sails and oars — to get cavalry across seas like the Mediterranean. Horses had to be trained to get on and off boats safely and stay quiet. Think about how intelligent the ancients were to do that.

[9:28]

The earliest data is based on paintings, pottery, and even coins — depictions of horses on boats. The ancient Greeks and Persians both did this. The Romans were especially sophisticated — they had a huge impact on European, Asian, and African history. A paper titled “Historical Perspectives on Long-Distance Transport of Animals” from an Italian veterinary journal describes how the Romans transported animals for entertainment — giraffes, elephants, lions — to the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum. Horses were also transported. The data shows they had carts that they would put horses in, pulled by oxen or by lesser-quality horses. That way, their racehorses or chariot horses wouldn’t be stressed traveling on the road. They actually had what we would call “horse trailers” back in the day — they would load them up and have them pulled by other animals going to Rome or other ancient cities.

[11:14]

So we knew this was a thing thousands of years ago, where horses were transported by early ships and boats, and also transported by an early type of cart or horse trailer or buggy — or whatever you would call it. Then, when we think into the Middle Ages, where the Normans invaded England in 1066, they had to bring their hundreds and hundreds of horses across from mainland Europe. But then you go to the Conquistadors and when they ventured out to the New World — Columbus’s journey in the 1490s. Vikings, we’ve talked about in previous podcasts, are thought to have brought some of their ponies over to, say, Iceland and other parts of North America, where they might have gotten there in the 1200s or 1300s.

[12:21]

If we look at the Europeans moving across the world — the Spanish, the English, the French, the Dutch, all of them — they had to load horses into these massive ships that took months and months to travel the world. And you think about horses making that journey — it’s an incredible journey. When I think of the farthest reaches from Europe, I look at New Zealand and Australia. Horses came from England or the British Empire in the late 1780s — it was 1788 when they first arrived in Australia, and then here in New Zealand, it was 1814. Those horses had to travel across that vast ocean. They came from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland — all across, around Africa, across the Indian Ocean — and these horses were on ships for months.

[13:23]

How did they survive? How did they do it? That’s a little beyond this podcast, but it makes your mind think. Today, horses are in roughly 160 out of the 190 countries in the world. All these island nations — I was just in Vanuatu, they had horses; Fiji, they had horses; all in the Caribbean islands. Those horses — some of those lineages are hundreds of years old, dating back to the Spanish, the Portuguese, and the English. So these horses, if you really think about it, have made incredible journeys.

[14:03]

In the United States and Canada, and even parts of Mexico, transport across the West — from the East Coast of the United States out to California, Oregon, Washington, the West Coast — a lot of horses rode in trains. They were loaded up on trains, had to learn to load onto trains, get used to the movement, and survive that. And of course, a lot of horses pulled wagons or were ridden across the prairie back in the 1800s in the United States and parts of Canada. But when they had to get them to point A to point B quickly, they would load them up in trains and carry them.

[14:57]

I put a slide in here to pause, because if you think about it — again, this is why I’m mad about horses. This is why, when I really sit down and think about these creatures that we share this world with, that we have tamed and domesticated and made our companions, and we think about these massive journeys our ancestors took across great spans of land and oceans — no matter where you live in the world, your ancestors were on the move, and horses were right next to us in the last 5,500 years. And then crossing these great distances, these great oceans, next to us — for what? A small handful of grain, maybe bits of hay. That’s it. They didn’t ask anything else from us.

[15:55]

That makes me appreciate horses so much when I look at their history and what we’ve asked them to do for us and with us. They’ve made that journey hand in hand with us. And I know there’s been other animals — cats and dogs — but it’s incredible when you deeply think about horses and what they have done. And again, no animal has bled as much for us as the horse.

[16:25]

So that’s the history of it. The history of transportation: obviously by their own hooves at first, then you had boats or ships, then you had special carts for prized horses, then big modern ships, then trains, and finally airplanes. Now we have horses in the 21st century — and this started in the 20th century — being transported via air. It’s incredible when you think about horses on the move today. Again, they are the number one livestock species being transported.

[17:07]

Air transport — the first instance when horses were flown was in 1946. Today, it is common for our top performance horses to be flown around the world — whether for competition (I’m going to talk about the Olympics and how they’re all going to get there), or top horses that are purchased or shipped, or even companions — people will pay for their horse to fly if they move across the world. Another example is shuttle stallions. I remember years ago — I think it was Lane’s End, one of the top Thoroughbred facilities in Kentucky — their top stallions weren’t there. I was at a conference, and it was the off-season for breeding, and their top stallions were down in South America. They had flown them down there. These “shuttle stallions” could breed with mares in the Southern Hemisphere during that breeding season, then fly back to Kentucky for the Northern Hemisphere breeding season. I thought, “Wow.” This was 15 years ago.

[18:26]

Today, we have horses flying all over the world. They are still going via sea, but that is now not as common because it is harder on them. The laws vary by country — for example, in New Zealand we can ship horses to Australia via sea, but not any further because it is hard on them. Long journeys — it’s now more economical and better for welfare to put them on an airplane where the journey is over in hours, versus many days or weeks on a ship. That’s why you’re not seeing horses transported via sea as much anymore. It doesn’t mean it’s not happening, just not as much, because flying is cheaper now and we’re flying more than we ever have in history.

[19:36]

And obviously, horses are on the move every single day in trailers — either you have horse floats, horse buggies, single-horse trailers, or trailers carrying up to 16 horses, maybe more, depending on the country.

[20:01]

But generally, most everybody can see that the two-horse trailer is pretty common, or those really fancy ones that might fit four horses. Back in my day, the most I’ve ever pulled, if I remember, was about eight — maybe ten — horses when we were going to parades or football games, and I was pulling the cavalry horses as part of my duties as their adviser. So I have pulled many, many horses. And then just training too — training young horses — I would load up a few and then we would drive around a little bit so they’d get used to that movement, which we’re going to talk about.

[20:39]

Today, you see all sorts of trailer quality. Obviously, you want something safe and approved — you make sure the floors are solid — and there’s all sorts of quality. There are high-end trailers that people can sleep in, store all their tack and feed. The one trailer I still remember to this day as being the most luxurious was the Budweiser Clydesdales trailer. I got to walk in it when they did a stopover in Texas, and wow — those horses are so pampered. Air conditioning, beautiful clean fresh shavings — the Clydesdales are pampered like no other horse I’ve ever seen. Pulled by a big semi as they go around North America for all their shows — incredible horses. And that trailer, if you ever have a chance to see one at a fair or whenever they’re around and you can peek your head in there, it’s amazing. It’s amazing how well those horses are kept. It was awesome.

[22:04]

And you know why we’re trailering horses — it’s competition and shows, or just going out to a trailhead to ride. During the breeding season, you’re going to see lots of mares and foals — and maybe stallions sometimes — but usually mares are going to where the stallions are, depending on the breeding facility, type of breed, and all of that. During breeding season, it’s very busy — lots of horses on the move. Obviously, going to a veterinary hospital is very common — trailering your horse there. Could be trailering them to training facilities, going to a horse sale or auction, or a new owner purchasing a horse and trailering them to their new property. All of these are reasons why a horse might be on the move.

[23:02]

Now here’s a big takeaway in this podcast — every single horse needs to be able to load on a trailer safely and unload from a trailer safely. I am a firm, firm believer in this. One thing is if you need emergency veterinary care, you need to be able to put that horse on a trailer and get them to a vet hospital. Obviously, veterinarians can come to you, but if they need to do surgery or other things to save the horse’s life, and that horse can’t get on a trailer or has never been on a trailer, and it’s taking you hours — that puts the horse’s life in danger. I remember we had a mare suffering from bloat and a bad colic, and she dropped dead about five minutes away from the veterinary hospital in Georgia. She was able to load, but I’m just saying — if we could have gotten her there five, ten, fifteen minutes earlier, we probably could have saved her life. But because it took so long to get her on the trailer, and then so long to get there, it was a lesson learned.

[24:14]

Another example is California wildfires, or wildfires wherever in the country or the world — you’ve got to be able to get a horse on a trailer to evacuate them. Or if you’ve got hurricanes, cyclones, or other inclement weather, horses need to be able to get on a trailer. This isn’t the main purpose of this podcast — we’re just talking about transportation — but I want to put that in there. You can either talk to your trainer or someone experienced if you’ve never trained a horse to trailer properly, because it’s that important.

[25:02]

Okay, so let’s talk about going to the Olympics. This was fun — as these horses… I know specifically a horse here in the United States in preparation for the Olympics. It’s a New Zealand horse for Team New Zealand that’s training in the U.S., so that horse had to fly to the United States and now will be flying to Paris, France, for the 2024 Olympics. There was a really fun article in the popular press — “How Do More Than 300 Horses Travel to the Tokyo Olympics?” — because that was the last Olympics we had, during COVID. It said “business class.” For the Tokyo Olympics just a few years ago, 300 horses traveled there on 19 separate airplanes.

[25:59]

The U.S. team — because this was a U.S. article — traveled with four reserve riders, plus all the Olympians and all their horses. They had seven coaches, six team leaders, and sixteen grooms to get there with their nineteen horses. They had a farrier and four veterinarians traveling with them. They had two equine physical therapists, one human physical therapist, and all the luggage and equipment. Plus all their feed — about a thousand pounds of feed and vitamins for the horses. They had to get all of that from the United States to Tokyo. They’ll be doing the same thing for Paris. They transported them on airplanes, and I’ll talk about the process of traveling via airplane in a moment, but it’s really interesting to think about the logistics — because going to the Olympics, you’re competing with your horse. Your horse and your rider are a team going to the Olympic Games, and you’ve got to get them there together, safely — and they’re doing it via airplane.

[27:24]

I will say this too — there are a lot of laws when you fly horses. They need passports, and it depends on where you’re going — the country’s import laws, what tests the horses need, what vaccinations they need, what vet checks are required. One example in the United States — to go across state lines, you need a negative Coggins test, which checks for equine infectious anemia. That’s another podcast for another day on how it’s transmitted, but it’s very rare because of this Coggins test. Horses that test positive must stay on their property until they die. It’s one of those diseases they’ve worked hard to eradicate. But if you transport your horse from California to Nevada to compete in Las Vegas, you need a negative Coggins test. There could be other laws depending on where you live in the world — so always know your horse transportation laws when you travel.

[28:50]

If you’ve never owned horses, or are looking to own horses, that’s something to keep in mind — you have to have your vet checks. In the U.S., check your state laws. Internationally, check international laws — because imagine horses from Germany traveling to Paris. They might trailer them instead of flying, but they still need horse passports because they’re crossing international lines, along with all the required tests. There are many companies around the world that do this — you pay them, and they handle all the pre-checks, book the flights, handle boarding, the flight itself, post-flight quarantine periods — the whole process. That’s what you pay them for.

[30:01]

One that I looked at was International Racehorse Transport — they’re pretty big internationally. Before the flight, a question could be: “Am I responsible for arranging any tests personally?” When it comes to horses, they said no — IRT will complete all necessary tests required on your behalf. When it came to my dog, we had to take him to our veterinarian to do specific tests before he flew. Here, this company will work with veterinarians and do everything before that.

[30:35]

Do I have to apply for permits from quarantine or health authorities myself? Again, no — IRT will take care of all that: the import/export permits at the port of arrival and departure. Next question: Do I have to deliver my horse to pre-export quarantine or to the airport? IRT can easily organize transport; however, if you wish to deliver your horse, arrangements can sometimes be made so you can transport your horse yourself — especially if you’re looking to reduce costs a little bit.

[31:06]

Next question: Who deals with customs authorities at the port of departure and/or arrival? Again, it’s IRT — their consultants will do that. Then they ask: What’s quarantine like for your horse? Pre-export isolation is required for most exports, and the length depends on where you’re going. It could be two weeks, a month, or just a few days — it depends on the destination country. Can I travel with my horse? It depends on shipment sizes, groom seats, airline policies — but generally they provide a groom on board monitoring these horses during the flight.

[32:01]

One thing I thought was interesting — if my mare’s in foal, when can she travel? It depends on the country, but for example, horses may travel for up to 300 days in foal to New Zealand; however, only up to 240 days in foal to South Africa. Do you need to insure your horse? They advise that you do — you should have a transit policy.

[32:40]

That’s all before the flight. During the flight — is it direct? Generally you’d want a direct flight, because I’ll show you some research on the stress of horses during flights. But sometimes it depends — there’s no direct Auckland, New Zealand to Paris, France, so a horse might fly Auckland to Dubai, or Auckland to Singapore, or the other way — maybe Auckland to Houston, Texas, then Paris. IRT handles all that, because each stop has rules and quarantine protocols. For example, if you go from Sydney, Australia to Paris via Dubai, you have to think about the rules for bringing a horse into Dubai — quarantine, exercise, reloading. That’s why companies like IRT do this for you and walk you through the process.

[34:14]

When we transported our dog from London, England to Auckland, New Zealand, he stopped over in Singapore for a 12-hour layover — they got him out of his crate, exercised him, gave him food and water, people played with him, then put him back in for the flight to Auckland. Then he did a 10-day quarantine before being released to us. Horses are the same concept — just bigger animals — and companies handle all that.

[35:11]

Equipment provided: they’ll give a head collar, lead the horse, take care of the horse, do the pre-flight quarantine, and give them a loan rug for the shipment. Should my horse wear leg bandages? They generally recommend against it, but will discuss it if you wish. Should my horse wear shoes? They recommend barefoot, but if they have brittle hooves, speak with them. Are horses tranquilized? Generally no — only if absolutely necessary for safety. How is the horse restrained? They’re in a big stall — you can look up images, it’s quite something to see them all in there.

[36:27]

After the flight — post-arrival quarantine depends on the country. For the Olympics, horses will arrive a few weeks before, quarantine, then be released to compete. IRT will handle this, keeping you informed. The company I used for the dog sent daily pictures — he was happy and fine. Horses will have vets checking them to ensure they’re fine before you meet them after quarantine.

[37:18]

Cost — it depends on distance. In U.S. dollars, it can range from $3,000 up to $15,000. One quote from Perth, Australia to Chicago, USA was about $14,000 AUD, roughly $10,000 USD. That’s pricey, but considering the size of the animal, not outrageous — and much faster than shipping by sea for weeks.

[38:40]

That leads into the next part of the podcast — how transport affects horses. From the horse’s perspective: when we load them on a trailer, we take them from their home environment, maybe away from their herd or buddies, put them into a sometimes darkened trailer with lights. That’s stressful. Then there’s road movement — back and forth, sudden stops — that’s why you have to drive carefully with them. From their perspective, it’s different movements and sensations, different sights, smells, and sounds. Remember, they’re herbivores with the instincts of a prey animal — millions of years of evolution — so you’ve got to think about it from their perspective. That’s why there are so many studies on the stress of transportation.

[40:03]

Now I’m going to get to the air one here in a minute, but let’s just talk about the road one — because even to get to the airport, that horse has to get on a trailer, then go down the road, and then get off the trailer. This study — I laughed because when I was looking at all these studies, this one I remember reading specifically 14 years ago — was on cortisol release and heart rate variability in horses during road transport. Christine Aurich was the lead author, and I just saw her a few weeks ago at the ISES meeting. I remember reading this study years ago because my research was looking at exercise stress and its impacts on physiology, specifically reproduction. I was looking at this because I wanted to understand how to evaluate stress, how to evaluate cortisol.

[41:01]

One thing to remember is that stress isn’t always bad — short, acute stress is generally okay for the horse, unless it’s extremely intense, which can lead to issues like colic or stomach upset. When it comes to welfare, what we’re really worried about is chronic, long-term stress. That’s a welfare issue. Short-term bouts of stress are part of day-to-day life — we all experience it. Exercise stress, for example, is good for horses to an extent, as it helps mobilize body reserves and builds physical fitness. So when I talk about stress here, I mean short-term acute stresses that are generally okay for the horse — as long as we can help alleviate them and ensure the horse is okay.

[41:59]

Going back to the first paper I talked about, Barbara Padalino out of Italy, she wrote that, “The transport of animals is a complex procedure involving several potential stressors, including handling, loading, unloading, separation from familiar physical and social environments, confinement, vibration, changes in temperature and humidity, inadequate ventilation, and often deprivation of food and water.” Most of these factors are psychological, but there can also be physical stress from movement and strain.

[42:45]

So when we look at the science, the question becomes: are we stressing these animals out too much? Welfare is obviously paramount, but there’s also the performance question — especially when we’re talking about Olympic horses. When you compete with your horse, you want to know: when is the optimal time to travel? How long does my horse need to adjust? Is the stress worth it? Could I be shortening their lifespan or causing other issues?

[43:39]

From multiple studies, there’s a consistent finding: there’s a cortisol spike at the beginning of the journey — from trying to load into a trailer and in the initial part of travel. This has been observed in saliva, fecal cortisol, and blood samples. The highest stress points are the beginning of the journey and the unloading at the end. Heart rate also goes up during these periods.

[44:53]

Distance and time also matter. For horses that have never been on a trailer before, the trip length doesn’t matter — the stress will be there regardless. Horses accustomed to frequent travel — to competitions every month or so — tend to adapt better, but still need an adjustment period. One quote I found from my old mentor, Dr. Anne Ric, along with Caroline Stull, said: “In the course of a long journey, higher cortisol values are representative of the initial phase of the journey and have time to return to normal levels only after adaptation.”

[46:13]

In Standardbred horses studied over 50 km and 200 km journeys, the shorter journey actually appeared more stressful when looking at cortisol values. Those values dropped once the journey was over, but the implication is important — if you arrive at a competition, horses need at least four hours before starting physical activity to allow cortisol and heart rate to return to baseline. You wouldn’t want to unload, saddle up, and immediately compete — you want to give them time to rest, hydrate, and eat.

[47:46]

Some studies found short-distance transport had little impact on performance, but in jumping horses, less experienced individuals showed more stress and lower performance after transport. Experienced jumpers that had traveled before showed no statistical changes — again, adaptation plays a big role.

[49:09]

Now, for air transport — I found a study showing that when horses are flown, the most stressful times are loading onto the plane, and takeoff. Once in level flight, heart rates and cortisol levels dropped and the horses were generally fine — they had hay to eat, other horses around them, and grooms checking on them. The stress came back up during descent, due to changes in pressure and movement, and remained elevated through landing. So, the two main stressful periods in air travel are the beginning and end of the flight, with horses relatively calm in between.

[50:19]

Now, before I get to the tips, real quick — keep some of this in mind too, especially when it comes to health. There was an excellent recent master’s thesis published by Kaylee Hayes — and I want to give her credit for this — Middle Tennessee State, just published a couple of years ago. It was “Trailering Stress Creates False Positive Results in Diagnostic Testing for Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction in Horses,” or PPID. This is Cushing’s disease.

[50:52]

Just to summarize what she found: when you do a PPID test with your veterinarian, they’re looking at abnormal levels of cortisol. If you trailer your horse to the vet hospital to get this test done — or there’s any sort of short-term stress before it’s measured — that transportation could induce stress that shows up as a false positive. That’s what she was saying. This is why I love science — incredible, and very applicable. If you trailer your horse to the veterinarian for a PPID test, give them at least — she recommends — 30 minutes post-trailering to let those levels come back down. You can take that to your veterinarian, or we can take it to the veterinary community and say: “Hey, if you’re doing PPID testing in horses, just give them 30 minutes to an hour after a trailer trip so that doesn’t impact the results.” Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant study.

[52:03]

All right, just to finalize this — horse trailering tips, because many of us aren’t going to put horses on airplanes, but we are going to put horses on trailers and move them wherever we live. This was from an article in Equus written a few years ago by Christine Barakat, and I thought it was excellent to finish on.

[52:33]

Some of her recommendations were: leave horses untied or tied long while they travel — this lets them lower their heads and get some movement in their necks and head carriage, which helps respiratory health. Transport horses in familiar, congenial groups — don’t throw a bunch of horses that don’t know each other into the same trailer if you can avoid it. Keep trailers clean — free from pathogens and manure buildup. Educate your horses about loading and shipping — every horse in the world needs to know how to get on a trailer, both for emergencies and evacuations. Maintain good air quality inside the trailer — consider fumes and ventilation.

[54:22]

Arrest your horses after a long journey — especially upwards of a week — to prevent illness such as pneumonia. Keep the trailer in good repair — especially floorboards and tires. Be a sympathetic driver — accelerate and brake gradually, leave extra space between you and other vehicles, and remember you have live animals in the back. Provide ample water and some hay, but no grain. Remember each horse is an individual — some transport fine, others get anxious — so know your horse’s personality.

[56:35]

When it comes to transporting horses, yes — it is a stressful event for them, pre- and post-loading. That’s a big takeaway. It’s fun to see horses flying around the world — and maybe that will become more common — or maybe you’re one of the ones flying with your horse because you’re at the top of your game, which is awesome. But just be aware — horses are flying all over the world and competing all the time. And when you’re on the road, look out for horse trailers, be a courteous driver, and realize they can’t stop on a dime. Be patient behind them.

[57:39]

I’ve been behind many horse floats down here and in the States, and I’ve hauled horses myself on U.S. highways. Be courteous when you’re hauling your horses too. This is a fascinating topic — maybe in the future we can talk about training young horses how to trailer. If you’re enjoying this content, please hit the follow button, like, and leave any comments. Remember, you can follow us on all our social channels, and always check madbarn.com’s Learn tab — there’s a whole host of over 500 articles. We’ve got our first free online course coming soon, so keep your eyes on the website and socials. Thanks for watching and listening — more content coming your way.