Towing your horses

If you are a horse owner, one of the main things you have to get your horses use to is traveling in a horse trailer. Your horse may only have to travel in a horse trailer a hand full of times during its life. Your horse may need to be evacuated or taken to the nearest vet hospital for an emergency or you just need to move your horse from one home to another.

Having your horse able to load into a trailer should you have to evacuate your horse due to flood or fire will save that horse's life. If your horse will not load, often rescuers will be forced to leave the horse. The same is true if you decide to sell your horse and the horse will not load into the new owners trailer. You will probably not be able to sell your horse.

Something else you should keep in mind when you are trailering your horse is that if your truck breaks down not all roadside assistance clubs will cover your horse trailer. I know that they will have the truck towed but will leave the horse trailer with your horse in it. I should know because that happened to me once. Traveling on the way back home from a horse show, our truck broke down. Triple A had the truck towed but would not touch the horse trailer with 2 horses in it. Thank goodness we were only 4 miles from home and I called a neighbor who had a truck and he came and got the horse trailer with the horses. I was only lucky that the break down happened after we go off the freeway and not on it.

Before towing your horses, please practice how to maneuver your rig before putting your horses in it. Learn how to properly load a horse and what safety procedures you need to know. There are certain steps to take as to how to tie a horse and when to tie a horse in a horse trailer, learn them.