My Horse Trailer Setup
Your horse is most vulnerable when he is in your trailer. I wanted to show you my horse trailer setup. Now, I am not an expert, but I have talked to Rebecca Gimenez/Husted of Technical Large Animal Rescue and she gave me some useful tips that can help anyone who trailers a horse.
There are the essentials: a contact sheet with important phone numbers. I include my vet’s name and number, both my wife’s and my number, and a non-horse emergency contact. In this case, my older brother who I can count on to come whenever I need him. Close to this list, I keep a chart showing the normal ranges for a horse’s temp, pulse, and respiration. Sometimes in an emergency we may not think clearly, so this helps.
When I spoke with Rebecca, she pointed out the primary danger of a trailer breakdown or roadside emergency. Often, the driver is in such a hurry to run back and check on their horse; they forget about their personal safety. She recommends a reflective vest and a red roadside marker to set up behind your trailer. Having traffic see you is important so you can focus on your horse.
Our Equipment
We like the Blocker Tie-ring for both inside and outside the trailer. It’s Easy to connect and disconnect the horses from the ring. We also have reflective vests and emergency road markers.
Stock your First Aid Kit with products you think necessary. For us that’s gauze, tape, and Vetwrap. Remember, the products in the kit are designed to get your horse stabilized until you get to professional help.
However, you have your horse trailer setup, you’ll want to be sure to include flashlights, a good spare tire, and a trailer jack.
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Both tables are important when trying to figure out what your horse needs.
I heard some people call barefoot horse trimming natural hoof care. A quick search on Wikipedia says there is early evidence of mule shoes in Rome as far back as 400 BC. Now you would think in 2,000 years of equine husbandry, we would have figured out what is best for the horse’s foot. I’m not sure we have. If you ask two different farriers and a veterinarian the best way to trim a hoof, I would not be surprised if they came up with four different answers. It’s like politics or religion. There are a lot of opinions about barefoot horse trimming out there.
In my world, equine transportation means loading up my horse in the trailer and driving for a few hours. But I’ve often wondered what it was like for a horse being transported across the country or even around the world. What is equine transportation mean to them? What is it like for horses that qualify to get to the Olympics to compete, racehorses, or perhaps even a prize bull who moves from one ranch to another country? I remembered the first time I flew in a plane. It was kind of scary. The power you feel on takeoff, the pressure changes, and the bumpy landings are unnerving. I had an adult to explain everything was all right, but what about an animal?
