Need some help from those who have moved 8+ horses

[Tapestry Minis]

We moved down here wit the help of MA wonderful hubby Larry with 5 girls and 3 boys (one being a stallion). Well our herd has changed a bit and without being able to sell some boys I'm getting nervous on how we will give everyone moved since we are looking to move back to the Pac NW. We now have 3 boys (possibly 4) 4 girls, and two big geldings. Does anyone have ideas or pointers that have moved a large amount of intact boys? Thank you so much everyone for your help!

 

[kaykay]

I moved about 450 miles with my entire herd. I hired Lennie Bertrand and Josh to do it and he has a HUGE trailer with box stall dividers. That way we seperated the stallions and put buddies in box stalls together and moved them all at one time. Not sure if he still does this but might be worth a call (i think my number at the time was 12?

 

[Tapestry Minis]

Thank you for your response Kay do you have contact info for him?

 

[kaykay]

Heres his website

bertrands

Tell Lennie Kay sent ya

 

[Tapestry Minis]

E-mail sent....Thanks again Kay

 

[bingo]

It might be pricey paying for a whole trailer to go from you to the NW but any commerical hauler worth their salt has a trailer with proper and safe dividers and should have no problems at all hauling your boys safely.

 

[JanBKS]

I moved from NJ to MI which was about 900+ miles with my herd, one big stallion, one mini stallion, two minis girls and the rest big mares, the cost then was 3,300.+ for all 8, but the hauler I had was horrible, he sure didn't know how to load horses very well, I can only recommend Sharway fo rthe mini's and not to sure about the big one, but I rented the whole trailer for them, they made the trip ok I woudl hunt around for a good one who can move Mini's and Big ones safely.

I also had a place to board them up here until I got them to the farm and I moved up here.

Hope that helps

Jan

 

[h2t99]

We moved from MI to TN with 23 horses and donkeys, big and small. We used a semi trailer, my husband is a truck driver and we have our own trailers (with vents) plus we moved in March when it was still cold out. We built seperate pens for each group. We only had one problem the whole trip, one of the mares got untied (biggie) and moved next to a horse that was terrified of her and he is a freisen cross so we knew right away something was wrong. So we stopped right away and I went in and moved her back to where she belonged!! and calmed Sy down.

Other than that all went very well. But we are fortunate that we had our own equipment and could do it ourselves and we moved when the weather was perfect. We still had snow in MI and arrived in TN to green grass!! Good luck with your move!!

 

[Charlotte]

If you aren't going to use a commercial shipper I would suggest buying (and then selling) or renting a trailer big enough to haul all of them. We moved 7 from Chicago to Oklahoma City using our five horse and my sister drove her rig up and back for us also. We have side load stalls and the stallions traveled just fine right beside each other. (our show horses travel that way too with no problems) If our trip had gone over 24 hours I would have arranged a 12 hour layover along the way, but we stayed on the road with just frequent short rest stops.

Good luck on your trip. Stressful isn't it?

Charlotte

 

[mizbeth]

Hi

I agree with Charlotte. I would try and buy a used horse trailer or even a stock trailer depending on the time of year you are hauling and then sell the trailer if you do not need it when you get there.

When I moved from CA., to TX., I moved 40 + horses. I had a commercial hauler do mine and used his entire air ride trailer just for my horses.....? The stallions/colts were in box stalls and all the mares and that years foals rode "free" in the center of the trailer. It was actually cheaper to move my horses than it was my furniture doing it that way!

They arrived safely, although I would not use that hauler again. As it turned out he did end up spliting my herd at the last minute and making two trips which was more trouble than you can imagine. Luckily I traveled with the first load and had a friend here in TX when he arrived and Josh was in CA to help with the move from there.

 

[Tapestry Minis]

I appreciate everyone's input. We had discussed buying or leasing an 8 horse trailer or a 24+ foot stock trailer and selling it when we get up there. We might just have to go that route if I can't get some of what I have for sale, sold.

If everything falls into place I'm hoping we'll be moving in Jan/Feb next year. My husband will graduate the end of this Fall with his BS in Physics and all weighs on where he is offered a position. So could be Washington...could be Idaho It just can't come soon enough.

Thanks again! Anyone else with any other tips you can offer I'm all ears!

 

[anita]

When we moved from SoCal. to Texas, a 24 hour ride, all went smoothly. My husband had a trailer and I did.

Every few hours we fed and watered the horses and gave them a break. Horses, foals did well.

Sure, they were glad to get out of the trailer and it made me fell better.

Yes, it can be done and take your time. Often all goes better then we might think

Have a smoothly move and let us know how it goes

Anita

 

[Bess Kelly]

I see you are in TX...about 2 or 3 yrs ago I had a Todd Moak haul a mini stallion from TX to VA. His rates were great and when I saw the rig he pulled up in I was amazed!!! The guy transports race horses and you can only dream of the rig he had

Anyway, my little guy had an enourmous box stall and gave me a "you want me to leave THIS??" look.

Hey, he could haul 10 big ones in there and hold a dance in the front of this aluminum palace. Definately a horse owning guy.

Horse was in wonderful shape and temperament when he arrived. I'd sure use this group again. Worth a quote........quality horse transfer.com Todd Moak, 1-800-962-2730, Beaumont TX