How to travel more than 8 hours by road with your horse

Eight hours on the road is not a journey: it's a small expedition. The good news? Well prepared, your horse can travel a long way and come out none the worse for it. So how do you both arrive fresh?

The horse: hydration above all

The number one cause of trouble on a long trip is a horse that stops drinking. Many refuse water that tastes unfamiliar.

• Offer water before you leave, and at every stop. A portable travel bucket that clips to the stable keeps clean water within reach at each halt.
• Get your horse used to lightly flavoured water (apple) so it will drink anywhere, even on the move.
• Hay to appetite in a net: it eats, it salivates, it keeps busy. Soak it to cut the dust and protect its airways.

Legs and balance

Standing for hours, bracing against every bend, is exhausting. Help it out.

• Travel boots if your horse is used to them (never for the first time on the big day).
• Give it room to spread its hind legs and find its balance.

The driver: your vigilance is safety measure number one

• Sleep beforehand. You never set off after a sleepless night.
• Drive with total smoothness: gentle acceleration and braking, anticipate the bends. Every sharp move, your horse takes it through its legs.
• Breaks for you too: drink, eat, walk for five minutes.

Watch their well-being at every stop

At each break, take a look: is the neck dry or sweaty? The nostrils? A horse that has stopped eating and is sweating at rest is a signal you must not ignore.

And above all: beyond 8 to 9 hours, plan an overnight stopover. A proper, quiet night restores far more than twelve hours standing in a trailer.

A big trip is prepared the night before, not on the morning itself. Checklist done, trailer checked, breaks marked out along the route: the rest is pure pleasure.