Conference noted::equitation

    I can recommend Don Litz Horse Transport from Maryland.  If he has
    a trip scheduled to somewhere near where your new horse is, he can
    pick it up and deliver it to you.
    
    He charged me $300 to travel home from LaGrange, KY, to West River,
    MD, near Annapolis.
    
    A reliable hauler is great.  Beats having to go through loading
    a strange horse, hauling it, stopping Xnumber of times for whatever,
    checking the horse, etc., etc.  Plus, I didn't have to take the
    time off; it took 12 hours travel time.
    
    My pregnant mare arrived in find shape from the trip.  The driver
    was knowledgeable and kind to her.
    
    Merrie
    

    RE.3
    
    I forgot the phone number:  301-771-4894 or 301-472-4163.

    THE FOLKS WE HAVE USED ARE NATION-WIDE HORSE TRANSPORTATION OUT
    OF COLORADO SPRINGS.  WE HAVE SHIPPED TO AND FROM KENTUCKY AS WELL
    AS ILLINOIS AND HAVE FOUND THEM VERY GOOD.  THEY SEEM TO KNOW WHAT
    THEY ARE DOING AS THE HORSES HAVE ARRIVED IN GOOD CONDITION.  ALONG
    WITH THAT THEY ARE VERY GOOD ON THEIR TIMING AND LETTING ME KNOW
    WHEN THEY WILL ARRIVE. 303-635-1888 OR 303-473-3755...
    
    GOOD LUCK
    
    
    

    Last September I moved from Marlboro, Mass to Iowa.  I had Blue
    Chip Transportation move my two horses for me.  They were great!
    The price was reasonable considering the amount of miles and the
    treatment of the horses was better than I could have wished for.
    
    If what you are looking for is local transportation, there are two
    people that I know of that tranport in the Marlboro and further area:
    
    Martin Cheroff - Shrewsbury 757-3065  (Martin's trailer is not the
    prettiest, but it is sound, he is great and the price cant be beat)
    
    or
    
    Ridge Valley Riding Stables - Grafton - Terry Terrian (Terry is
    a little strange but ok, has variety of trailers available - number
    in phone book)
    
    Hope this helps. liz

    I have just moved from Mass. to Virginia and am in the process
    of building a barn.  I will need to ship my horse down when the
    barn in completed.  I am looking for recommendations on horse
    transportation van lines (both good and bad) and any advice 
    from anyone who has transported their horse.  Any ballpark
    idea on how much this might cost?
    

    i just moved my horse from So. California to Seattle.  I called several
    commercial haulers, the standard rate for that distance was $425. 
    Things to consider with a commercial hauler: 1) they typically don't
    have time to stop and rest the horses, 2) they usually won't quote you
    a departure time until a day or two before (since they like to travel
    with a full van.  the best you can do is give them a timeframe, they
    will do their best to meet it)  i lucked out and found a private hauler
    who had a open slot.  Even though she took 2 days and stable the horses
    at night, my horse arrived dazed with rubber legs.  I highly recommend
    good quality shipping boots and a leather head guard.  When they
    unloaded him for the night stop he stumbled off the trailer and got
    some scrapes, nothing serious but the boots helped.  
    
    The commercial haulers i'm sure would have done a good job too, except
    i needed a definate departure date.  
    
    good luck
    
    linda

    
    
    I shipped my horse from Chicago to Colorado Springs in July, 1988.
    The shipper that I used was Nationwide.  They charged me $325.00
    for the 1000 mile trip. I had a hard time getting them to schedule
    my mare in and then show up on the day they had committed to.  The
    time frame was rather critical as I was leaving the state the same
    week.  They picked her up on Thursday and I was on the road to Colorado
    on Friday.  They requested that she not be shipped in boots or wraps
    as they had a problem with the wraps coming loose and causing problems.
    They men they had to do the loading and work on the van were very
    experienced horsemen and they did take good care of her on the trip.
    She got in to the barn here in Colorado in great shape, tired but
    not dehydrated or colicy.  They did stop the van and take the horses
    off and walk them and did stop and stable them at night.  They also
    stop and water the horses every two hours and they have hay nets
    hung for each horse to snack on.  They ship the horse in vans built
    on straight truck bodies. The ramp can be rather intimidating but
    the horses have plenty of room in there.  Two of the horses that 
    were on the van when they picked up my mare were Morgans that had 
    been shipped from Vermont and were going to California. These two 
    were in great shape.  I would recommend them if time was not a 
    critical priority.  
    
      Another shipper you could try would be All-American.  They are also 
    based in Colorado Springs. This company uses customized six horse
    slant load gooseneck trailers behind doolie pickups. The rate they 
    quoted me was about the same as Nation-wide, but the only time they 
    could pick her up was two weeks before I needed to have her moved.  
                                              
     Both of these companies advertise in Equus and in Practical Horseman.
    If you cannot find their number, let me know and I will look them
    up at home and post the numbers here.
    
    Pat 

    We have used a number of haulers.  Presently we are waiting for
    a mare and foal from Kentucky.  This particular group does stop
    and lay them up for a few hours.  How I found this one was through
    the Horseman's Yankee Pedlar.  The name was Horsin' Around and the
    fellow I worked with was John.  The prices that I was quoted ranged
    from $350 to $1400.  Now remember that these two require a box stall
    so the cost is higher.
    The questions I asked when selecting this firm were:
    ..what types of horses do you haul...helps knowing as far as diseases
    and the care that is taken of the horses.
    ..type of vehicle....wouldn't want to go through 'hot' country in
    an unconditioned vehicle.
    ..stabling places...papers checked, etc.
    ..length of time they stay on the trailer
    ..number of times they are checked
    In general, questions you would answer for yourself if you were
    hauling.
    Now, this mare has been shipped a great deal so is a real trooper...the
    foal's first experience.
    The time frame they gave me is very close as they were within two
    days of arrival...moved faster across country because it was cool.
    Will let you know on Tuesday (will be away for the weekend) how
    they are....hopefully all will be well.
    
    If you wish I can send you few numbers of this concern as well as
    other haulers that we have used in the past.  I just don't have
    them here with me now.
    
    

       This March 1989
       I shipped a mare to Texas from NH and back again for $1045.00 using 
    
    	"HORSING AROUND VANNING"
    
    I did two things to reduce the cost of transportation and get a
    competitively cheap price.
    
    	a. Put her on "standby"
    	b. Prepaid for the roundtrip asking for a 5% discount which
    	   was agreed to and is pretty stand for most companies if paid
    	   ahead of time for round trips.
                                                    
    Standby for these companies mean that the horse does not have to
    leave on a particular day (which they charge higher for) and will
    be transported within a 2week time frame. John at horsin' around
    basically told me that they are a brokerage that has drivers that
    live in several areas around the country. They try to schedule your
    horse for pickup on weekly runs. Standby means that they MAY ask
    you if they can pick up your horse (not always)..a few days later
    on a convenient trip (weekly or biweekly run) run instead of having
    the first driver in your area transport the horse. Because they ask...
    you can say no, and they will have the next available truck through 
    your area pickup the horse even though it may not be convenient for THEM. 
    
    I had never tried this before and was not sure how it was going
    to work out for me. I didn't care when my mare left for Texas but
    I was concerned about when she would be ready to come home and if
    it would cost me extra board money to keep my mare at the breeding
    farm waiting to be transported on "standby". However, she did not
    have to wait because they had 2 scheduled trips through Texas that
    month and I just picked a date. There really wasn't any "standby" 
    and in fact, they were a day early and the breeding farm made them
    wait a day so they could get the Vet out to do a quick palpate before
    shipping her on her way home (in foal).
    
    I liked how this company periodically called you to keep informed
    of when you would want to bring your horse home. Their rates were
    the best I've found anywhere. The only thing I didn't care for was
    the drivers sometimes didn't call far enough ahead of time to give
    breeding farms and owners enough notice of arrival times. I don't
    know if this tends to be commonplace among individual drivers..I
    suppose so.                           
    
    Remember....
    	On standby they have to pickup your horse within a couple of
    weeks because of health certificates! They take this into
    consideration and would not be reputable if they made people wait
    and have to get another health certificate because it expired after
    15 days.
    
    	Tell John that Nancy Howanic in New Hampshire referred you and
    I'm sure he'll give anyone a good rate. Rates are negotiable to
    some degree as explained above. 
    
    		You would find it very difficult to beat their rates...
    
    			Nancy
    
    

    We used Michael Bateman in Vermont (he's affiliated w/ Blue Chip) to
    ship our 3 Morgans cross-country last fall.  He was really great with
    the horses (he and his wife have horses themselves).  They didn't stop
    overnight - heard from several people that it is better for them not to
    do that, but I don't really know all the reasons.  They stopped every 4
    hours to check on the horses, feed, water, walk, etc.
    
    Michael also recommended no shipping bandages, etc. since they can
    cause more harm than good, however one of our horses is a known
    scrambler so they kept her shipping boots on the first day until they
    could tell how she was going to ride.  They had no problem with her. 
    
    Price was about $1500 each.  I don't know how this compares with other
    shippers, but you do get 1 1/2 stalls per horse (i.e. in the tractor
    trailer there are only 2 horses across instead of three).  Most other 
    companies we called quoted a price for a single stall.  I think this 
    is why they didn't have any problem with our horse that scrambles - 
    she had plenty of room to spread out her legs and keep her balance better.
    
    Our horses were in excellent shape when they arrived after their 4 day
    trip!!  They weren't tired or dehydrated at all.  We got full reports
    on how much they ate and drank during the entire trip.  I've heard of
    bad stories with Nationwide (mostly horses being very dehydrated when
    they arrived).
    
    I highly recommend Michael and have also heard good things about Blue
    Chip.  I don't have Michael's number with me, but will post it if there
    is any interest.
    
    						Jan

    Would recommend Horsin' Around...mare and foal arrived in very good
    condition at the time they said they would.
    
    There are two Nationwide haulders...I believe one is out of Colorado
    and the other is out of Kentucky or somewhere down there.  The one
    I have used is the one in Colorado and they too were excellent as
    Nancy said.
    
    Good luck.
    

    RE: 996.6
    
    NANCY uses Horsein' Around and recommends them..but I could not
    recommend Nationwide because I have never used them. I understand
    you got me mixed up with Pat and take no offense..don't want someone
    skimming the notes to get the idea I can tell them all about
    Nationwide.. that's all.
    
    				Nancy
    
    
    			

    
    
    No offense taken by me, either.  There are actually three Nationwide
    transportation companies.  One is based out of New England and is
    spelled as one word.  Another one is based out of Kentucky and is
    also spelled as one word.  I have not used either of these companies.
    The Nation-wide I used is based in Colorado Springs and spells it's
    name with the hyphen.  I would and do reccommend them.  I found
    out about the three different companies from my Blood Horse Horsemans
    Directory.  They list about three pages of different companies that
    do horse transportation all over the country and even some of the
    international air shippers.  I could send you copies of the pages
    if you are interested.  
    
    Pat

    Sorry for the confusion, folks.  Thanks for clearing it up.  I would
    love to have a copy of the Transport pages, Pat.  Where are you
    located?
    Thanks again.

    Re: .5
    
    The phone number for Michael Bateman (Bateman Horse Vans) is:
    
    		802-484-5067
    
    						Jan

    
    
    I'm located in Colorado Springs.  My mail stop is CXO2-1/L93. I'll
    bring in the directory tomorrow and copy the pages out.  Where should
    I send them?  The directory is about 150 pages long and includes
    tack stores, stud farms all over the U.S., farm and ranch supply
    stores and a lot of other things I can't remember right now.  I
    get it as part of my subscription to The Blood Horse along with
    the Stallion Directory every year.  The Blood Horse magazine is
    the bible of TB horse racing and includes all the major race results,
    sales and articles on the state of the racing industry.  One of
    the last issues had an article on mixed racing at Los Alamitos in
    California.  It seems that the track got a special exemption from
    the California racing Board to run races in which Quarter Horses
    and TB's run in the same races at distances up to 1/2 mile.  Most
    of the time the QH's win because they are faster off the line, but
    the TB's give them a run for the wire. The Blood Horse is published
    weekly and the subscription rate is about $80.00 a year. 
    
    
    Pat

    For those interested in shipping from Florida to Massachusetts,
    Blue Chip is having a special super saver of $500 from anywhere
    in FL to Ma. I think the timing is dependant on when they can make 
    up a full load.
    
    Since we (Jeannie) just bought a horse in Fl, (pending Vetting early
    next week) any help in filling up a trip would be appreciated.

The following is a factual account. 

Jeannie finally got the Veting and CPOing all done (note 996.12) and made
transportation arrangements with Lorraine (note 1121.8 about TUFTS using
them for transporting sport injured horses had a phone number). By this
time the local N.E. carriers that we knew had mostly completed their
springtime runs north. So about 2 weeks in advance of departure,
arrangements were made with Lorraine based on their planned departure
time being compatible with our being ready time. 

Meanwhile, to get picked up in the first place, she had to get "Artie" to
a big strange race barn in Ocala, not with the original owner. Pickup was
to have been 10:00 PM Friday eve with delivery about 10:00 AM Easter
Sunday. At 9:00 PM the phone rings saying Artie was bumped from the load
due to a yearling not tolerating a slot so they had to make his slot into
a box. While angry, Jeannie understood that these things happen. 

The discussion quickly shifted to "when then?" Reply, "on the next load
leaving on Tuesday" - with a promise to call "all" the other shippers to
try to find an empty slot before that - they would call us. Believing
they would, we passed the weekend with no word so on Monday Jeannie called
Lorraine. They said they couldn't find a slot with other carriers and it
turns out now they won't even guarantee a slot on Tuesday (today). Major
disappointment - and no consideration of priority for being bumped. She
still held onto a next available slot in spite of non defined date. 

Jeannie decided to call around on her own and found Blue Chip had left
Ocala on Saturday and Hudson had left early on Monday, both with partial
loads. Both were asked if Lorraine had called and replied 'Lorraine never
calls us'. Hudson could however guarantee a large box with them or C&W
leaving this Thursday with delivery in Townsend Ma. on Friday night, and
believe it or not, for less money. (As the shipping season has
progressed, the competitiveness seems to have resulted in reduced
prices.) 

A phone call back to Lorraine confronting the false statement on calling
around resulted in an admission by them but they said they wouldn't call
those shippers anyway. 

I know we can't badmouth outsiders in the notes files or call them liars
or degrade them in any way, so I won't attempt to do so. It seems that
Lorraines' business is mostly track related or that of moving barn loads 
of race horses where there doesn't seem to be the need of being honest, 
open and satisfying the customers. 

Meanwhile, the price of the horse is growing........and growing. 

    Well, this saga is complete. Horse arrived at 2:00 AM Saturday,
    in fine condition, in good late model 18 wheel equipment, and handled
    excellently by the crew of five in the rig (2 drivers and 3 attendants
    in the trailer). The trailer was full of race horses who were acting
    up at having to be moved to let our "Artie" out and the handlers
    were calm and used quiet voices to get the move accomplished.
    
    Even though the arrangements were made with Hudson, the move was
    handled by C&W. Based on the service and care we saw, we would highly
    recommend both C&W and Hudson (boston).

    
    I'm new to this conference, so if I'm in the wrong place, sorry!
    
    My significant other just relocated to Southern California from
    Oklahoma and she needs to bring her horse out, somewhere in the Apr.
    28th to May 15th time frame.  From reading the entries in this string I
    can see that we have some pretty good options with commercial outfits,
    but does anyone know about other possibilities for a 20 yr. old
    gelding?
    
    

    
    Can someone point me to the note that contains information on
    horse transportation companies?  I can't find it!
    
    Or, if it's not here (I could have sworn I saw one), does anyone
    have any information about horse transport companies.  I'm having
    a mare shipped from Massachusetts to Atlanta, and need to contact
    several agencies to do a comparison of their services.
    
    Thanks much!

    
    
    	I don't know the note which has the information you're
    	looking for - but I'm sure someone can direct you to...
    
    	I have used HORSEN'Around (800-234-4657) to have two 
    	different horses trucked in two different years from
    	Maine to New Mexico and I can't say enough about the
    	EXCELLENT condition they arrived in.  After 2600 miles
    	I expected to find my mares w/their faces in the hay
    	bag - instead in each case (one 17 yrs, one 4 years)
    	they got off with steady legs, no dehydration and a
    	great perspective!!  
    
    	HORSEN'Around keeps water in front of the horses at all
    	times - they communicate regularly - and their drivers
    	are horse people.  
    
    	i have no affiliation with them - just recommend them
    	highly!
    
    	good luck - holly

    I used HorsinAround to bring my horse from St. Louis Missouri, they
    were at the farm to pick him up at exactly the time they said and they
    told me he would be arriving in NH between 11:00 - 12:00 and he was
    there at 11:45 a.m.
    
    He was in very good shape, very tired (he's only 2) not a scuff on
    him.
    
    Karen