Travel Procedures

A friend asked me to write a blog post about prepping the horses for a journey across the continent and what is involved, obviously it's not the same as popping your horse in the trailer for a trip down the road, for those of you who are on the road frequently with horses this will be a fairly generic and boring post but for those who haven't traveled cross country with a horse it might be of interest.  The prep for the journey really begins about 3 weeks before we hit the road, first and foremost the horses have to have current coggins and health certificates in order to cross the border, so I schedule a vet check approx 2.5 weeks before we are to head out of town (health certificates are only good for one months time so you don't want to get them done too soon, coggins are good for 6 months so not such a worry) at this time I also have a full body checkup done on Nico to make sure that he is in good shape, have to make sure the horses are in tip top condition physically, this means not only having their muscles and joints taken care of but also making sure they are in good healthy weight to travel (horses tend to lose weight on long trips so you don't want to start the trip with an underweight horse-consequenlty you also don't want your horse so overweight that they're completely out of shape when they arrive).  As the days get closer I begin the process of packing the horses equipment, have to make sure we have a good selection of blankets for our time down south, also updating the first aid kit (a first aid kit for this kind of travel has to be extensive, not only with bandages and wound dressings but also some critical elements in case of emergency-sedation and banamine just in case someone were to get sick enroute-hopefully not but always best to be prepared, also a few farrier tools just in case someone gets a shoe half off or something that needs immediate attention).  The horses also start on ulcer guard prior to travel and they stay on it through the traveling days and for several days after arriving, the stress of hauling often creates ulcers in horses and it's best to treat these things proactively rather than waiting until something is really wrong.  A few days prior to travel I also like to load the horses on and off the trailer a few times just to make sure they're relaxed and easy about the loading procedure, it's been a few months now since they've traveled so I like to double check that they're easy getting in and out, only takes a couple minutes but it's a good thing to do as there's nothing worse than driving 10 hour days and getting held up because of a last minute loading issue that could have been addressed prior.  I also have to start to determine the route we will take down south, I plan the first couple of days to be shorter as we will be in winter driving conditions on those days so they are roughly 9-10 hour drives, also have to find suitable "horse motels" where the horses can offload and rest overnight.  During travel there are several things to guard against, shipping fever is a serious issue for many horses, I take the horses temperatures every morning during travel to make sure no illness is developing and for several days upon arrival to make sure everyone is healthy, also making sure the horses can put their heads down during travel, trailering with the head tied up is a major cause of shipping fever so it's important to me that the horses have mangers to eat out of when trailering long distance and not hay nets, hay nets have to be hung up high so the horse spends most of the time with their heads up eating, in a manger they have to put their heads down at chest level to eat allowing their sinuses to drain properly, I also make sure to feed them on the ground at the overnight stops to make sure that they get everything drained and this also promotes stretching of the back muscles which get tight while standing in a trailer all day.  This year I will also be weight taping the horses prior to departure, during travel and on arrival, Nico dropped too much weight during travel last year so this year I will try to avoid that happening again.  Water intake also has to be monitored very carefully during the travel, it's important to know how much the horses are drinking normally as different horses drink different amounts, as the horses obviously don't have waterers in the trailer I take a big sealable bucket of water in the back of the truck and at the stops offer them a bucketfull, some horses get used to this and drink as soon as they are offered on the road, Tango is a great traveler like that he drinks whenever offered.  It's important to pack enough hay and grain for the horses to last the trip down and for the first while to transition down there, the hay and grain in Florida is different than the products we have here so I like to gradually transition them onto the new feed, I particularly like the Purina horse feeds in the US.  I also make sure to take enough of their supplements down as you never know if you will be able to get the same product down there.  Upon arrival it's important to allow the horses some down time to rest from the journey and acclimatize to their new environment, being that Florida is such a humid environment it is important to keep watch for fungal and bacterial infections which develop easier with the horses in such a climate, I usually give them a couple days to rest and then start back with some very light riding, only stretching for the first few days and then gradually easing them back in to full work, and providing all goes smooth, life is good!:)

Countdown!

The countdown to our Florida departure is officially on!  Thought I would take some time to finally update this blog, have to apologize for not updating over the summer months but life has been very very busy, in a very good way but busy none the less!  This summer was a productive one for Nico and I, we did a couple of shows at the PSG/I1 level again to get Nico's confidence back up after last winter's stressful shows in Florida, he returned to the show ring well at the home shows and earned his highest scores to date with an FEI Panel in the PSG/I1 at the Calgary Dressage Show in June.  Over the summer months we participated in two clinics with Markus Gribbe, Canada's Technical Leader, the clinics were highly productive for us and I feel we gained a lot of good insight from Markus, he was very positive about Nico and I making the transition to the Grand Prix level which was exciting and a bit scary all in the same breath, big thanks to Shelagh Hohm for organizing these clinics out in Cochrane, Alberta and for inviting us to attend.  In September we showed the PSG/I1 at the Alberta Provincial and Western Regional Championships for the last time, the FEI panel of judges was highly encouraging and had much praise for Nico and I, always nice to hear "I love your horse and I love the way you ride him" from an Austrian FEI judge!  In October, we made our debut at the I2 and GP level at the Pacific Regional Championships, although very green and lots of mistakes I was pleasantly surprised with the transition into the GP for Nico, he handled it well and the judges comments basically reflected my own feelings about the test "shows much potential for the level, now just needs time to confirm, a great starting point!"  The summer and fall months also brought excitement for several Little Dressage clients, congrats to Shawneen Jacobs on her purchase of Monty, Robin Whittal on her purchase of Jake, Leanne Peniuk on her purchase of Diamond Gem and Ann McKinnon on her purchase of Akilah!  I am now prepping to head down south to Jupiter, Florida where we will train with Albrecht Heidemann for January, February and March 2012, we will be hitting the road in a couple of weeks time, Nico had his last checkup with vet Brit Mills this week and Brit reported that he is in great physical shape right now and is very happy and healthy in his body so that's a great feeling to have going in to the new year, this year Nico will get to have some company on the drive down as Rozzie (the up and coming super mare-more on her later:) will be coming along to gain some life experience as well as Tango who will be heading down to be on the sales block (if anyone is looking for a great PSG/I1 junior/young rider or adult amateur schoolmaster keep him in mind, he is a good boy!:).  I have declared Nico for the 2012 Olympics in London however I am in no way naive about the grandeur of such a challenge, Nico is very new to this level and I'm well aware he needs time to confirm and solidify, I'm proud of him for even being at this level at his age so at this point I don't have any expectations, my foremost goal is to confirm him at the GP level and take in a couple of small shows in Florida and see how things go, if beyond that he is ready for the CDIs and the qualifiers that would be a huge bonus but I'm not putting any pressure or expectations upon him to achieve that, he has all the talent and when the time is right he will come into his own, if that happens to be now that would be great, if not I am still building upon his experience tremendously and it will make him a stronger and more solid competitor in his years to come and that's the most important thing, it's an accomplishment in itself to have brought him along from the very beginning to this stage and I'm proud of how he is developing.  In addition Rozzie will get some great exposure to life on the road which will be fantastic for her, I'm thrilled with how this gal is developing she's a super worker and is brave and sensitive, I love her personality and with time and development I think she will be fantastic!  The declaration list for the 2012 Olympics is up and it's very exciting to see that 8 riders from BC have been declared which is great for the dressage industry in this province, dressage in BC has come a very long way over the years, best of luck to all riders declared, it's a strong list of horse/rider pairs and in the end when all is decided I'm sure Canada will be sending a very strong and capable team to London!  I also have to say a big thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters who have contributed to the upcoming show year (please see the sponsor/supporter list), huge thanks to Susanne Berger for the amazing support year after year and providing me with amazing mounts and the vehicle in which they travel, thanks to all of my fantastic clients who help keep me motivated and inspired, I thoroughly enjoy working with each and every one of you, and also thanks go out to Courtenay Fraser who will be traveling up to conduct clinics at Serendipity Farms for my clients while I'm absent (if anyone is interested in riding with Courtenay please feel free to contact me at jmlittle75@hotmail.com for more information), also thanks to Sylvie, Ashton and everyone at Serendipity Farms for helping to run things on the home front while I'm gone, thanks to Mary Miller and Joanna Cockerline for their ongoing technical support and friendship and thanks to Larisa for road tripping to help with the horses and to my mother for road tripping to navigate the route from the passenger seat (providing she doesn't get me lost twice like last time!;)  I'll do my best to update this blog regularly while down south, until then Happy Holidays to everyone and all the best for 2012!:)