Anyone Travel w/out a Trailer?

[Kaitlyn]

I'm still planning for the /possible/ addition of a mini this summer- want to make sure I've covered all my bases!

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you travel/ have traveled in the past without a trailer specifically for miniature horses. I have a two horse straight load for big horses, but a mini definitely would not be able to travel in the back the way it is set up. I'm currently debating between the possibility of converting the trailer tack room into a stall, or converting the back of our large conversion van.

The tack room is a triangular shape, and has a tire stored in there. I think I could get away reasonably well with putting mats down on the floor and making it a stall. I would also probably build a custom door on there so that I could leave the main door open during horse shows and let the mini look out. The thing I am worried about, then, though, is being restricted to having to pull the trailer even when I am just trailering the mini. I'd rather not go through the whole hassle of taking the trailer with just the mini to take somewhere.

The back of the van, though, would be harder to convert. It's maybe 30 inches tall, and I was looking into purchasing a ramp made for dogs (I found one that can hold up to 500lbs). At the moment, the plan would be to cover the back seats/ side of the trunk area in tarp, lay stall mats down, and put up a dog-barrier made for the back of cars such as that. The plus side of using the van would be that I could take simply the van with me when only traveling w/ the mini. The down side is that I would have to unhook the trailer from the van in order to take the mini out, and I could not leave the mini in there during shows. Oh, and the smell of course!

...maybe I should do both? But then where would I put my tack during horse shows?

So, what have you done when you don't have a trailer made for miniatures? Any advice for me?

 

[chandab]

I have a 2-horse bumper pull (full-size) that I use; we added a sheet of plywood to the divider so the minis can't walk under it. So far, its worked very well for hauling minis; I've brought all but three minis home in it, they travelled just fine.

 

[Horse Feathers]

I always use my extra tall 2 horse slat load when moving my minis, even when we went 4 hours up the road to get a weanling 27 inch stud. I bedded it with hay and let him have the whole thing. I would rather burn extra gas than have my horse be uncomfortable.

 

[Kaitlyn]

Sorry if I'm missing something but I don't really understand how they would be uncomfortable in the tack room/ trunk space? I'm sure I've seen some minis travelling in converted tack rooms on here (someone had removed the wall to the tack room, if I remember correctly).

They wouldn't be able to have the entire back all the time, is the problem. Most of the time, the mini would be travelling with one or two big horses, as well. If it was only one other, I guess I could try to rig something up so that I could use one stall in the back, but I would have to somehow lower the butt and chest bars as well as make a solid partition (which would be hard as it is because my partition swings, and is pretty constantly removed as we use the trailer to transport hay, as well). I am also uncomfortable leaving the entire back open for two reasons. a) There is a bar which the partition hangs from in the center front of the trailer that I would be concerned about a horse hitting themselves on, and b) there would be nothing to stop the horse from running out the back as soon as the trailer was opened, as the butt bars are not only too high for a mini but attached to the partition.

Also, when I say taking taking the mini to horse shows, I mean hunter shows, where the mini will only be there for socialization. So the majority of the time the mini would only be traveling with me when I take my pony to a show or for a lesson, and my other boy may be tagging along as well. I do pan on taking the mini other places by themselves, occasionally, though, too.

thanks for the input, guys

 

[MindyLee]

I brought my stallion home to Michigan from centeral Wisconson in the back of a pick-up truck with a topper.

I also brought home a mare the same way from the Mackinaw Bridge too when meeting at a pick-up location there. The sellers also delivered her to me the the same way in the back of their pick-up.

 

[minie812]

Wow...We brought a filly home in the back of our crew cab p/u hubby removed the back seat and laid a tarp down with some hay. Got some looks at the drive thru and did the same with my daughters van once with the seats removed. Brought them over 500 miles

 

[Ellen]

We have a 16ft stock divided with gates. Well there is a stock panel in between, but Russ makes gates and for the stallions. I will try to post pictures. But i have put a colt in the explorer and hauled it. I guess you do what you gotta do.

 

[ohmt]

We use a truck with a topper for most of our travelling. It works great and the horses have a lot of room-the most I will put back there is 2 depending on size though. I don't like using it for anyone 32" or taller because then they have to bend their necks and I know that's uncomfortable. For the little ones though, they do just fine and I've never had any problems. I've used it to bring my little 29" mare to Wyoming 3 times now to be bred. That's 800 miles one way!

I think either of your ideas would work-figure out which one would be more comfortable for the horse and you and go from there

 

[minimomNC]

The main issue to me with hauling a mini in the tack room of your trailer is air flow and heat in the summer. If there are openings for air to flow through then it would be fine, but on a longer haul it would get hot and stuff for your mini.

 

[krissy3]

before i had my own trailer I rented a full sized trailer to haul a 36 inch mini 3 hours away to a show. I bedded the trailer down with shavings and let him ride freestyle. He was fine , however the trailer was very noisy in the back and the slant devider kept ratteling, so we put him in the tack room and drove him there with the light on in there.

He was just fine. The only thing I dont like about a tack room is that it is dark, so I would somehow make a skylight or put in a window with a vent for fresh air...

 

[Kaitlyn]

Yeah I can see what you would mean about ventilation. It does have one window, though that is much less than the back area of the trailer.

I'm leaning towards using the back of the van for travel, and then setting up the tack room to let him stand in while I'm showing (w/ door open for airflow).

 

[RhineStone]

We haul our minis with our big horses all the time. They don't need any special configurations. We have a rubber mat hanging from the divider, and the minis have never gone under it. Sometimes, we don't tie them, but if we don't want to have to clean up the whole trailer from them dragging the poop around, then we tie. We don't worry about chest and butt bars. You won't have those in your van anyway. Yes, you have to be prepared for them to greet you at the door when you open it, but you train them to wait until you have untied them or clipped on the lead.

We have also hauled in the back end of a pickup under a topper with using a ramp. Just put shavings in the back end for absorbancy. Worked fine. Horse enjoyed the company, as we would leave the windows open between the cab and the topper.

 

[txminipinto]

Its the matter of airflow and heat as one person said. Minis do just find without all those chest and butt bars for traveling. Since it's a straight load, can you cut and fasten a piece of cattle/horse panel to prevent the mini from getting under the big horse? That is what I would do. There is also the danger of getting it in and out of the tack door as those are not made for horses to walk through.