132 Management of horses transported by road in the US on journeys of three hours or less

Abstract

Horses are regularly transported short distances by road in the US; however, general management practices when traveling less than 3 h are undefined. To investigate, we created an online survey through Qualtrics with questions about the management of an individual horse, plus a few opinion questions about transportation. A subset of 1169 responses from a larger survey were used; each describing a horse who was transported 3 h or less by road between March 2021 to 2022. The most common breeds represented were Quarter Horse (21.2%), Thoroughbred (16.7%) and Warmblood (9.9%). While the majority of horses were adults (60%, ages 5 to 15), 30% were 16 years or older; 58% of horses were geldings and 39% mares. Horses were most often used, and transported, for pleasure or trail riding (44.3%,) followed by showing and competition (31.2%). The majority of horses resided in the Southeast (41.6%) or Midwest (21.2%). A gooseneck (52.2%), slant load (48.4%) trailer with a step-up rear (52.5%) was most commonly used. Ventilation typically consisted of roof vents (71.9%) and side windows (81.9%); rubber mats (86.8%) and shavings or sawdust (61.4%) were the most common flooring and bedding types. Most horses were reported to have been tied (76.6%) at or above eye level (69.2%) during transport. While almost all horses wore halters (95.1%), 26.5% also wore some form of hoof or leg protection when being transported.Within the hour before transport the majority of horses had access to hay or pasture and water (60.2%) and 15.7% received an ulcer preventative or treatment. The majority of horses had access to hay during the transportation (65.6%), and 70.3% had access to hay or pasture and water within the hour following transport. The likelihood of a horse owner taking the temperature, pulse, and/or respiration (TPR) before or after transportation by road increased as the duration of trip increased beyond 3 h; however, 90% reported that they did not take TPR before or after a journey of 3 h or less. When asked various ways to monitor their horse during transport 60% of horse owners said they would be interested in using, or already used, video monitoring and 39% were interested in heart rate monitors. The biggest concern when transporting horses by road was injury to the horse (26.7%), followed by stress (23.1%) and dehydration or overheating (15.6%). The biggest factors when planning to travel were season or weather (24.1%), trip length (21.9%), horse health (16.8%) and traffic (15.5%). The results from the survey show how horse owners are managing horses when transporting by road over short distances in the US