I told the barn owner to expect the horse to be delivered at 10 because that was was the text that I received read. When the transporter was no where to be found this morning she texted back that the delivery was to be 10 pm.
I know it is summer and a trailer ride is hot and there is traffic but the barn closes at 10pm.
Is this a long haul?
If so, itās standard for horses to get picked up and dropped off whenever the driver gets there. 10pm is pretty civil comparatively. Iāve had to meet drivers at like 2am.
Now, if the horse is just being shipped from 30 minutes away or something, thatās a different storyā¦
I find 2am to be the most common arrival time for horse shippers.
Yes it is fairly long, and she did stop during the day in Oregon. Again today in North CA. I suppose I am being petty with respect to not including an AM or PM in the text.
All other deliveries were during daylight hours SO I just assumed and now I think the āno nonsenseā barn owner will be cross with me.
It probably would have been handy to include AM or PM, Iām sure it was just an oversight.
But I wouldnāt stress too much about the BO. Itās probably not her first late drop off, and if it is, itās unlikely to be her last. Thatās just how it goes when shipping horses long distance. Itās not like a driver is going to keep a horse on the truck overnight waiting for the barn to open.
I do like the fact that the shipper cares enough for the horses to stop frequently.
However in passing the shipper mentioned that for paperwork errors she needs to stable two horses overnight anyhow before they can go to the airport for transport. The overnight stalls she mentioned to the airport is on the way to and from my stable (one mile at most)
Why does she need to kick my horse out in the middle of the night when she has given such praise over how sweet she is?
Personally, Iād prefer that the horse be delivered straight to her new barn rather than adding an unnecessary stop that would be one more place where she could be exposed to disease or accident. And if I was the shipper, Iād prefer not to have the liability or cost of caring for her for an extra night just to have to put her back on the trailer the next day for delivery, particularly when the barns are only a mile apart.
But having the horse delivered at 10 pm after a long distance trip doesnāt bother me at all, anyway, so take my opinion for whatever itās worth.
I had a horse delivered to my barn at midnight. He was supposed to arrive by 8pm, but weather-related traffic made it several hours later. It happensā¦
I had one that was due at midnight, and didnāt actually show up until 4 am. That was a chilly night sleeping in my truck.
When I had a horse shipped cross country, my early evening arrival kept getting pushed back and I finally got to meet them at 3 am. Fortunately the driver was in close contact and told me to sleep til he called so I didnāt have to wait at the barn. Unfortunately he called me when he was about 25 minutes from the barn that takes me a good 40 minutes to get to normally. Iāve never driven so fast, passed the truck on the freeway just before the barn exit, and all worked out. A 10 pm delivery wouldnāt bother me at all.
Like @horsepoor , my shipper (FL to Midwest) called me at work when he was about 20min out.
Luckily I worked about 15min from my farm.
OP:
IIWM (aside from the snafu on AM or PM) Iād be glad the timing allowed me to be on-site to receive the horse & see how she settled in.
Horse mentioned above arrived after a nonstop drive & stepped off fresh as a daisy
My mare was to be delivered between 10pm and 1am. They made time up somewhere and she arrived about 4pm. Thank you! Nothing I want to do more than take the lead of a 22 month old filly that has been on a truck for 18hrsā¦in the dark. Truck had to unload out on the road.
Susan
Same, though older gelding.
Air-ride semi could not come up my drive.
TG, my barn is only around 50ā from the road, it was daylight & road is just a 2-lane local.
I think youāre overreacting.
How is delivering your horse, as agreed upon ākicking her outā?
10pm is not really the middle of the night.
It is completely normal for shippers to initially give you a range of time thatās pretty broad, and then you should expect that time frame to change. Think about it. One horse who doesnāt want to get on the trailer sets everything back an hour. Maybe there are two horses who donāt want to get on the trailer. Maybe there are accidents on the road, unforeseen slowdowns and traffic. Somebodyās trying to kick the trailer down and they have to stop to deal with it. There are so many variables. There is no way that the shipper can stay on a tight schedule, and I think thatās an unrealistic expectation.
They get there when they get there.
Anything thatās outside of the midnight to 4 AM range, is golden in my mind. I do beg them to give me a half hour heads up so I can get to the barn.
Thatās not a bad time at all. The shipper gets there when they get there. It would be a huge hassle if they could only deliver to barns during certain hours. Itās one ālate nightā you/your BO will get over it.
This. Also, Iāve never been at a barn that enforced closing hours on a horse coming in from a long haul. Too many things happen on the road that can get them delayed.
Iāve been lucky that most of my long hauls arrived at civilized times, but that is only because the schedules happen to line up and were along major traffic routes (KY > MD, MD > KY). The hauler from MO > NE arrived with my new horse at 1am, and I was very happy to out and get my boy settled in.
10pm is rare and I would recommend being grateful for that, the barn owner should understand, and donāt be surprised if it slips to later that night or even early the next morning. Logistics are a b!itch and thatās just life.
Think about what you are asking. You think the shipper should have retained responsiblity of the horse overnight when the horseās destination was 1 mile away?
Very few reputable shippers would agree to what you are proposing. It has nothing to do with whether your horse is āsweetā or not. It puts the horse at increased risk of injury or illness and it increases the liability of the shipper. And what is the gain? All that added stress on horse and shipper just to accommodate arbitrary barn hours?
As a barn owner, I also wouldnāt want a horse making an unnecessary stopā all the more chance for them to pick up contagious pathogens.
If your barn owner is truly upset about this, Iām going to give some tough love and say she needs to get over it. You have many people here telling you this is not your fault and not the shipperās fault.
Iām just going to say thatās a lot of naivete to post this complaint here.