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How many transporters schedule to deliver a horse at 10 pm?

Sorry for not updating you.
New horse is in quarantine stall for the next week or so .
She is in a ‘dragged out of pasture’ condition feet need care but she looks like she came out of a gym.
She was sold as broodmare but advertised as an ad on as being broke to ride.
She had two wolf teeth removed four days ago so bridle work will need to wait for a bit (Hah!)
PM me for pics

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Horse shippers are like gypsies. I have had all sorts of experiences from awful people who show up in the middle of the night to great folks show up on time. I ship foals, so I am adamant that we are not loading or unloading in the dark. It is too dangerous for everyone. Since foals ship in a box stall, they can just stay on the trailer until the sun is in the sky.

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I think I know that barn. But only if it had nasty geese living under the bridge that would jump out and try to bite horse legs.:laughing:

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I don’t remember geese but maybe they came later! :joy:

It was a short hack from Fair Hill.

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Ha, not the same barn. Mine was in Bucks County, PA. It’s amazing how many barns have wooden bridges with no sides. Always exciting teaching young TBs to go over them.

(In PA, the covered bridges were even more exciting. When you finally could convince the horses to enter the bridge, the echoing clip clop of hooves would send the spookier ones flying, which really made a racket and set all the horses flying. Fun times from my younger days). :laughing:

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Glad your horse arrived safely.

Two friends’ experience was having a horse delivered in a timely fashion, but it was the wrong horse. Shipping was from New York to the Tampa area. The friends met the transport in Tampa, horse was led off–a little chestnut mare. Their horse was a large chestnut gelding. Shipper commented, “They must have put the wrong horse on in NY.” No, we loaded the right horse in NY.

Friends were panicking, as their horse was somewhere between NY and Tampa. Luckily, the error was the previous drop-off barn and in the Tampa area. Shipper fixed it within a couple of hours.

And this was a major shipping firm, name withheld, but everyone would recognize it.

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count me in the list of people who’ve had horses arrive at 2am. For a long haul or leaving an import quarantine facility, there’s just no good way to have all the horses arrive 9am-8pm. However, most barn owners are understanding, and are supportive of an occasional after-hours delivery or pick-up.

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Another consideration of experienced shippers is the weather. If they leave Los Angeles at night and arrive at 2am it’s fine with me. I don’t want them hauled in 100 F. heat, hours of traffic, and smoke.

Most recent arrivals were two just of the track TBs, like raced the week before. Fortunately, the shipper we use for these hauls has his own barn an hour away. The horses stayed there and we picked them up with the two horse the next day. Nothing like leading two grained up broncs through the subdivision and down the steep slippery hill at 2 am!

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I take it you’re using small/personal shippers, then? Because that is not at all how the big commercial operations work. Honestly, in my experience, the babies are less dramatic about loading/unloading in the dark. It’s all new to them, so they just kind of absorb the late hour as part of the weirdness. Adult horses have been much more bothered by late night arrivals and departures, at least in all the cases I’ve witnessed.

Add me to the list of those who have never had a horse arrive outside the 2-4 am window.

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On the topic of bridges, my pretty green 4-year-old walked across his first one last week (without even a lead horse!) and he couldn’t have been any more adorable:

I definitely would not have wanted to lead him across one when he arrived from Germany last winter (at a pretty reasonable but still dark/cold 9 pm). He stood at the top of the ramp politely but completely stuck for a good 20 minutes before he decided it was okay to descend. The shippers were very kind and patient!

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What a good boy!

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That little bob-and-weave from side to side as he’s testing the footing was adorable! Good boy!

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Not knowing the specifics of where your horse is being shipped to/from commercial shippers can’t be expected to know what everyone’s barn hours are, not to mention delays they may come across due to construction, breakdowns or accidents. When my horse came from Ireland the shipper said 5pm, 5pm came and went…He finally arrived close to midnight. I would hope my barn owner/manager would be understand and accommodating for the shipper and as an owner I would want to be there to receive the horse.

I also came here to say that I would be overjoyed at a 10pm drop off! Usually it’s been midnight and 4 am. As far as putting the horse in it’s stall, I’ve literally never seen that happen. You’re lucky if the trailer is small enough to even get close to the barn.

I’d rather the horse get here and not overnight somewhere on the trailer so I could get a good night’s sleep.

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They are… but don’t let them know that you know… ssshhhhh… :shushing_face:

If you want some REAL fun, try loading worried yearlings at 2:00 a.m. on a long haul to the sale at Keeneland… into a huge transport that they were sure was full of fire-breathing dragons. All my prep work could not have envisioned that reaction at that time of night…

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