What do you charge/pay?
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I’m .65 a mile for my customers but really you need to be higher if you’re not hauling a full trailer (4+) to accommodate the cost of fuel, insurance, maintenance and a little $ for your time.
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Great question! I am also curious if folks have their CDL and are properly insured? Are you hiring a hauler or paying your trainer?
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That was going to be my question.
If we’re talking professional - lots of things go into cost like box stall vs not, fill rates, etc.
If we’re talking your trainer to/from a horse show… that’s different.
Also, adding to that… location.
Gas/Diesel prices differ based on geography and where shipper is based.
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I recently shipped a horse in a box stall from Ohio to Massachusetts via their regular route which went to NY. So over 600 miles. Cost $2000.
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Does that really says 65cents per mile?
That is less than I was paying 30 years ago.
The general rate back in the dark ages was $1/loaded mile.
OP, I have no idea what the going rate for shipping is now. I have not used anyone to ship in ages.
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I’ve been paying just over $2 per mile recently for a normal stall (not box) with a commercial shipper.
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Yes but I’m a horse trainer, not a commercial shipper.
I should have been more clear. I was not talking about professional shippers, I was talking about trainers taking their students to horse shows.
Local short distance day show? There may be a flat rate “hook up” fee plus mileage due to the reduced mileage fee. $2-$3/mile is average on the west coast.
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just trying to keep people in this sport, make a few dollars and not completely empty customers pocketbooks. I don’t drive an 8h with living quarters, rather a modest but safe Hart 4h. I drive a new truck but only because someone hit me last year and totaled the one that was 6 years old.
I also don’t charge set up fees at the show, commission over 10% or other nickel and dime fees.
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My trainer is .65 a mile as well for her clients
I am super curious what other trainers are charging. Also, how are they dealing with the DOT laws that make hauling client horses tricky?
my only experience with paying for hauling was the two years in the early 1990s when we had a horse back in Kentucky doing the show circuit there and surrounding states, it was $1.00 per loaded mile. She was usually shipped in a van.
Currently charging 69 cents, I believe would just cover fuel with a few cents left over. The IRS believes costs to operate a car is worth 65.5 cents per mile, a truck towing a trailer surely would would have a higher rate
However what ever OP feels is acceptable may it nothing or whatever amount. charging 69 cents is not some amount that they would need to justify or defend
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The DOT laws are largely going to depend on your rig & your state.
Flatbeds with bigger trailers and out of state plates are more likely to get pulled over, especially in “high trucking” areas (like the Oilfield).
I live in Texas, and I never got stopped in my shop rig until I got to North Carolina. There he said he pulled me over because he saw I had out of state plates and wanted to do a DOT check. I was in a flatbed, which is adds a lot more weight than an average truck, and without even putting me on the scale I was automatically 500lbs overweight by my GVWR plate on my trailer. He even told me that my rig likely wouldn’t even get looked at in Texas, but because I had TX plates - he stopped me to check if I had a CDL or not.
Its a very tricky, complicated law but its all GVRW based - and a majority of normal horse rigs are fine. Its the bigger and longer rigs (like a 6+) and bigger trucks (especially with flatbeds) that tend to get spotted in states that have stricter laws.
As for rates, some 6+ years ago I was paying $50 for “local hauls” and ~$1 per mile for longer hauls. She’d reduce rate if more horses were on the trailer.
Agreed, my recollection is that ~15 years ago the rate was around $1 per mile round trip or $1.50-2/loaded mile.
Charging for ones time and effort is not, in fact, nickel-and-diming.
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Something is worth what someone is willing to pay. My customers have no interest in a fancy stall set up, so to do one and then charge them is against their interests.
And you can’t tell me the absorbent commissions that trainers are charging are justified. 
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Do you then charge by the hour to look at horses for your clients?
If not you are clearly under valuing yourself, because your knowledge is worth something and it should be paid for.
My trainer never did a fancy stall set-up either.
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No. I do charge a commission, but I can’t get on board with a trainer tacking 15-20% on a sale price. (I’ve seen it on the regular)
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