Trailering out: how to prep for efficiency?

[Xanthoria]

I’ve made a plan to trailer somewhere weekly as my greenie needs trailering time, and I have a membership to a place nearby with much better footing than our barn. Yesterday a 1.5 hour ride at that location (30 mins away) used up almost my entire day from about 11am-3.30pm: hitch up, load trailer, drive there, ride, hose off, repack, drive home, unpack and feed horse, clean trailer, park trailer.

Yeah there was a fair bit of dilly-dalliance - 2 hours! However, I feel like I could speed things up quite a bit with less packing and unpacking. Aside from keeping an entire set of gear in the trailer, how else can I make this happen faster?

[poltroon]

I keep a spare set of gear in the trailer. It’s totally worth it. This way, all I have to move is saddle, bridle, and a bucket of brushes, and maybe some hay. There’s always water buckets in there, all the shipping gear is in there, my cross country vest, my show clothes, etc.

If you are keeping your horse and trailer at home or otherwise conveniently adjacent, you can keep all your gear in the trailer full time. It’s not a bad solution.

[JenEM]

Presuming you have a dressing room in the trailer, you can really leave a lot pre-packed. I keep a set of grooming stuff in my trailer, so all I really need to pack when leaving for a show is saddle, bridle, and helmet. Water jugs, bath stuff, etc all lives in the dressing room. All I need to load for the horse is fresh hay.

Practice hooking up/hitching up to minimize the time there, because if you’re not used to doing it regularly, it can be a time suck trying to get things lined up perfectly. A backup camera helps, and you can get post-market ones. My vehicle now has one, and it’s made things a lot faster in the mornings before the caffeine has fully kicked in

I can pull in the barn driveway and be on my way out to a show with a bathed, dressage-braided in the horse in an hour. More if hunter braids are required but doing it repeatedly and getting yourself a system/routine in place helps a lot.

[Scribbler]

For everything you have duplicates of, keep one in the trailer. That can include a crop, saddle pad, grooming kit, cooler, lead rope, longe line, longe whip, first aid, even girth.

Load your hay bags the night before. Hitch the trailer the night before if that’s feasible.

Carry a pitchfork and tote or bin so you can scoop poop at any stage of the trip and only dump it once.

When you load in the morning it is just saddle bridle helmet and horse.

You will get faster with time. That said, I can’t seem to get two horses and two people loaded for a trail ride in less than 55 minutes, and the horses self load no problem.

As with all barn chores get a routine and count your steps for efficiency.

How long does your groom and tack routine take at home? It won’t be faster away!

For a 2.5 hour trail ride with 2 people I realistically have to budget an hour to load, an hour to drive, an hour to tack up, the ride itself, then an hour plus picnic and load, an hour home. For some reason unloading is much faster!

[poltroon]

The other thing is that the hitch/unhitch step can take an annoying amount of time and depending on your circumstances, you may be able to make it faster, especially if you can always park in the same, level spot so you can make yourself good markers and have less trial-and-error in getting lined up. However, if you’re parking at a boarding barn, this can be a lot harder. At least it does get faster with practice.

You don’t mention how you’re dressing the horse for the ride, but shipping boots save a lot of time over wrapping, and you can also consider if for your circumstances you can say ship in the boots you ride the horse in, especially if you’re already using bell boots or the horse is unshod.

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

I trailered my daughter out once a week for lessons all during her high school years. We only went about 10 minutes away from where the horse was boarded, but honestly, it always seemed to take a minimum of three and sometime closer to four hours: drive from home to barn (15 minutes), hook up trailer (I did this while she prepped horse) (10-15 min), load gear (saddle, bridle, grooming box) and horse (5-10 min), drive to trainer’s barn (10 min), unload and tack up (10 min), hour lesson, then reverse.

I am including the time to drive to the barn and back home, but the only way I think we could have significantly reduced the overall time would have been to be able to leave the trailer hooked up.

[Xanthoria]

All good points here! To answer a few Qs:

I put the horse in the trailer wearing head bumper and tail guard (he’s large) and his tendon + bell boots, ready to ride. Also as it’s hot and I didn’t want extremely sweaty legs.

It usually takes me about 30 mins to groom and tack at home. It took about an hour to get horse from pasture, dress him while he was snacking, and load his gear and him - I guess from what I am reading that’s pretty good. But yeah - getting dupes of most things to keep in trailer will help a lot.

Hitching/unhitching is a PITA as I have to back into driveway off a somewhat busy street but I usually have hubby to guide me, and I have a mirror to attach to the trailer in prog. So that’s pretty quick.

Looking back I think I wasted a lot of time on arrival back home chatting and unpacking, throwing horse out to roll/drink then bring him back in to feed/check. Then when I was ready to leave, I realized I still had to muck trailer and unhitch and I was like :mad: because I still hadn’t had lunch…note to self: snacks and drinks can live in the trailer too!

I do need a lidded water bucket for the trailer. I used to have a 6 gal bucket w screw lid for trailering: fill at home, no spills, whatever water was left I’d use to pre-soak horse boots on the way home. I found the opening was a bit small for a big muzzle tho. Any other ideas? I don’t have a water tank in the trailer or really a place to put one - pretty much all places I go have water.

[EventerAJ]

Groom your horse at home, and ship him in any boots or polo wraps that he wears for the ride. For short trips under 30mins, I’ll haul my easy travellers with their saddle on, and I drive in my boots/half chaps, so on arrival I just have to put on my helmet, bridle, and go.

As others have said, I have a spare set of equipment that lives in the trailer: buckets, sponge, scraper, extra halters, ropes, spare girth, bridle, bits, etc.

Make up haynets in advance, and fill multiple water jugs so you won’t have to “restock” every trip. I use the blue 7gal “Aquatainer” square jugs that are stackable.

[SugarCubes]

@Xanthoria

Aside from keeping an entire set of gear in the trailer, how else can I make this happen faster?

Like others have mentioned, keeping extras in the trailer really is the best way to save time. I haul out at least once a week, usually more like 2-3 times and have gotten pretty fast over the years. I keep a full set of grooming supplies in my trailer, including bathing products and fly spray. I also keep my boots, helmet, gloves and crop in a Kensington Carry-All bag that is easy to grab out of my tack room and throw in the trailer without worrying about forgetting something. If we’re heading to a jump lesson, I’ll just throw on my horse’s boots before loading him.

This leaves me just needing to grab my saddle, pad, bridle, and girth…but I often haul to the park to trail ride, which is about 3 minutes away, or to my trainer’s for a lesson which is about 10 minutes away. For those super short hauls, I take a page from my Foxhunter friends and just tack up before loading my horse (minus the bridle). I put the cover back on my saddle so it doesn’t scratch on the trailer, and leave the girth loose. Then, when we arrive, my horse is fully ready to go except for his bridle.

As for hooking up faster, buy a truck with a backup cam Takes me about 30 seconds to hook up.

[SugarCubes]

For water, you can buy those 5 gallon water tank refills from the grocery store. They are spill proof and easy to pour into a bucket when you reach your destination.

[SonnysMom]

If it is not too far and not too stinking hot I trailer over with the saddle on. If I trailer over with a saddle on it has a saddle cover in the summer and a cooler over the top in the winter. Girth is tight enough to no have the saddle slip but no tight enough to mount. I event or foxhunt so use a breastplate which also helps keep things from sliding if the manure hits the fan.
I find it is faster to groom and tack at home in the crossties rather than tied to a trailer.
I unload, bridle, tighten girth and go on my way. I try to hitch the night before. I keep hay in the manger bag/hay nets. I only need to fill the nets every couple of trips. I see no need for “fresh” hay every trip since it does not get wet in my trailer. It is no younger than what is coming from the hay loft.
I keep crops, extra helmet, gloves, buckets, sponges, grooming kit in my trailer. I ride in an Ovation schooler delux so full price they are only $50. Get them on helmet awareness day for less. I don’t see the need to school in a One K. I don’t find my dressing room gets any hotter than the tack room. Neither has AC. I would not keep a helmet in the truck.
If it isn’t too hot I fill my water tubs the night before. It I don’t trailer over with a saddle on then I put the saddle, pad and martingale in the dressing room/truck the night before or at least have it so I have everything is gathered together and I take 1 trip to the trailer.
Consider grooming the night before and blanketing or fly sheeting over night to keep grooming the day of to a minimum. I tend to ride the night before an off property trip so horsey isn’t too fresh so I have to groom anyway.

I keep a manure fork, broom and muck tub in the trailer. I pick manure before they unload both at the other farm and home farm. After I am home I will do a better manure cleaning and get any pee spot. I find if I pick before I unload it it faster since they don’t drag the manure everywhere.

The more I can keep in the trailer/truck the better. Obviously expensive things like bridle, saddle, girth, martingale I don’t do that.

If you use leg boots do them at home. You can even have them on under shipping boots. For a half hour trailer ride shipping boots is fine.
I personally take the saddle off for the trip home. Depending on how sweaty horse is will depend on if I sponge at trailhead or other farm or if I wait to hose at home.

I do not fully clean out trailer betweeen trips. I use shavings. I pick out wet shavings, pick out poop, sweep the shaving back from the ramp hinge,close up trailer and I am done. I only take all the shavings out of the trailer and power wash the inside once or twice a year. I know people that use shavings that totally take out the shavings and hose out the trailer after every trip. My trailer is a 2000 with the original wood floor that is in great shape. My previous trailer had the original wood floor that was 27 years old when I sold it and the floor was in great shape. I have rubber mats. I personally do not believe that you need to take out all the shavings and/or hose out the floor after every trip to keep the floor from rotting. Don’t leave in the manure or wet shavings. Shavings or pellets are pretty drying of any moisture that may get in the trailer from sitting as long a you get out any of the fresh waste promptly. Have you ever missed a poop ball in shavings? It becomes dehydrated pretty quickly.

[tabula_rashah]

Other than tack, I keep a set of everything else that lives in the trailer (grooming tools, fly spray, helmet). If the weather isn’t a million degrees and I’m going less than an hour away, I’ll trailer to wherever tacked. I’ve hooked and unhooked so many times, that it takes me maybe 5 mins from get in the truck to completely hooked up. For cleaning out, I just back trailer up to manure pit and sweep it out. Usually the night before while the horses are eating, I’ll pack the haynet, fill water jugs, gather anything I need to take and set it all by the tack room door so I can pull the trailer up next to it in the morning and load.

[Xanthoria]

@SonnysMom

I personally do not believe that you need to take out all the shavings and/or hose out the floor after every trip to keep the floor from rotting. Don’t leave in the manure or wet shavings. Shavings or pellets are pretty drying of any moisture that may get in the trailer from sitting as long a you get out any of the fresh waste promptly. Have you ever missed a poop ball in shavings? It becomes dehydrated pretty quickly.

Oh heck no - my trailer has an aluminum floor with sealed rubber mats so I can’t take them out anyway! I pick the poop and wet and sometimes go so far as to push all the shavings aside. But I’m on a warm/dry area, so no rot worries

[DMK]

Like everyone said, extra stuff in the trailer!

I started years ago with buying another bottle of X (fly spray, shampoo, whatever) and then the next time started buying a gallon refill wherever possible, dividing up my extensive collection of brushes (probably enough for 3 trailers and the barn). I have an older pitchfork (you know, that one that drives you crazy to do daily cleaning with but works just fine for the trailer), muck bucket, wash bucket and water buckets/feed buckets in there as well (they all stack inside of each other and live on the off side, I use a lead rope to attach them to the horse tie so they stay secure, and just put them in the dressing room/leave them at home if I’m hauling two. Tons of towels and snaps and thingamabobs to hang buckets, a tool kit, spare halter and leads, hose, sprayer and so on…

If I know I am going to be shipping frequently, I’ll leave a few extra saddle pads in there as well and if it is only one horse, maybe put a bale of hay on the off side to use for a few weeks (hay bags are also easier to use than filling a net).

Typically when I am hauling all I need to bring to the trailer is my horse (no boots these days), saddle, bridle, girth, saddle pad (or horse plus harness)

As far as hitching up the trailer, I used to be a pro through owning multiple vehicles, but with my new vehicle (F250 crew cab) I swear to all the equine gods, it is like 35 years of hitching and towing knowledge and skill just went out the window (and by “new” I mean I got it in Dec 0f '11 so clearly I’m not working through this problem any time soon)… BUT I also need to ship my marathon carriage in the bed of said truck and I realized that no way was I going to be able to see to hitch up the trailer with the carriage back there… So I got a garmin and a garmin bluetooth wireless cam that works through the garmin (it is wired through the back up lights so it turns on every time you go in reverse) . That has really improved my hitching speed and efficiency game even when no carriage is filling up my back window. It’s not as awesome as a true in dash back up cam but as after market parts go it is useful enough.

Another handy tip - bed the trailer in shavings but if you have geldings, add a bag of pine pellets in the middle. Obviously you just need to clean the trailer every use, but the pine pellets help save your trailer from getting too much/any urine seeping under the mats on the side/middle (depending on how your trailer is matted)

[Scribbler]

I see lots of Western riders ship in saddles, but the idea terrifies me however I wouldn’t say tossing on the saddle is my biggest time sink at the trail head. I tack up tied to trailer so I am not hauling all my gear around at my destination.

I groom and fly spray at home. I ship without protection, horse is barefoot. Hay net can stay full in trailer between trips but usually needs refill

Picking out before unloading is a great idea if the horses are calm that day!

I have one of those big water jugs with a nozzle. I put it in the back of the truck and can fill buckets off the tailgate at my destination.

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/aqua-tainer-26-l-container/6000041575835?cmpid=sem_pla_google_en_none_6000041575835_1001020089600019698611531167_3798&cmpid=sem_pla_google_en_none_869128799_44651634915_None&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoKG-xdaS3AIVD3Z-Ch0bTwMxEAQYAiABEgKn1_D_BwE

Absolutely granola bars juice boxes crackers etc can live in truck and you can take a handful of Babybel cheese balls along on the day. They are fine without fridge for a while. And a banana. And a thermos of coffee.

[Mango20]

I trailer out regularly. I have a separate grooming kit, crops, manure fork and tub that lives in the trailer. There is usually hay in there, too. I have several water jugs, so I can go out several times before they all need to be refilled. I like the blue cube Aquatainer jugs because they don’t tip over (you can buy them at Walmart). I also have some lids that snap onto 5-gallon buckets. A empty water bucket and a wash bucket w/sponge lives in the trailer, too. The only things that get packed/unpacked is tack and helmet.

I sometimes go with someone who likes to haul their horse with the saddle on, so I will too at those times. Otherwise, I don’t. I don’t think it saves me any time, and don’t like to take the risk of anything going wrong.

[Janet]

Haynets, tall boots, extra helmet, gloves, extra saddlepads, extra girth, extra whips, empty buckets, brushes, sponges, 5 gal water jugs, extra pitchfork, empty shavings bags, etc., live in the trailer.

Trailer “lives” attached to tow vehicle.

Night before, I put fresh water in the water jugs, and fresh hay (if needed) in the haynets, and put saddle, bridle, girth, saddlepad and fly spray (seasonal) in the trailer. Also groom the horse.

I also put gatorade bottles (some with gatorade, some with water) in the fridge and freezer, and snacks in the cooler.

For my Wednesday evening lessons, I get home from work, change into riding clothes, throw the drinks in the cooler, and the cooler in the van. Then I grab the horse, groom lightly, put on shipping boots, and load, then drive 20 minutes to the lesson. Then it takes about 10 minutes to tack up. I can do it easily in an hour and a half.

[Scribbler]

I feel I could load much faster alone

[pologirl27]

I didn’t read everything, but keep a neat trailer. When you are done riding, take the extra couple minutes to neatly place your tack back on hooks. If you end up with dirty nasty things, either lay them out (saddle pad on top of something) or toss them in one isolated area (a bucket, a laundry bag) so that when you get home you just take stuff out as needed, instead of having to climb through an episode of hoarders. I also clean things as soon as I am done (because I usually have more time) so I can just toss it in and leave on shorter notice in the future.

Current horse doesn’t pull back, but flings her body around at the trailer, so I tack at home and trailer tacked.

[Jarpur]

I used to haul out almost every day, to use an arena, then spent more years hauling once or twice a week for lessons.

I also keep a duplicate set of items in my trailer dressing room. What I do differently than what you have described is that I wouldn’t haul my own water to a place where I had a membership located just 30 minutes away, only empty buckets. Is it not possible for members to fill a bucket at this facility? I do like to keep one or two of those blue water totes in my dressing room, just in case, but I rarely would need to use the water.

I also would not clean out the trailer at the other place. In a half hour ride, my horse(s) would poop the obligatory immediate pile right after loading, then probably not again on the way there, but once more on the way home. A couple piles would be quick to deal with at home (although I do have an extra fork in the dressing room). Horses kicking out manure as they are unloaded has never been an issue for me.

If heavy, thorough grooming would be needed, I would most likely do that the previous day, and just do touch-up at the new location. I’ve always saddled at the place to which I’ve hauled. I tote my tack in a small cart to and from my trailer, rather than make multiple trips – my cooperative horses would willingly walk along with me if I did this, assuming I needed to do so, but I would rarely be that short on time.

I also try to have the hay already bagged, either the night before or I fix an extra bag while organizing their breakfast hay; actually, I prefer to get the entire day’s hay together at one time, anyway - so that I only get hay all over me once - therefore it’s no big deal to fill an additional bag, which only needs to be a small one considering the brief trip. I have also found, when making a very short trip (and thirty minutes may qualify), they eat so little hay during that time, that I might not even bother with a bag in the trailer. If they’ve been eating all morning, so have something in their tummies, then the few mouthfuls eaten in the trailer won’t make much difference, IMO. To be clear, I wouldn’t haul a hungry horse without a hay bag.

Where I use time is in cooling a hot horse out before loading for the ride home – I’d rather spend the time saved elsewhere on that.