Trucking out for lessons. Should this take all day?

[sascha]

@Chaila

Do you spend half a day when you truck out to a close by lesson?

The most important question is do YOU care?

If so, then sure, shave some time here and there with suggestions above. If you don’t truly care and are just looking for a way to feel guilty about spending barn time as opposed to any other time (cleaning/whatever), drop the guilt. You live once. You’ve got this horse and this trailer now. Enjoy it all as guilt free as possible.

To answer your question - sometimes. Travelling 5 minutes for a hack could be pretty quick. Going to a lesson, well, I’m old school, so everything needs to be cleaned and polished and perfect so half day is not out of the realm of possibility.

My favourite thing when I owned a dedicated hauling vehicle was to leave it at the barn with my trailer during trailering season so I could choose to hitch any time the day before and maybe even leave it parked after getting home if the weather was icky or I was too tired. It was much easier to face the task of unhitching in better conditions the next day.

[LCDR]

One key is to have a second vehicle so that the trailer is always hooked up ready to go. Unless horsie pees in the trailer how long does it take to clean it when you get home - it’s just manure?

And for a 15 minute drive why not just tack up at home. Fox hunters do this regularly, as I did for 20 plus years. Saves loading up tack and also ensures you won’t forget anything, or having to tack up a jittery horse at the trailer in the dark during short winter days.

[c0608524]

Haha… after seeing the original start date of this thread I had to double check to see if I had already responded to this question.

Nearly a decade has gone by from when I first started hauling out for lessons and it still takes me a half day for local trips and a full day for any sort of distance. I can proudly say I’m quicker than I used to be when hooking up the trailer, and I have the husband well trained on how to help to speed things along, but at the end of the day “field trips” are time consuming.

I at times dread how much of my day it takes up, but that feeling always disappears once I’m on my way home after a phenomenal ride.

[enjoytheride]

Yep. I load everything the night before, I always factor in 1/2 day for lessons.

Catch and load horse: 5 minutes

Haul out and drive time: 1 1/2 hours to pretty much anywhere

Groom and tack up: 25 to 45 minutes, I like to arrive early in case of traffic and many places I go parking can get hairy, pee, chit chat with people, take a look at the previous lesson.

Lesson: 45 minutes

Untack and reload: 15 minutes

Drive home: 1 1/2 hours

Unload and turn horse out: 5 minutes

[BeeHoney]

I have a different routine.

I trailer a LOT, and often with multiple horses, so I have a trunk in my trailer with a second set of grooming tools, spare crop, gloves, etc, anything I need for a field trip. It’s a small price to pay to streamline my life. I keep filled water containers and a prepared hay bags in the trailer at all times and just periodically refill.

I groom and tack up at home. Throw a saddle cover over the saddle plus a sheet if it’s cold. Halter over the bridle, reins carefully tucked so nothing can get caught on anything. Trailer with tack on.

I arrive at the lesson (or whatever activity) pretty much ready to go other than my boots and helmet, adjusting the saddle and tightening the girth.

I do untack afterwards, brush the horse off or cool out at the remote location if I can, and when I get home all I need to unload is my helmet, boots, and tack.

[cayuse]

I lessoned about a 10 minute drive from home. I had it down to about 3 hours start to finish. Usually a little bit less than 3 if everything went smooth.
1/2 hour to load and get there
1/2 to tack/warm up
1 hour lesson
1/2 to untack/cool
1/2 load and get home.
No chatting/socializing before or after. Not that barns style so no time wasted there.

[Kyrabee]

When I was lessoning, yep…pretty much.

I had to do the 40 minute drive to the barn. Hook up and check the trailer. Load the trailer. Get and groom horse. Load the horse. The lesson was 10 minutes away. 1 hr lesson with warm up and cool down outside that 1hr. Then haul horse back to the barn and reverse the order. I was already over an hour just to get to the barn.

I have also had lessons farther away which just added travel time.

Lately the only place the horse had gone is to the vet (not often but sometimes we do have to haul there). I allowed 5 hours as I had to get someone to sit with my Mom who I was caretaker for. I occasionally got home in 4 1/2 hrs.

Traffic and growth around here is crazy and you can count on road construction somewhere along your route.

I am getting old and slow so yes…all day sound about right .

[LCDR]

I assumed this was something every on-the-road rider did. But then I started to notice how many times at shows and horse trials and fox hunts riders would appear at my trailer saying something like “I forgot my girth and Susie told me you always have extras in your trailer. Could I please borrow one?”

[beowulf]

I truck out weekly for lessons in the spring/fall. I have it down to a science, but it took time. First I make sure that anything I can do the day before, I do. That includes loading up the trailer and hay nets, packing up water, hitching up the truck, and deep cleaning my horse. I put a fly sheet (or rain sheet, weather depending) on him the night before. That way it is just literally grab the horse and go.

It helps to have a spare set of everything ready that lives in the trailer. I keep water buckets, a sponge, and water container all in the trailer, as well as spare pads, brushes, and an extra girth or two. That way I only need to load up the saddle and bridle the night before.

If possible sponge down where you are trucking out. There isn’t really a need to hose down once you are home - which does take more time.

All I do is pull up and toss the pony out and call it a night (well, I grain too).

[atr]

Yup, it’s half the day. Whether you put in that time the day before and the day after, or the day of, it still all adds up to the same amount!

Repetition and replication of stuff can allow you to streamline things a bit, but that’s just the way it is!

[pluvinel]

@Chaila

Do you spend half a day when you truck out to a close by lesson?

I usually budget a whole day…or at least I don’t schedule for me to be at anything/where at a specific time afterwards.

I hook up truck/trailer day before…and I have usually have loaded saddle, bridle, pad, girth into truck. Day of lesson, I trailer to boarding barn, park truck/trailer (30 min), retrieve horse from field and groom (45 min), load horse (5 min), trailer where ever we are going…(typically no less than 45-90 min)…so we are up to 2-2.5 hrs and I just got to the lesson barn/trainer. Unload, have lesson (60 min). Reverse process.

[FjordBCRF]

Not for lessons, but for going to the therapy barn that is a 20 min non hauling drive, but I give myself 30 minutes. Just went yesterday and here was my timing for an 11AM appt.

9:30 - leave home
10:00 - arrive at barn, immediately hitch up, park for loading, hang hay bag, and check trailer camera.
10:15 - groom and get hoof boots on front
10:25 - load and go
10:50 ish - arrive to rehab barn.
12:45 ish - head back to the barn
1:10 - arrive, unload directly into turnout. Proceed to park trailer/unhitch, pick poop, return everything back to the barn
1:30 - head back home
2P - arrive home.

If I get chatting once Im back, then that timeline is longer

If were talking about my time leaving home and returning, it’s definitely a half day the the round trip hour drive it takes me to get there and back home.

When I haul out for trails, that feels like I need darn near a whole day factoring in riding for a few hours.

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

Wow, this is a zombie thread! 2014!

But yes, when I took lessons, it was an all day thing. Of course, I often hauled 2 horses and rode at least one other during my lessons, and my lessons were 30 minutes away. If I left at 10am, I planned to be home by 5pm.

[islgrl]

Yup… I trailer to an indoor less than ten minutes away. If my lesson is at ten I start getting it all ready at probably 8:30 and I’m done probably at one… Its crazy…

[BeeHoney]

Oh, jeez, I didn’t even notice! How do these things pop back up?

[GraceLikeRain]

This makes me feel a lot better. For hunter paces I ride for 1.5-2.5 hours but somehow it’s a 7:30-5 day from leaving the house to getting home. I see how people can streamline things but especially if your horse isn’t at home and you won’t trailer tacked (hard no for me), those minutes stack up on both ends.