west coast haulers?

[tollertwins]

We are thinking about taking our horses from the Seattle area to San Francisco for a month over the winter.

Gets them some specialized training, and gets us out of the darkest part of the winter here, to boot.

Am trying to decide whether or not to haul them ourselves or ship. I am leaning towards shipping them down and hauling hay instead - as they would be in the trailer a MUCH shorter time. We’re looking at probably 5 days to a week to get down there, as I can’t sit in a car for more than 4 - 5 hrs.

Would like opinions on shipping vs. hauling, and the names of any good, reliable haulers who do a west coast run regularly.

Thanks!

[Huntin_Pony]

Try contacting American Horse Transportation - they are based in Washington and their website (http://www.americanhorsetrans.com/introduction.html) says they do west-coast runs regularly.

They transported a youngster of mine from Kentucky to Washington for her new owners and it went very well. I was not the “shipper,” however so you will have to compare prices and service for yourself.

Good luck.

[ens0613]

Lightstar Transport, hands down. Great guys who are HORSEMEN first, drivers second, with custom built rigs made after the owner participated in a study with UC Davis to see how horses best traveled. I couldn’t imagine a better company.

[RainyDayRide]

Blew-by-U Horse Transportation

[mroades]

Another vote for Lighstar!

[tollertwins]

Well bummer - Lightstar doesn’t go as far as Washington…Has anybody heard of Belvoir? That’s who the light star guy recommended…

[JGHIRETIRE]

I have heard of Belvoir but never used them.

[QUOTE=tollertwins;7761436]
Well bummer - Lightstar doesn’t go as far as Washington…Has anybody heard of Belvoir? That’s who the light star guy recommended…[/QUOTE]

[Watermark_Farm]

Charlie Gibson Horse Transport is based in WA and makes regular runs to the Bay Area. Good hauler, I bought my horse from the owner, who does all the driving with his wife.

Also another vote for Billy at Blew By You. He’s excellent. That would be my first pick.