12/04/2024
Don’t let this be you!! Whether travelling with your own horse or a commercial hauler, keep your eye on the weather forecast. Recently in Ontario a major highway was closed due to the extreme weather and heavy snowfall for days!There were many livestock trucks and horse trailers stuck on the highway during this storm. Increasing the work of the rescue teams by having to find ways to get hay and water to these stuck animals. All of this could have been avoided, we knew well in advance that the storm was coming. Pay attention to the forecast, look for a safe layover spot, take an alternate route. Better to be safe and healthy and late arriving than stuck on a highway for days waiting for the road to be cleared. Any layover spot would be better than being stuck. No matter where you are travelling in Canada and the northern States have backup plans for inclement weather. As a horse owner I would prefer my horse being delivered late than stuck on a trailer for days with limited access to food and water. Be aware, be prepared,be safe!!! Know what safe stops are available on your route in case you do need to get off the roads for a day or two due to bad weather.
Note: when hiring a hauler ask the questions, do they make the appropriate layovers and stops to give your animals a break from the trailer? There are many layover stops that should be busy based on their location on popular routes and time travelling from border crossings etc yet, they aren’t. Meaning that a large number of haulers are pushing travelling time to the maximum not the best recommended time for a horse to be on a trailer. As such it’s not surprising that that many were stuck on the highway. Be aware and research your haulers carefully that they put your horses welfare first.
Example: we are apparently the only layover stop at the 12 hour mark from Thunder Bay going south in Ontario. Yet we only have ACN Contracting Inc. and 1 other hauler that stops on their runs east. Showing many just keep on pushing…For the horses I hope there are indeed layovers we are unaware of….
