When Little Joe, the Wrangler, trailed his herd of horses a thousand miles northward, his concern was finding water and grass along the way. Even though this was not always an easy task, sometimes it seems less complicated than moving horses down the road today. Loading horses into boxes on wheels and towing them with motorized power inherently creates more problems than herding them along eating grass as they move. Proper gut movement and blood flow depend to some extent on the horse’s mobility or muscle-powered movement. Standing four square in a box severely limits a horse’s ability to move. The relationship between movement and normal digestive function is the primary reason for the concern of horses “on the road.”

Before the Trip
To circumvent some problems associated with long periods of inactivity, pre-travel treatments can be administered. This is especially important for horses known to have problems traveling. Using a stomach tube, some veterinarians recommend one to two quarts of mineral oil be given prior to hauling. In addition, a mild sedative may be offered to ease the tension which can be associated with long confinement.

Rest on the Road
When hauling a horse, make periodic stops where the horse can be unloaded and exercised. The rule of thumb is to stop and unload approximately every five hundred miles. This timing is also crucial in allowing a horse to rest. A horse needs to rest four hours out of every 24. This need became blatantly evident on a trip between San Francisco, California and Houston, Texas. After experiencing some difficulty in loading a large mare into a small trailer, we decided to try to drive straight through. Stopping periodically to water and feed, the mare handled the stress well and maintained a good appetite. We reached the Painted Desert at night after being on the road for about 24 hours. Suddenly, we heard a loud crash. Screeching to a stop, we found the mare had fallen down. She looked okay, so we resumed the trip, speeding down the long, straight ribbon of road through the desert. About half an hour later, changing lanes to pass a truck –BAM– the mare fell down again! It was then we realized the mare was trying to sleep. Horses have the ability to sleep standing up by locking their joints with ligaments to prevent their muscles from fatiguing (the stay apparatus). This system allows the horse to rest and still be ready in a moment’s notice to escape harm.¹ However, the stay apparatus does not work when the ground moves. In the resting state, the mare kept loosing her balance, causing her to become startled as she tilted sideways. The solution was easy: we pulled over and let the mare snooze for a couple hours.

Transit Trends
Tension, lack of movement, and motion sickness can also decrease the consumption of feed and water during transport. Studies have shown the following trends:

• A horse in transit will initially eat its normal portion of hay, but as travel time approaches 24 hours, hay consumption sharply decreases.

• Normal grain consumption may be sustained for another 12 to 24 hours, but the risk of digestive upset increases due to the change in dietary ratio of grain to roughage.

• Water consumption can also decrease during the initial adjustment period of 24 to 48 hours on the road.
   

Water
There is a relationship between what the horse eats and its water intake. Eating roughage requires four times more salivation than eating oats; therefore, hay can strengthen a horse’s desire to drink water. Keeping a horse’s desire for water strong is a key part of successful long hauls. Water’s role in maintaining proper gut motility offers a means of counterbalancing decreased gut movement resulting from restricted physical activity.

To prevent the horse from becoming a picky consumer of water, one should test a horse’s water preference before hauling. Some horses have the notion that water is water, no matter its origin or flavor. Others seem to regard water that is not from their own “personal well” as poison. These finicky horses may have been the source of an old-timer's saying “You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink” or “Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink.”

It is advisable to test a horse’s water flavor preference before embarking on a journey. One way to do this is to offer water from different sources or with the addition of various additives. If the horse proves to be discriminating, try adding a drop of wintergreen to a five gallon bucket of water. Once the horse is accustomed to drinking this flavor, the water on the trip can be made palatable merely by using a small dose of wintergreen. It is a lot easier to pack a bottle of winter-green than to tote the total water supply needed for the trip.

To recap, horses being shipped over-land for long distances with limited lay-over time for R&R seem to do best if grain is restricted while hay and water are offered. Assuming the horse will arrive at its permanent destination within a week, prevention of colic and stress is the primary concern and providing those nutrients which aid in this prevention are the primary focus.

Nutritional Considerations
Horses that must become accustomed to living on the road for extended periods of time face different challenges. Show horses, rodeo mounts, and other horses “on the circuit” can find themselves moving frequently from one arena to another. Under these circumstances, nutritional well-being becomes as important as prevention of colic and stress. Successful performance demands a state of physical fitness and fitness is related, to a large extent, to diet and feed intake.

Nutritional considerations for traveling athletic horses need to include factors that help stabilize the gastrointestinal tract. Regular and adequate water consumption are still important concerns, but depending on temperature and stress load, electrolytes become an important part of the daily nutrient intake. As temperatures rise into the zone where a horse needs to sweat and breath heavily to cool its body, electrolytes are lost in large quantities. In particular, significant amounts of potassium and sodium can be lost. It then becomes necessary to replace these and other minerals via supplements added to the ration or water.

The ration for the horse “on tour” needs to be designed to supply the nutritional requirements needed for a high level of performance and minimize the opportunity for digestive upset. The old rule of thumb which says, “Feed one pound of hay or roughage per 100 lb of body weight” is a good rule to follow while “on the road.”

Unfortunately, hay alone usually cannot supply all the nutrients needed for a high level of performance; consequently, a grain mix or other energy and protein source(s) is a necessary addition to the daily ration.

With the addition of high-density nutrients (namely energy and protein), typically found in a grain mixture or other sources of energy and protein, consistency of ration composition and intake becomes more important. With the stress of hauling and performing, quick or drastic changes in the diet should be avoided, especially in the grain portion of the diet. Failure to heed this warning can result in changes in the gut microflora population, rate of passage, and changes in feed intake. Any one of these factors can lead to digestive upset and increase the possibility of colic and founder.

To conclude this section of “down the road” nutrition, consistency of diet composition and feed intake are critical to maintaining proper digestive function. Recommendations include:

• Keep water consumption at a normal level for each horse (5 to 20 gal/day).

• Ensure electrolytes are available.

• Maintain a diet with a beneficial energy-to-hay ratio.

• Keep the feedstuffs consumed as uniform as possible in terms of ingredients and
  amounts consumed.

Observation
Hopefully, by following the previous general guidelines, a horse will maintain a favorable state of health while on the road. But, don't let your guard down. Be on the watch for “Murphy.”² Because out there on the highways and byways, in different arenas for a long period of time, it is just a matter of time till “what can go wrong, will try to go wrong.”

To outsmart Murphy, take defensive action:

• Monitor the horse frequently for hydration with the pinch test and by checking the water bucket. The pinch test involves pinching the skin on the neck and timing the number of seconds it takes till the skin returns to its normal position: two seconds indicates good hydration, two to five seconds indicates mild dehydration, and five to ten seconds indicates severe dehydration.

• Regularly observe the fecal material for consistency and water content. Both extremes, either very dry fecal balls or loose, watery, diarrhea-like excrement indicate a digestive problem that can affect both the rate of passage and the water/electrolyte balance. The properly moving bowel of a normal 1,000 lb horse should move 5 to 12 times daily, voiding 30 to 50 lb of manure in a 24 hour period.

Loss of digestive rhythm is a signal to become concerned and possibly alter the workload or amount of travel. If digestive stress progresses into colic, get veterinary help early. The earlier the condition is diagnosed and treated, the better the chance the problem will not become acute.

Conclusion
All in all, problems of hauling horses seem much more troublesome than those experienced when horses were simply ridden from one place to another. Hopefully, this nutritional management information will help horse owners meet the challenges of today’s technology— the ability to move horses 60 to 70 miles an hour. Wonder what Little Joe, the Wrangler, would think?

¹A horse must lay down to enter REM sleep. Physiologically, a horse needs to lay down every four days to experience deep sleep.

²Murphy’s Law: What can go wrong, will go wrong.

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