Shipping Horses

Nancy Prather · Post by **Nancy Prather** » 16 years ago

Hi again everyone well because of so many nice people I now have some nice horses and I want to say thank you! My question is this I just shipped two of my horses to Trial Park. both horses are in for a long haul but since they will not be racing until week four and five was this a good idea to ship them now?

Eric Nalbone · Post by **Eric Nalbone** » 16 years ago

Shipping well in advance of a race is always a good idea, so if you plan on racing them at or near Trial Park in Week 4 or 5, now was a very good time to ship them. I prefer to get my horses to a farm near where they'll next race about three weeks in advance of when they actually run, though sometimes that isn't possible. I haven't had any real issues shipping in when I enter horses (so I've been slowly shipping horses for Week 3 as I enter them now), so you oughta be fine.

When you DO ship, it's fine to go a long distance if you're planning on giving the horse a little bit of time to recover, and try to keep further shipping in the next few weeks to a minimum. I'd think that 2-3 weeks is plenty of time, so you're set on the first criteria. As for the second, sticking nearby Trial Park hopefully won't be a problem! It's a great place for newbies to race, and you'll get the chance to compete against other new owners on a somewhat level playing field rather than have to face fields stocked with horses from top stables right away.

Hope that was of some help!

Nancy Prather · Post by **Nancy Prather** » 16 years ago

thanks for the info but it seems I might have messed up I shipped them to the track should I ship them to a farm once they arrive then? or leave them there?

Eric Nalbone · Post by **Eric Nalbone** » 16 years ago

You can leave them at the track. One of the things we know is that rest at a farm speeds a horse's recovery time. Resting at the track is good, resting at a farm is better. What we also know is that shipping takes something out of a horse, so we're not really positive on whether a single, long ship (track to track) is more or less taxing than a two-stage journey (track to farm to track).

It's gotta have something to do with the distances you're going and the intervals between shipping, but put 20 trainers in a room and by the time you're done you'll have 40 opinions - there's no definitive answer. Whether shipping to a farm only to ship back next week or the week after is debateable, but I don't think it'll make much (if any) difference.

Nancy Prather · Post by **Nancy Prather** » 16 years ago

ohh thank you for the info eric I figured since they were being shipped in from very far away that the earlier the better

Paul Heinrich · Post by **Paul Heinrich** » 16 years ago

Track to track to farm to track would actually be a 3 step ship. I prefer to go from track to farm to track regardless of the distance, but I think you're better off leaving them at the track.