Friday, April 15, 2011

Oh, Ship


Yes, ship is indeed a 4-letter word. Few things are more stressful to a horse owner than shipping a horse long-distance. You have to trust perfect strangers with the life of your precious pony (aka glass-legged suicide machine) in a confined area with other nervous suicide machines, in a giant vehicle going upwards of 50 mph on roads full of moronic not-paying-a-lick-of-attention drivers. Yes, definite recipe for disaster. Fortunately, there are a number of professional shippers who have excellent reputations and glowing recommendations. And for your convenience, I have compiled a list, gathered from the COTH forum, Fugly blog, and the experiences of friends and yours truly:

Aprile                                 
Elite
C & E
Caris Brooke
Equine Express
Brooke Ledge                                                             
Equine Limousine
McLemore
Creech
C & W
Drexler
Nyconn
Johnson
Sport Horse
Blue Chip
Tapp
Nationwide

I ended up going with Aprile, as they were recommended by two other reputable shipping companies, could accomodate my schedule, were great about answering/returning phone calls, and gave me a very competitive quote. (And, ok...I might have also had a dream that they shipped Salem; what can I say, I have learned to trust my gut!) As I type this, Salem is comfortably tucked away in a big, roomy box stall on one of their trucks, hopefully munching hay and not completely wigging out. Fourteen hundred miles is a long way, baby.

So, which equine shipping companies have you used? Any recommendations? Any companies to avoid like the plague?

5 comments:

SprinklerBandit said...

Friz--Yes, I probably will be lost without a saddle to shop for. I'm a self confessed tack whore. What can I say?

Aside from that, I've never had to long distance ship and have no experience with shippers. Best of luck, though.

Barbara said...

Nationwide. They do a good job. :-)

Kristen Eleni Shellenbarger said...

I've never shipped either but I'm pretty sure I'd need a bottle of valium for the trip.
HOORAH, Salem's face is back online :)!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh-word verification; COOKIES!!!

Frizzle said...

Lol, SB, if I could afford to be a tack-whore I would join you in a heartbeat; hell, I would sponsor the support group!

And, Kristen, I cheated; those pics are from when Salem left Miami last year. Right now, he's the ONLY horse in a giant van, in a big ole box stall with water buckets and everything.

The driver called me about a half hour ago and said they're running behind; he'll be here around 9:00 tonight. :-)

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