ATTENTION NON-HORSE PEOPLE:
When you see a horse trailer driving down the road how many of you think about how you don’t want to get stuck behind them? How many times have you pulled out in front of one because you’re in a hurry?
Newsflash: we haul our babies in those trailers. We. Haul. Our. Babies. These animals are the loves of our lives. 1000+ pound creatures that trust us enough to climb into a metal box on wheels and wait patiently while we drive them to our destination. That’s something completely against the nature of a flight animal but they do it anyways because we ask. Because they trust that we will keep them safe. And you know what? We do everything in our power to do that. We leave large following distances, we slow down extra for corners, we coast up to traffic lights so we won’t throw them around if it changes at the last minute. But you know what we can’t help? We can’t avoid the asshats that are in too much of a hurry to pull out behind us. We can’t avoid the people who cut into our following distance on the freeway. We leave those spaces and travel the way we do for a reason. There is upwards of 10,000lbs behind our trucks. And it’s not 10,000lbs of carefully strapped down product, it’s 10,000lbs of trailer with living, breathing horses perched on four tiny hooves balancing themselves the best they can. We leave following distances so we can stop if we need to. We don’t leave following distances for you to swerve into when you’re in a hurry. We don’t leave following distances as openings for you to pull out in front of us.
I ask from the bottom of my heart that everyone would be more aware of horse trailers on the road. Respect the load we’re carrying. Respect our need for stopping and following distances. Don’t tailgate us. Pay even more attention in inclement weather!! We do our best to keep our horses safe but it takes everyone else being more aware too! We don’t ask all of these things just because of the weight of our rigs but because if we stop too quickly or you can’t stop quickly enough, our horses can be seriously injured. Please pay attention. Please think twice about pulling out in front of us or cutting into our lane. Is that extra 30 seconds really worth it? I know my horses’ lives are worth a lot more than saving any amount of time.
UPDATED: these photos have been shared with the permission of the owner of these magnificent animals. This sorrel horse survived but has a long road to recovery. If you would like to donate to her cause, it looks there has been a GoFundMe set up for her here: https://www.gofundme.com/help-support-whitney-after-devasta…