By Maddy B. Gray
Just listening to the story of hauling three young, mischievous stallions in heavy traffic made me queasy.
But for Tom “TJ” Johnson, it was just another day.
The story popped up as I was asking Johnson about the little cameras he has installed in his Potomac Horse Carrier trucks.
“They’ve saved our butts a few times,” he said.
He had just picked up these three studs from a new customer in Maryland. They seemed to get along all right. Johnson got onto the freeway and continued to monitor the horses, each valued at about $400,000.
“Then I saw one of them nonchalantly taking off his halter,” laughed TJ. “Like a stripper on a pole.”
“We crossed five lanes of traffic pretty quick. "Then I saw one of them nonchalantly taking off his halter," laughed TJ. "Like a stripper on a pole..."We crossed five lanes of traffic pretty quick. It’s just a matter of keeping an eye on everyone.”
Johnson intervened before the horse got loose. All went well for the rest of the trip.
That could be said for Johnson’s many years in the business. He's come a long way from a 4-H youth and then hauling show Arabians on runs from southern California to Texas and back.
Aside from an occasional colic (about one per year, he guesses), trips have gone exceedingly well.
Potomac Horse Carriers move 700 horses per year, mostly up and down the East Coast. They transport many horses between summer digs in New England and winter
homes in Florida.
A typical trip from Maine to Florida takes just over 30 hours.
Potomac Horse Carriers stop every four hours to give the horses a break from the noise and vibration of the trip, to give them more hay, and to offer water, among other duties.
He’s found that trips can be made more quickly, but horses arrive tired and sore, especially considering the conditions of the Northeast Corridor, mostly Interstate 95.
“The horse will take as much abuse from the road between Maine and Washington D.C. as between D.C. and Los Angeles,” said Johnson.
It costs a horse owner between $1,100 and $2,000 for a Maine-to-Florida trip with Potomac. Variables determining the price include whether the horse is in a cushy box stall or standing stall, whether it’s a scheduled, multi-stop trip, and whether it’s a busy, tightly scheduled
time of year.
Potomac uses two trucks: a straight truck which hauls four horses comfortably; and a tractor-trailer which can move 15 horses in standing stalls or five in box stalls.
Johnson is photographed here inside his roomy straight truck.
Nuggets from a pro:
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“The biggest thing I try to control is Quiet,” said Johnson. A lot of folks raising their voices and getting aggravated only makes a stressful situation more stressful. “The horse is trying to focus.”
Johnson rolls out cocomats to help deaden the sound and cushion the loading ramps.
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He finds many inexperienced haulers pull on the horse’s head. Big No-No.
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Never work with young horses in the dark.
“We try to schedule loading and unloading of babies (two years old and under) during daylight,” said Johnson. “Unloading babies after dark can turn into a disaster.”
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Work confidently or find someone who does. “The key is extending your confidence to the animals.”
- Generally speaking, mares travel better with mares and geldings travel better with geldings. He adds that a lot of matchmaking goes on in horse hauling. Good matches make for easy hauls. Mismatches make for, well, long hauls.
What he likes in a trailer for us regular Joes:
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Stock combo (with center gate) in which two or more horses can be hauled free (without being tied). "Hauling loose is always best," said Johnson. "It minimizes the chance of choke because they can get their heads down."
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He doesn’t like the slant-loads because they generally offer less head room. The arrangement can be hard on horses’ shoulders as they absorb the road bumps and vibrations on the diagonal. And then there’s the problem of getting the most-forward horse off in a hurry. (You can’t do it without unloading the others.)