A survey of general road transportation: How and why horses are transported in the U.S.

Horses are regularly transported in the United States (U.S.); however, how, and why horses travel by road has not been explored. Consequently, an online nationwide survey was conducted to understand 1) the most common reasons for travel; 2) the types of journeys undertaken when being transported by road in the U.S. and 3) the general management practices when transporting for 3 h or less. Responses were collected from 1294 participants with at least one response from every state in the continental U.S. The most common survey taker was a female (93.9 %), adult amateur (81.2 %), horse owner (64.6 %) who rode recreationally (33.1 %) and transported their own horse (79.4 %). The most common reasons for travel were for trail or leisure riding (34.2 %) followed by showing and competition (25.3 %); however, this varied by discipline. The most common trip duration was less than one hour (46.8 %), with only 12.4 % of the most common trip durations being 4 h or more. The most common specific horse transported by road for 3 h or less was an adult (age 5-15; 59.0 %), Quarter Horse (21.2 %), used for pleasure or trail riding (44.3 %). The biggest concern when transporting was injury to the horse (26.7 %), whilst the biggest factor when planning to travel was the weather (24.1 %). These results provide insight into why horses are being transported by road in the U.S. and that it is more common to transport horses for shorter durations.