paperback;154 pages; 291 photos and drawings

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Trailering Your Horse
Price: $19.95
  

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2nd time around training, January 24, 2001
Reviewer: A reader

This is a must-have for anyone just trailering for the first time or working with a horse that was mistrained in trailering. Using Cherry's techniques has helped me to learn a great deal about my horse's previous training and given me the information needed to retrain him properly. I would recommend it for the novice or the pro!

A must have, August 2, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from Lake Villa, IL United States

     This book helped me put together a combination of safe tow vehicle; well-equipped, comfortable horse trailer; and well-trained horse. I wish I had read it years ago. It would have saved me and my horses a lot of trouble. I have recommended this book to many people and would suggest that anyone considering the purchase of a horse trailer and/or tow vehicle read it and re-read it before talking to a single dealer/seller.

Must Have for Horse People, January 19, 2000
Reviewer: Kelley Nesbit from Vermont

     I found this book extremely helpful. Even though I don't trailer my horse but a couple times a year, I thought that the information provided, was laid out well and the pictures were great. Besides learning how to safely trailer my horse, this book also taught me how to control my horse from the ground using voice commands, which I found handy whether I was putting her on a trailer or not. I have all of Cherry Hill's books and the pictures always make things quick and easy to follow. What horseperson has time to read wordy, time-consuming volumes on horse care? Pictures tell a thousand words!

Western Horseman
August 2000

Trailering Your Horse
A Visual Guide to Safe Training and Traveling
by Cherry Hill with Photographs by Richard Klimesh

     The "Klim Team", as Cherry Hill and husband Richard Klimesh are known, continues to provide clear, concise, and well-illustrated information for horsemen. The couple's latest efforts include Stablekeeping and Trailering Your Horse. Both offer plenty of solid how-to information in easily understood copy with sharp black and white photographs.

     Trailering Your Horse is a step-by-step guide basic enough for the first-time hauler, yet with ample information to gain an old pro's attention. Again, the Klim Team does what they do best--explore the options, organize the information, and present it with user-friendly text and photos.

     The book covers everything from maintaining your trailer to backing it and safely traveling down the road. More important, the large section on loading tells how to set your horse up to load well anytime, anywhere, and in any type of trailer. Trailering Your Horse is so thorough that, no matter your experience, you'll consider hauling in a new light the next time you load up. -FS

Horse Illustrated
April 2000 issue

Trailering Your Horse

     Trailering is one of the more intimidating tasks a horse owner can perform. Plenty of us have driven trucks, and a good many of us have even hauled a boat or another vehicle. Hauling a horse, however - live, precious cargo - is something that many look upon with dread.

     But it doesn't need to be that way. Noted author Cherry Hill explains how to train a horse to travel and teaches horse owners to be good equine haulers as well with her latest book "Trailering Your Horse." If magazine articles on hauling whet your appetite, but you've always wanted the big picture, this book is the equivalent of a wide-screen TV. Chock full of interesting, crucial information on a variety of hauling issues, Hill leaves no stone unturned in her quest to cover trailering completely and straightforwardly.

     The trailer and truck section describes in great detail what you need from your towing vehicle, with easy-to-understand graphics and language that make sense out of all those weight definition acronyms. Also simplified (yet thoroughly explained) is a discussion of trailer features and options from tongue to butt-bar.

     The book doesn't stop there, though. If you have a green horse that has never set foot in a moving vehicle, you'll appreciate the step-by-step photos that teach you how to work with your horse in-hand, then with obstacles simulating trailers, and finally with the actual metal box on wheels. Hill provides excellent examples of both good and bad loading situations so that you can see the dos and don'ts of loading and unloading.

     But like an infomercial...that's not all! The "Travel" section deals with readying your rig and your horse for travel, how to actually maneuver your rig on the road (something that can be very unsettling if you've not received any instruction before), what to do upon arrival, and finally, how to take care of your rig after every trip.

     One of the best aspects of this book is that it doesn’t just outlay the steps and leave you hanging. It stresses safety and that while trailering one should never be in a hurry, nor allow the horse to be in a hurry. Hill’s training technique puts minimal stress on the horse in loading training, and her methods are designed to be executed by one person, since she works alone most of the time.

     This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to take to the open road with a horse in tow. MCH

The Chronicle of the Horse
March 31, 2000

TRAILERING YOUR HORSE
Cherry Hill and Richard Klimesh
Storey Books, Schoolhouse Rd., Pownal, VT 05261. 153 p.p. Illus. 2000. $19.95.

Whether you're an experienced horse hauler or just considering your first truck and trailer purchase, this is an excellent, handy reference.

With a user-friendly format, abundant and descriptive photos, and appropriate text, this package is just what it says  a visual guide to safe training and traveling. It includes hundreds of photographs and drawings that take the guesswork out of, driving down the road with your horse.

In the first section, Hill discusses the truck and trailer. If you don't already know the definitions for GVW, axle ratios or tongue weight, these and many more are all included in a straightforward manner. In addition, the book offers excellent graphics to help you understand the technical aspects of trailering, including a handy weight chart and worksheet and ample photos.

And if you've ever been frustrated with a horse that's unwilling to load on a trailer, "Training" offers some proven exercises that will make trailering troubles a distant memory. Hill's introduction defines this informative 55-page section, which again includes fabulous photography that illustrates her program.

"Start with the basics and build using a progression of lessons. It helps to have a clear picture of your end goal in mind, but to get there you must develop a group of subgoals. Treat each goal as a separate lesson. If you and your horse master the ground training lessons that follow, your horse will load in a horse trailer."

In the third section, Hill discusses traveling with the horse. Here the book includes pretrip checks for truck, trailer and horse equipment, handy tools, vehicle documents and many different types of emergency kits, all visually documented. A helpful appendix includes many contacts for trailer manufacturers, equipment, hitches, travel guides and a guide to interstate health requirements.

This section even includes a visual guide to changing a trailer tire, an often feared aspect of traveling with horses. But this five page section makes it far less intimidating. If you're looking to make your trailering trips as stress-free as possible, Hill will keep you on the right track. - Tricia Booker

Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar
Book Reviews by Hallie McEvoy

Hill Trailers Your Horse
Trailering Your Horse by Cherry Hill, Storey Books, $19.95 softcover

     Trailering Your Horse is a great guide to the nerve-wracking world of shipping your horse. The volume includes numerous photos, and outlines trailering details I had never contemplated.

    Nothing misses Hill's keen eye, whether it is roof vents, exterior maintenance, or padded butt chains. The chapter on Maneuvering Your Rig is very helpful, as are the chapters on Trailer Features and Getting the Rig Ready for a Trip. The appendix offers a helpful Resource Guide and a Guide to Interstate Health Requirements.

     But perhaps the most interesting part of the book deals with training your horse to ship safely and happily. With pictures, Hill walks you through almost every training situation you might encounter with a green horse, and offers solid suggestions and important training tips.

     Although I bought my trailer before I read this book (a Custom Hawk), Hill's observations and research assured me I made a good choice. However, it would have been nice to have Hill's book prior to trailer shopping, because it would have answered a lot of questions for me. I believe the price of $19.95 is a bargain for this volume due to the wealth of information and guidance it offers.