Slide Show

Tuesday 11 October 2016

PLANNING A TRIP SOUTH THIS WINTER WITH YOUR HORSES?

ARE YOU PLANNING A CAMPING TRIP SOUTH WITH YOUR HORSES THIS WINTER.

Getting ready to travel long distance with live animals is not always and easy task. If your like us and you are planning on leaving Canada or some where from the north. You are traveling all the way to the southern U.S.A to find some warmer weather to ride and camp.  There is a lot of planning before you hit the road. 

Is you truck and trailer ready to go?? Here is a link to a "check list" of what you should do before leaving home with your truck and trailer. 


Are your tires in good shape?? Not only good shape but not older tires. even the tires with good tread can still pop if they are older tires and have been sitting for any length of time. 

These pictures below where of tires no more then 3 years old. When this tire blow on us it took the fender and part of our storage area out. We where on our way to Catalina State Park in Arizona and had amost no where to pull over. So make sure you have a road kit with highway cones or road flares.    


Are you crossing international boarders?? If so you need not only a Coggins test but an international health certificate. If you are only traveling state to state you still need Coggins and health certificates.  Your horse should also have up to date shots and worming as most facility want to see up to date medical records. Most of the US would also like to see brand inspections or proof of ownership papers. I always carry a copy of our horses registration papers.
 I find it easy to keep all my paperwork in one big binder. I put all my horses health and registration paperwork together so it is easy to find. 

PLAN YOUR ROUTE

If you are crossing a international boarder like we do then make an appointment to meet the Vet at the boarder with all your paperwork ready to go. Depending on what time you enter into the U.S.A plan you day and where you plan on stopping at the end of the day. I never make prior arrangements I have a binder that I have pooled all my info on overnight stabling into. Before you hit the road know your route and where along the way you can stop with your horses overnight. I call for stabling about an hour out from where we are planning on stopping. In some states there are also rest areas with horse corrals.

Here are some good websites to copy info from for your binder. 




Also google all rodeo grounds on route and get their numbers and addresses. 
Try and keep in mind the rest areas you know have corrals.

If you have cell or wifi well driving you can ask on my Facebook group if there is any over night stops close to where you are traveling. There are almost 16,000 people on this group and they always seems to be someone quick to answer any questions.


SHOULD MY HORSES TRAVEL WITH HAY NETS??

I never put hay nets in the trailer. Our first trip down we meet a couple traveling from Washington to Arizona. We traveled from Oregon to California with them. When we got to our California stop their one horse had got his foot hang up in the hay net by pawing high up. He rode most of the trip on 3 legs and had a very bad bow in his front leg. 
If I give our horses hay it is loose in the mangers and I add a little water to it to keep the dust down and also to give water to those horses that do not like to drink on route.
Check you horses every stop make sure they are not too stressed and are standing on all 4 legs. Offer them water at every stop. 
 Make sure that the horses also have a good layer of bedding to absorb all pee so they do not slip well traveling. 

 
Our crazy big rig

IS YOUR TRUCK BIG ENOUGH TO PULL YOUR TRAILER??

When we travel we travel with a huge trailer. 16' short wall with a 12' slide 3 horse. We have 2 horses about 21 bales of hay and a Smart car so yes we pull it with a Semi. Not all of you may need quite this big of a rig but if you do have a rig this size make sure you have the right truck to do the job.

You must carry chains not only for your truck but also your trailer. If the snow gets bad then stop and wait do not risk your lives and you animals to try and get to where you are going faster. Think safety first. If you have to pull into a parking lot for the night. The horses will not die in the trailer over night. 

WATCH THE WEATHER !!

Before you leave watch the weather. If you can see 4 or 5 good days then that is the best time to travel. We will never make a exact date to travel. We travel when the weather tells us too. If the weather is not good the day you hope to leave then wait until it is. 

Here are some good websites to find info on road conditions 



WIFI OR CELL COVERAGE!

We travel from Canada so we will need to get some kind of coverage. We do have a Version Wifi card but every time we try and reload it the card it is an all day production. No one seems to know what to do. So now we use our everyday iphone that has been unlocked as a phone.  Roam mobility have very good senior plans for snow birds or what I would call horse birds LOL 
You must sign up in Canada before you leave and get you Sim card.  You can not get this deal after you enter the US if you are Canada. Order a head of time. For under $50 a month US you get everything you need in a phone and wifi cover. If you need to up load large data go to Starbucks, or MacDonalds they always seem to have free wifi.

Here is a link for Roam Mobility for you Canadian's traveling down south.


REMEMBER !! Sign up before you leave CANADA!!



WHAT  ELSE DO I NEED TO TAKE?? 

YOUR HORSES ?

Here is another great "checklist"!!


Both the checklists I have given links to on this page are printable so add them to your binders. 

Ok you are almost ready to go...

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?? 

That of course would depend on where you are leaving from? 

Great destinations in the winter. 

California , Nevada , Florida, and Arizona 

We of course love Arizona. 

I wrote a book a few years ago about horse camping in Arizona here is a link to buy this book



Would love to hear about your travels so please join our Facebook page and share camping stories and pictures of hitting the trails with your horses.





RON AND I IN PARIA CANYON


HAPPY TRAILS AND MAYBE WE WILL SEE YOU DOWN SOUTH!


 
 


Friday 16 September 2016

SUMMER COMING TO AN END

CAMPING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Sorry I have not done a lot of Blogging in the past year. We have been very busy around our ranch and did not get away much this past year. We did how ever get away a few times this summer to some of our favorite spots and even some new ones. We also planning our winter get away to Arizona in January.

Lundbom Lake campsite and grasslands,

One of our very favorite horse camping sites. It is close to home and just beautiful in the late spring and early summer months. Beautiful breath taking grasslands with endless wild flowers everywhere. There are 9 campsites around the 28 newer piped corrals and all have views of the Lake. Yes I am talking about Lundbom Lake above Merritt BC. There are a total of 56 site along the lake but horse people are to stay to the west side where the horses are.

Make sure you bring your swim suit and a canoe or boat with a fishing pole. This lake is stocked with beautiful Rainbow Trout.




To find out more about Lundbom Lake visit my web site and visit http://www.campingandhorses.com/lundbom_lake.htm

Our second trip this year was with some of my family so we loaded everything on the truck. Canoe, Side by side, and of course the horses.  We headed up towards Williams Lake then West on highway 20 towards the coast. First spot would be Wilderness Rim Resort on Nimpo Lake.  Tabby the owner let us put up a shock fence for our horses around the back of one of the cabins. Beautiful place with 5 log cabins over looking the lake and a huge lodge. Pictures below.

I felt like we could be half way to Arizona coming all the way here LOL. We drove about 5 hours from Williams Lake and we where kind of off the grind 10 minutes out of Williams Lake. No cell all the way through. Lets hope there are no break downs.

Truck loaded with everything LOL


One of the many cabins at Wilderness Rim Resort on Nimpo Lake

The Lodge

I would have loved to stay longer and really see this area but they were having thunderstorms every night. Not normal for this time of year so the mosquitoes where really bad. We where travel with friends and family and some of them wanted to find better weather so we head east towards first Eagle Lake as there was a forestry site favored by equestrians.  My Cousin's friend Peter was also told about a lake that was just stunning Tatlayoko Lake. So the next morning we would leave here before even having a ride.

NEXT STOP EAGLE LAKE  
Eagle Lake looked really nice lots of riding areas around the lake with good grasslands to hotwire or put corrals up. There where also trees to highline in. We did not end up staying but I took a bunch of pictures so you could see the campsite.




Eagle Lake

So we decide before camping here for a few days we would drive in a little farther and go see Tatlayoko Lake. Eagle lake was a nice campsite but we have driven 8 hours from home and would love to see the Chilcotin mountains. 

Tatlayoko Lake 
Looking across the lake at the mountains from the Forestry site on Tatlyoko Lake.
The forestry site was nice but kind of hard to get into with a big goose-neck trailer. We where worried it would break our sani tanks off because of the big dip into the site so we just back in off the road to a area in the trees. The other campers and trailers where able go get in.

Here is our campsite couldn't quite make it in to the full site

Horse had shelter under the trees
 It was just beautiful here. You could ride for an hour or for 10 days straight out into the mountains. This site is well used by Outfitters that come in from the other side of the Potato patch trail.

Trail Boss
I have to say I was a little disappointed in the outfitters they left hay and poop all over the site. Left there fire going and left garage in the fire. Needless to say it did bring the bears in that night.


After a short ride down the street you can get onto the beach and ride the lake shore. 






There is a river that flows into the lake you need to cross to get to the beach shore


This lake feels more like a ocean and the water is just beautiful clear & clean you can drink it. 


 Well were where here we also canoed and went out in our side by side 

My Cousin Rob out fishing and we did a little canoeing




After spending 5 days at Tatlayoko lake we decided to move on to another lake. 

Next spot Puntzi Lake off hwy 20 towards Williams lake

Horses liked there hotwire corral

Yes this lake has Pelicans

Our horses are water babies




For some reason this summer the weather has been just crazy. In this area it was thunderstorms every night and the bugs where bad. Managed to log on the the internet at the Lodge next door and see the weather in our area in Merritt was beautiful. So after only a week we headed home and to a new lake we had not camped at Called Davis Lake

Davis Lake



Lovely fishing and canoeing lake


Our campsite

This camp is more of a Side By Side ,ATV, dirt bike camp so lots of places to ride.






Dogs loved it here




Some of you know we travel with our cats. One is a Savannah part African Serval and the other one is a full African Serval. Born and raised in North America for about 50 years of domesticated breeding. Anyway Duma our Serval LOVES camping. Here she is out on her morning Hunt.






Last winter we did not go to Arizona but we did go back and forth from Merritt to the Coast with our cat Duma to do some film work. She did 3 scenes in a new series called "Zoo". You can see her in Season 2 episode 4 & 5 

She is also a local celebrity



Keep posted this winter for our trip south