While there have been many changes in the equine world in the past several decades, no change has been more dramatic than that experienced by horse transportation. The change, literally, has been from hooves and rails to wheels and wings. While this has made the horse world smaller, it also has brought new stresses and problems associated with the logistics of these equine excursions.

In the early 1900s, equine transportation was either by hoof or railroad car. Circuses traveled by train, and when they arrived at a destination, teams of draft horses conveyed the big top and assorted equipment and animals to the show’s location. Racehorses often traveled by rail from track to track. In the West, groups of horses were moved on the hoof in trail drives. In the Midwest, it was not unusual for a stallion owner to travel from farm to farm with a stallion walking or jogging along behind a buggy to service mares.

The switch from utility to recreation as the main purpose of horses, plus exploding machine-age technology, changed all that. Horses not only crisscross our land in vehicles by the thousands, they also travel from country to country for international competitions and races. Air travel has removed all international travel barriers.

As is the case with all aspects of the equine industry, progress has been at something of a price, as advanced transportation has produced its own unique problems