Ready to travel: Ben with Thunder, and Vanessa with Beene, are poised and ready to leave on their adventure to Wyoming. Their travels are posted on www.bentheyre.com

If you’ve been reading my column, you know that Vanessa and I, at this writing, are planning a three-week trip with our horses. We’ll travel from our farm in the Finger Lakes region of New York, west to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming.

It wasn’t until sometime in early June that we realized we made a major trip to Missouri with Thunder and Beene 10 years ago. Back then, we were in the middle of a great endurance-racing season, but this time, we were taking it easy. Regardless of the trip’s purpose, our primary focus continues to be the horses.

Information is funny stuff. It seemed that the more we learned about where we were traveling to, the more we needed to know. Interstate travel with horses isn’t as simple as it used to be. The phone calls, e-mails, planning decisions, and preparations seem endless. But this made the effort all the more fun.

They say that the devil is in the details, but using three tools of the Information Age, the Internet, a cell phone with national access, and The Trail Rider magazine, Vanessa and I were able to crack the code of 21st Century Interstate Equine Travel. Our stops and events were planned. Time was at our heels, and everything was coming together.

The big question I asked last issue, “Should I bring the trail-savvy Thunder or the independent thinker, Be-Bop?” was resolved early on after I read the interview in The Trail Rider with Ben York, the Pacific Pioneer who rode the entire Pacific Crest Trail in one shot (Trailblazers, May/June ’05).

He thought a horse should be at least 6 years old to ride in challenging situations. Be-Bop, albeit a coming 6-year-old, might manifest his independent thinking at the wrong time on this trip. So Thunder, our 19-year-old veteran of The Old Dominion Trail got the call. Good decision; win-win. With 15 years of trail riding under his girth, Thunder gladly rose to the challenge and accepted the bit, while younger Be-Bop got to run in the pasture and be cerebral all summer with his buddy, Khan.

Feed Needs
Things got more complicated when we started looking at the feed needs for an 18-day road trip and learned about the Certified Weed-Free Forage program. A few years ago, to prevent the spread of noxious weeds, certain Western states and the Bureau of Land Management prohibited feed that didn’t carry a Certified Weed-Free designation. This was a subject we knew nothing about, and neither did many of the people and feed stores we contacted locally.

We started to get concerned when Internet posting boards we visited had stories of confiscations and fines levied for possession of noncertified feed. Truth? Could be. But, who wants to personally find out? The Internet gave us reasons, rules, and policies on the CWFF requirement, but the information superhighway seemed to be devoid of data on procuring clean hay.

The posted requirement that horses be on this certified feed for two days prior to entering the regulated lands would be hard to comply with, as the feed is rare in our travel states of Indiana and Illinois. Frustrated, the subject began to monopolize our planning discussions. Phone calls to our hosts in Wyoming and Nebraska offered possible sources, if the hay would be in by our July arrival time.

We needed to consult experts, but a 20-minute phone call to a top nutritionist at a national feed company offered little solace. Cell minutes weren’t wasted. An industry attitude on CWFF revealed in the discussion may shed some light on the issue.

Now, I’m sure that the West has its own special weeds it’s battling, as does the rest of the world. And I respect the environmental intent of the requirement. But if you take a practical look at how these regulations impact the economy, things become evident. Hay growers and feed producers Out West will need to meet the increasing demand for CWFF. There’s money principal that fits here. High demand-low supply yields a hefty price. I think there’s a lesson somewhere in there in politics, too.

I was a little miffed, but realized that it was just one of those 21st century travel things. So we’ll carry plenty of water and complete-feed pellets, but only seven days of hay for the boys. We’ll locate the required feed and fully comply with the CWFF requirement. If the seven bales of weed-free hay and the bag of feed we’ll need to travel through regulated lands contribute to building the local economy, then we can feel pride in our role as visitors.

We couldn’t get distracted by the feed problem; we needed to focus on a long trip with horses.

Over the years, Thunder and Beene have become excellent road travelers. If comfortable, they’ll ride together in the trailer for hours at a time. Our job is to make them comfortable. Van and I sat down at the table with a cup of coffee and listed the horses’ needs. We were able to draw on 20 years’ experience with long-distance treks with a variety of horses, including the boys. A list of things that made the horses feel at home living off trailer became a to-do list and a rather long shopping list. Done!

Cyber-Shopping
Even before we had the inkling to go west, we were evaluating the condition of our tack and supplies. Those who participate in the sport know that endurance racing is high maintenance. It depletes supplies, and takes its toll on equipment. When we pulled apart the tack box in January, most of what we used over the years seemed to be worn out or inappropriate for use in recreational trail riding. So we went online.

eBay and tack sellers on the web found us some great bargains; but shipping costs often leveled the playing field with the equine wholesale stores in our region. Our trip to the tack store was like going shopping for the kid’s fall school clothes. Beene and Thunder both needed nosebags, fly and rain sheets, and new shipping boots. We invested in two HiTies and put the electronic fence in long term storage. We repaired a torn hay sack so each horse would have one for the trip. Last, but not least, we refreshed the emergency kit for horses and sanitized the trailer.

Sound tiring? As you can imagine, there were many late nights, dozens upon dozens of little tasks that needed to be done — not to mention two horses that needed to be conditioned for high-country riding. We used the Internet, a cell phone, and The Trail Rider. Each detail we found became a piece of the puzzle in planning our adventure Out West.

Even with its frustrations, the planning effort was joyful. It bonded Vanessa and me, as we became meshed gears and did it all leading up to our departure.

By the time this is printed, we’ll have returned from our Great Adventure. If you’d like, you can share our experiences. I’ve chronicled the trip on our website, www.bentheyre.com. My e-mail is bentheyre@juno.com. As always, I’ll answer every e-mail personally.