# Anyone ever had only a horse for transportation?



## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

I would certainly check on your area's laws regarding using horses as transportation in public. I don't know where you are, but here in SW Ohio, that is illegal. Riding along the side of the road is fine, but it's illegal to ride on the roads or "park" your horse, unless you're driving a horse and buggy. I'm pretty sure even the horse and buggy is illegal in Cincinnati, especially trying to "park" to go shopping.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

I've seen people do it.. so long as you don't have issues of people messing with your horse, or your horse being scared then you should be good to go.

Trucks dieing is the ABSOLUTE worst.. they're so expensive to fix!!!!!


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

SEAmom said:


> I would certainly check on your area's laws regarding using horses as transportation in public. I don't know where you are, but here in SW Ohio, that is illegal. Riding along the side of the road is fine, but it's illegal to ride on the roads or "park" your horse, unless you're driving a horse and buggy. I'm pretty sure even the horse and buggy is illegal in Cincinnati, especially trying to "park" to go shopping.


Haha, I reckon that the law is just gonna have to take a rain check on this one 'cause I ain't got a choice. Though Half Moon Bay seems to be a pretty horse-friendly community. Maybe I can be sufficiently charming to talk my way out of any tickets. ;-)


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## SEAmom (Jan 8, 2011)

That sounds like a good, solid back-up plan. Always be prepared.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

When I was a kid, it was the horse or the bike. Horse was quicker & easier, 'cept I was told not to bring my horse to school anymore! Made up for it though, delivered newspapers with the horse.


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## VT Trail Trotters (Jul 21, 2011)

Ive been joking about getting a horse and riding it to school!


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## Shiavo (Mar 23, 2011)

Actually, we had a guy ride his horse to work once (I work in a large office building - it's a IT consultant office) and parked it in the motorbike bay with a bucket of water and a hay net (keeping in mind, he rode in a tailored business suit and helmet).
When the admin people realised it wasn't actually a prank they asked him to remove it from the property immediately to which he just threw up his hands and said 'Your the ones who forgot pay me! I couldn't afford gas!'

It was pretty hilarious, but he did have to remove his horse.

--

As a side note, there is some old law in our state, that apparently still exists that says if you ride your horse to a pub and they don't have appropriate facilities to tie and water it, then legally they have to allow you to bring it inside with you.
I have always been tempted to TEST this law....


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

A few times following a snow storm and unplowed road I rode my mare to town for a few necessities. The unplowed road was over 1/2 mi of knee deep show. Town is really a village. I tied her to a steel pipe while I hastened into the store. I could see out the big windows and no one approached her until I came out and a few asked permission to touch her. Thankfully she didn't leave anything behind at the store.


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## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

i have done it....i think its fun. but people will mess with your horse.. i had my dog ride with us on a long leash and when i went inside to the store i tied both dog and horse to the light pole. anyone who sees my dog is generally scared of him so i didn't have much to worry about.. plus he usually greets people with a growl (even when he is happy) and that for sure scares them off...lol so no more problems with strangers near my horse.

another thing that helped was riding with my sister. one could go in and one stay outside. that way you can keep people away from the horses. 

but then again i am lucky the store is only about a 10 minute drive and we don't have a local police department we work with the state troopers... who are never around so police are never an issue 
have fun on the new mode of transportation


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## mystykat (Dec 4, 2011)

I wish I could ride my horse about... I have had 3 vehicles die on me in the last month, and now I've run out of vehicles to kill. The bike it is for me.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

Ian McDonald said:


> Suddenly, this is the situation that I'm in. I had two pickup trucks. One for towing the horse trailer and one for general driving. One died the other day so I started driving the other one, which also died today! I'm still in shock over the fact that this could possibly happen.
> 
> Looks like I'm going to be using horsepower to go to the grocery store and to run other errands for awhile. Should be interesting, tying up to a light post outside of Safeway while buying groceries. Anyone ever been in this situation? I'm a little worried about the attention this will undoubtedly attract.


Yes, I've spent a good deal of time with horses being my transportation. 15 miles to town. But it wasn't for the same reason. I didn't have a vehicle. I rode a bus to school and horses everywhere else. I sometimes could get permission to use the farm truck (had a 6x13 fool long flatbed) for Friday or Saturday night movie date (there was a drive-in in town). But for quite some time (especially before I got my license) horses were my primary means of getting anywhere I didn't want to walk to.

That's what got me into distance riding and I've never stopped loving it. People would haul their horses someplace to go riding. I'd just ride. Couldn't have afforded the gas :lol:. Even when I wanted to breed my mare to a stallion own by a friend from school I rode her the roughly 20 miles to his farm and had a family member swing by when they got off work to pick me up.

It's amazing how spoiled we become, but I'm looking forward to going back to using my horses as a regular means of transportation again after I retire.


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## minihorse927 (Aug 11, 2008)

I live about 1.5hours east of Cincinnati and horses on the road are the norm. If it isn't a Amish horse and buggy it is people just riding horses up and down the road. There has been a few times I have seem people riding horses down the middle of SR32 which has 60MPH speed limits and idiot drivers, not the best option. No one has ever said a word about it here. I drive my minis up and down the road I live on, it is a back road though. The sheriff always just waves and smiles as he passes us. Once or twice a couple of them have stopped and wanted to pet the horses or ask questions.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

A few things I would be concerned about; if you can't afford to get your car fixed, then what if your horse goes lame in town, how will you get it home?

Also, insurance could be a problem, if your horse were to get loose, or someone turned them loose, you could possibly be liable for damages. This is especially a problem if securing your horse to private property. 

While horses used to be a primary mode of transport, times have changed and the city world isn't really suitable for them anymore. Perhaps if you live in a super small town it will be okay but keep in mind horses are not really a mode of transport anymore. And you could end up causing more trouble than its worth. 

I'd take a look at the situation you have put yourself in... you had enough money for two trucks and a horse but had no safety net should anything happen and you need a new car, vet bills etc? Perhaps you should be making better choices.


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## LoveTheSaddlebreds (Jul 9, 2009)

A friend and I were on a trail ride and part of the trail let out by a road, and down the road was a shopping center! We ended up going to the Wendy's drive through for a snack! Lots of people wanted to run up and pet the horses or take pictures. lol


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

Saskia said:


> A few things I would be concerned about; if you can't afford to get your car fixed, then what if your horse goes lame in town, how will you get it home?
> 
> Also, insurance could be a problem, if your horse were to get loose, or someone turned them loose, you could possibly be liable for damages. This is especially a problem if securing your horse to private property.
> 
> ...


Ha! If I made better choices, I just wouldn't be me. ;-)


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

LoveTheSaddlebreds said:


> A friend and I were on a trail ride and part of the trail let out by a road, and down the road was a shopping center! We ended up going to the Wendy's drive through for a snack! Lots of people wanted to run up and pet the horses or take pictures. lol


Nice. Btw I wish there was a way to 'like' your avatar. Takes me back. :lol:


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## LoveTheSaddlebreds (Jul 9, 2009)

Ian McDonald said:


> Nice. Btw I wish there was a way to 'like' your avatar. Takes me back. :lol:


Right?! I love it! Ren and Stimpy is the best xD And Mr. Horse was always my favorite!


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## DingDong (Feb 20, 2012)

Shiavo said:


> Actually, we had a guy ride his horse to work once (I work in a large office building - it's a IT consultant office) and parked it in the motorbike bay with a bucket of water and a hay net (keeping in mind, he rode in a tailored business suit and helmet).
> When the admin people realised it wasn't actually a prank they asked him to remove it from the property immediately to which he just threw up his hands and said 'Your the ones who forgot pay me! I couldn't afford gas!'
> 
> It was pretty hilarious, but he did have to remove his horse.
> ...


OMG, I found this story hilarious! My brothers are both IT professionals and we live in a very IT heavy town, it was easy to imagine how it must have looked like!


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## Saranda (Apr 14, 2011)

I did it for the first time last saturday - me and one of my barn buddies went to a grocery store of a nearby village (4 kilometers each direction) on our mounts. The boys were very excited, but did just great and my horse greatly encouraged the younger, more inexperienced one when carrs passed, dogs barked and in otrher situations. We did it mostly for fun (and the villagers came out of their houses to stare at us, lol  ), but we also checked if the road is suitable for horse riding if it ever becomes necessary.


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## mildot (Oct 18, 2011)

Shiavo said:


> As a side note, there is some old law in our state, that apparently still exists that says if you ride your horse to a pub and they don't have appropriate facilities to tie and water it, then legally they have to allow you to bring it inside with you.
> I have always been tempted to TEST this law....


Oh man I'd be right there with you!


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

I just saw this photo on facebook. This pic was taken yesterday somewhere in Oklahoma.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I have. When I was younger (it was in either '92 or '93) we had close to 2 feet of snow a couple days after Thanksgiving. Now I know that you folks up in the north are thinking "Wow, 2 whole feet? Really:roll: ?", but that's a lot of snow to have all at once for us down here, especially living out in the boondocks like I do. Plus, we almost always have wind with our snow so 2 feet of snow will leave drifts that are 8-10 feet deep across roadways and against houses.

Anyway, there were a grand total of about 3 roads in the entire town that got graded to clear the snow so neither we nor anyone else in town could get out to feed their cows or make it to the grocery store. 

At the time, we had a very nice, well broke team of big Belgian mules that we used for driving and farm work. So, we harnessed them up to our sled, loaded the sled with hay and bags of cake for the cows, and set out to feed our cows and those that belonged to our neighbors too. It took about 3 weeks for the snow to either be packed enough by folks on foot or melted enough for the people in town to try their vehicles again and during that entire time, our family with the help of Tiny and Buster were the only ones who could feed the cows or make it to Perk's for groceries.

Back in those days, it was not an uncommon sight to see Tiny and Buster tied to the post at the side of the building or a saddle horse belonging to either me or my brother tied to a tree out back of the store while we went in to get some food or a coke.

For those weeks following the big snow, this was our sole means of tranportation. We were spending 8-10 hours a day on that old sled.


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