How Did They Haul Horses in the 1930s?

I'm working on a fiction piece and find that I need to know how they hauled horses in the 1930s. Did they  have horse trailers? Or was it all boxes built on the back of trucks?

I probably need to check out "Seabiscuit" again. I remember he rode in his own railroad car but this is different because in my fiction this is not a valuable horse and his owners are struggling in the Depression. However, it's possible that they could still own and be using something from better times.

I asked my father, who was around then, how they hauled horses and was surprised that he not only didn't know, but he didn't make something up. Must have been tired.

Thanks!

Comments

[Beckz]

I have seen old school images of valuable horses being pulled in a carriage by other horses. A horse drawn horse trailer if you will. Other than that I think they rode them.

[OneCowgirl]

Mr. Haney (Green Acres) types of trucks - just my guess

[Val]

I have read your blog for a while and thought I would delurk for this one.

My daughter loves horse movies. Flicka is one of her favorites. If I recall correctly, I think they had a pickup truck with a tall wooden box built on the bed of it. I even think the horses head stuck out the top. I really don't know if the time was early enough for you but hope that helps.

[Netherfieldmom]

Check out Blaze and the Grey Spotted Pony by CW Anderson. There's a picture of the trailer. Also, Blaze and Thunderbolt has a trailer picture. Says that Billy rode out west with Blaze, in the trailer!! Good luck.

[photogchic]

Good question! I would guess they rode them. I did see an old picture once of the wooden box on the back of the pickup that Val describes. I will ask around and see if anyone I knows remembers.

[White Horse Pilgrim]

Anne, trains were used extensively. There were special livestock cars and a whole regime of animal care en-route. In those days, there were many more rail lines and depots. A shipper ordered a car in advance, and it came in a freight train. (I have friends who shipped horses by train in England as recently as the mid-1960's. They rode in a grooms' compartment in the car, and could feed and water their horses whilst the train moved. I believe that Monty Roberts wrote about travelling by train with horses as a boy.) If you can get hold of Part 3 of the U.S. Cavalry manual "Horsemanship and Horsemastership" (in original, not the post-WW2 reprints that omit the transport section), there is a comprehensive description of how to transport horses by truck, trailer and train. If you haven't ready access to this volume, I can scan the relevant pages (it's about 20 sides of A5) and email them to you. There are some photos of horses being shipped in Britain on http://www.kentarbox.com/images/lambourn-valley-railway/pages/Lambourn/lambourn.htm - in the U.S. probably larger cars were used, but otherwise the system wold have been similar.

[risingrainbow]

I know about the boxes on the back of trucks but nothing about horse trailers. That doesn't mean much however, since that was before my time. Thank god, I'm old enough as it is. lol

[Lisa from Kentucky]

In Seabiscuit he was hauled to the farm after his injury in a large equine trailer. Many people halued them in the beds of their pickups as well. Good question!

[BrownEyedCowgirls]

Depending on where your tale takes place. Railcars were used quite a bit. But in more remote areas you would probably see them being ponied from one destination to another. Especially more valuable horses(race horses) would have been ponied rather than ridden. During the depression, depending on your story, most people were too poor to spend the money hauling a horse very far. There were trailers-usually with an open top, but most often horses were hauled in "stock racks" in the back of a pickup.

[Anwyn]

Watch Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken but never trust any movie for historical veracity. :)