Ask who will drive, handle and load your horse, what vehicle will carry the horse, what insurance covers the journey, and what the breakdown plan is if the vehicle cannot continue. Ask about loading methods, rest stops, water and monitoring on long journeys, overnight stabling, how delays are communicated to you, plus references from other owners and written terms before you book. You are handing over a large, valuable animal to a stranger's driving, handling and judgement for hours at a time, so a professional should expect a thorough set of questions and answer them without impatience. Work through the groups below before money changes hands, and judge evasive answers the same way you would judge evasive answers from a seller.
People, Vehicle and Insurance
Start with the people: Who exactly will drive, handle and load my horse, and what experience does that person have with horses like mine, including youngsters, stallions or nervous travellers? Will the driver travel alone, and will the same person stay with the horse from collection to delivery? A company may quote as a team and subcontract the journey, so ask whether they ever pass bookings to another operator and whether you would be told. Then the vehicle: What type and size of vehicle will carry the horse, how is it partitioned, what ventilation and flooring does it have, and may I see it or recent photographs before booking? Ask how often vehicles are cleaned and disinfected between horses, which matters for disease control between yards. Then insurance and legality: What insurance covers my horse during loading, travel and unloading, what value does it cover, and what must I arrange myself? Ask for the operator's licence and insurance documents rather than accepting a verbal assurance, and check what liability they accept for delays, injury and cancellation in their terms.
Loading, the Journey Itself and Emergencies
Ask how they load: What methods and equipment do you use if a horse refuses, and how long will you try before ringing me? Their answer reveals philosophy as much as technique, and you want patience and a phone call, never force applied after you have left the yard. For the journey itself, ask: On a long journey, how often do you stop, and what happens at stops for water, hay and checking the horses? Is water offered during travel or only at stops, and can I send my own hay and feed with written instructions? How are horses monitored during travel, by camera, by stops, or both, and will you travel my horse with others or alone? Where does the horse stay overnight on multi-day journeys, and who feeds and checks it there? Cover emergencies directly: What is the breakdown plan if the vehicle cannot continue, where would the horse wait, and who decides and pays if a vet is needed on the road? A transporter with real answers here has lived the problems before.
Communication, References and Written Terms
Agree the communication before the day: How will you confirm collection time, how will you tell me about delays on the road, and will I hear when the horse has arrived and settled? Ask what you must provide at collection, such as the passport and any paperwork for the journey, a filled haynet, travel boots fitted or sent, and a contact who can answer questions while you may be unreachable. Ask for references from owners who used the service for similar journeys, and look for reviews that mention communication and the condition horses arrived in, not merely price. Finally, get the booking in writing: total price, what it includes, deposit, cancellation terms, arrival windows and the agreed route and stops, in a document you both hold. A transporter who welcomes written terms is telling you how the journey will be run. Care Pass in KinsLe then hands the chosen driver a temporary view of loading notes, feed amounts and who to ring in an emergency, lasting only until delivery.