On the Road with Wings

...the retail prices of horse transportation...

2010-09-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

..are always baffling to the horsey public as a whole...one or two hundred percent difference between hauler's prices for the same ride seem bazaar and causes owners to wonder at the basis for the difference. Can one of these guys be three time better at hauling a horse? Is his mortgage choking him or alimony getting him down and he's got to pass it on to the customer? Is it the insurance or the cost of his equipment or his lack of tolerance for long hours and hard work? It's pretty much all those things factored in and weighed in against the market...and will the market support the hauler's prices over time...and "over time" is the real question. When you haul horses professionally you have to decide what formula will replace your equipment when it has to be repaired or replaced...like subtract the fuel and split your gross income in half: half for you and half for your equipment fund which includes your commercial insurance, tires, maintenance, etc. Your personal nut really impacts your pricing because, remember, you have only half of that gross income to use...the rest is untouchable...if you mismanage your personal life, it'll show in your prices...and you have to keep your plastic paid off in case you break down on the road. We rescue a lot of horses coast to coast that are the passengers of hobby haulers who have broken down and don't have the "where with all" to repair their rig and continue on in a timely manner...dicey at best, but the horses aren't at fault and get the Wings "hook 'em up" rescue if there's room in our trailer. You can under-price the market to attract business but sooner or later the equipment will fail...and if you've been unable to stash cash in your replacement fund your horse hauling days are over. It's a good idea to check your hauler's feedback profile at http://www.uship.com/profile/WingsHorseTransport/ to keep current on your haulers feedback and pics of their equipment...haulers stranded on a desolate highway for weeks usually are struggling with someone's horses aboard...

...we get a lot of wonderful email from our clients...

2009-04-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

...and some is worth sharing:

Hi there to everyone!

I am so sorry this took me so long to write! I wanted to say thank you so much for the outstanding help and service you provided for me at the end of March. I had purchased a sight unseen, not been handled yearling Friesian/ Appaloosa cross colt from MN, and you were able to get him to me in San Diego CA 2 days before I arrived to the states on leave from the middle east! It was so awesome getting to spend the couple weeks I had in the states with my new baby! My poor non horse boyfriend was in the states trying to keep me posted on how your haul was going and trying to get in contact with the farm I was going to keep Riviting Design. You guys were great with all the emails, phone calls and how patient you were with the baby. I will use you again anytime I need a horse shipped! Not to mention that the price you gave me was well below what anyone thought it was going to cost.

You made the stress of all of this so much easier to deal with when I had trouble reaching the boarding farm and you offered to hold him at your SO CAL farm until I got everything straightened out. There are very few people out there who would have made such an offer. (LOL let alone some people that would NOT have let an appy baby on their farm…)

Rivint Design, AKA McPon, is doing awesome. He has now received all his vaccinations, seen the farrier, been bathed, shaved and had a few more lessons loading in a horse trailer. His color and attitude are outstanding, and all the boarders think he is the sweetest guy. I am already back to work in the middle east and am looking forward to being stationed in San Diego in August. Hopefully I will get a chance to say thank you in person someday!

Thank you again so much for all the wonderful help and service! If you ever need a referral, please send them my way!

Sincerely,

Krystal and Riviting Design, AKA McPon

Hi Krystal...thanks for the note and the kind words...we have a lot of clients back and forth to the Middle East and the recurring theme is that thoughts of their horses keeps them on track while fighting the good fight. Horses are such a important part of our American history and our daily lives that they can be our anchor in difficult times. Some years ago some horsey gals at a ranch in Trabuco Canyon were all hovering around my truck trying to see a picture mounted on the dash board of my Ford...assuming that it was a photo of my ex-wife who they knew had taken my money and run off very recently. I gave 'em permission to climb up and take a peek...and they all came out grinnin' like roped maniacs...it was a really nice shot of Big Bad Leroy Brown, the finest horse I've ever owned...proud to have you for a client, Krystal...Kirk at Wings

If you want to take a closer look...

2009-04-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

...at our profile/feedback/pics and national rankings you can click here http://www.uship.com/profile/WingsHorseTransport/ and get a feel of our working relationships with our clients...and you can always check here to see where Wings guys are on the road... Mitch, Vicki and Mike are home at the ranch in San Diego until the second week of the month...Bill's in Texas and headed west with a full ride until he reaches AZ...and he'll have 3 spots open up to California/Oregon/and Washington. Mike leaves San Diego for Montana and beyond with openings and Mitch will begin his monthly coast to coast on the 14th with some slots still open each way...email me or call me at 858-945-6102 to chat about upcoming trips in your area...Kirk at Wings

...so Mike was standing out front of the Hart factory this morning...

2009-03-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

...waiting to take delivery of a new 6-horse trailer...Wings is a humble, horsey group of guys but, hey, a new horse trailer is a wonderful thing...wonderful for our clients...wonderful for their horses...and wonderful for Mike and Benson (woof) who sleep with the horses in the trailer. There are a bunch of philosophies out there regarding hauling horses, but Wings has had only one for the last 23 years: sleep with the herd and share the responsibility for the horses with no one, ever...horse motels and transient barns carry with them inherent risks that can't be a part of our commitment to our customers...if you're not the guy who feeds and waters the horses, how would you know whether or not the horse is drinking and eating? Would you really run your bare hand over every single inch of the inside of every single stall you put a horse in to make sure a horse couldn't get into trouble?... if you're just the guy who worked there? Uh-huh...that's what I thought...and now comes the really tough question: how can you sleep in the trailer with 6 or 8 horses? z z z z z z...z z z z z z...z z z z z z...Kirk at Wings

...dawn patrol at Serenity Farms...

2009-03-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

...in Folsom, Louisiana...Bill enjoyed that southern hospitality and their easy ways and stayed on the farm last night...and he'll load three more horses from there... destined for Los Angeles...meanwhile, Mitch is making his way east to Oklahoma in the 8-horse and then straight up to South Dakota...we like to take advantage of the southern route when available before turning into the northern weather...and Mike has all his new trailer rigging laid out and packed which he'll take with him to Oklahoma this weekend to take delivery of his new Hart 6-horse on Monday...then down to Austin to bring 4 horses aboard and off to Montana...Kirk at Wings

...where are the Wings rigs today?...

2009-03-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

...well, Mitch left California yesterday in the Supercruiser 8-horse after a busy day in Los Angeles gathering East Coast horses...now in Cave Creek, Arizona as we speak...then heading for El Paso Wednesday morning and then cruising Northeast with a couple slots available...Bill's in the Gulf States leaving Florida in the 6-horse Kiefer toward Louisiana today with a full ride all the way to El Paso and with one spot available to California...and Bill will be our main California to FLorida guy...and Mike's home at the ranch playing golf and waiting to pick up our new Hart 6-horse in Oklahoma Monday (he's psyched) with a trip straight up to Montana with 2 slots left to Colorado and 1 left to Montana...then back to California with the route undetermined(contact us to get on that ride)...and Vicki is at the ranch doing some local hauls and always on call to support the other trips in progress. You can check on this blog daily heretofor to check on the location of our trailers and see if they'll suit your immediate needs...or email me or call me at 858-945-6102...thanks...we always appreciate the business...Kirk at Wings

Don't kill the messenger(hauler)...

2009-02-12T13:04:00.000-08:00

...because he's not really there to be an equine appraiser. Years ago most of our horse packages were 6 or 8 horses cross country from breeding ranches or ranch moves or seasonal moves out of the weather...rather than one at a time internet purchases of horses that are seen only on video or less. All the guys and gals at Wings are lifetime horsemen and know a horse when they see one...but when we're contracted to drive across country to pick up your horse, our personal opinion of the horse doesn't come into play...and definitely is not part of our job. Your due diligence responsibility is assumed and the horse is presumed to be what you want...not to say that if the horse is unfit to travel or is clearly not the right horse... (literally...we ask you to provide a picture of your new horse...we always try to bring the right one across country:)... we will pick up the phone and chat with our client afar if something isn't right...Mitch ended up in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night presenting a Draft horse to the new owner...well, the cash on delivery turned into a personal check instantly...which (of course) was the last personal check we ever took...Yup, it was Mitch's fault that the horse looked older than the seller had claimed and Mitch was in some kind of conspiracy with the seller. I really do believe that if you consider the cost of travel to look at a distant horse...and you buy a lot of horses to make the averages work for you...and do some homework on the seller to get a warm and fuzzy feeling (or not)... it's a viable way to buy a nice horse. You can google the seller to within an inch of their life and even look at their farm from a sattelite...find their past transactions on the internet and call the previous buyers...use google's "street view" and zoom onto their licsense plates on their truck and...just kidding...sort of...anyway, do a bunch of homework on that horse and seller before you buy it...fly in for the pre-purchase vetting if you can afford it...make sure he's what you want so you'll love him completely for the rest of his/your life...and then let Wings go get him and bring him to you safe and sound...Kirk at Wings

...gathering the California herd...

2008-08-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

...is really a "getting to know you" process...new clients and horses with new requests and their unique requirements...and that's the way it should be. Every horse has a personality and Mitch and Mike compare notes to get a feel for which horses will be good neighbors on the trek. Mike is a second generation owner of Sun Coast Farms in San Diego (and the home ranch for our personal horses and rigs) so Mike has a lifetime of experience with difficult 2-year old thoroughbreds on the track and on the road...Mitch has personally loaded some 15-thousand horses in his professional lifetime hauling horses so he has a feel for what works and doesn't in the trailer. We like Mike especially for "special care" horses because with that depth of foaling and raising high-dollar horses who are always looking for trouble he's like taking your heart surgeon and personal trainer on your vacation... just in case. So today we're matching vet paperwork, registrations, and paperwork to horses...getting the herd brushed and inspected for any issues...looking for undisclosed behavior tendencies that the guys might need to know on the road...it's looking pretty good with this easy-going bunch. All the stalls are fully divided top to bottom on the Sooner and the Sundowner 8-horse so it's really just about what makes them the happiest on a long trip...we'll be loading early in the morning after one more look-over of the herd...and we'll be over the curb and heading East with a band of really nice horses...Kirk at Wings

We liked it the way it was...

2007-12-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

...hauling 20 horses from Wyoming to Laredo on a handshake or "well, awright then" on the phone. We didn't have to waste time whining about the money...we just went about our horse business and the money came when, well, when it came. And we liked doing business that was full of assumptions that leaned on hard work and quiet friendships and knowing that you had something rare and special and better left unspoken. We knew what a good horse and a good pick-em-up truck looked like and what each of them were worth...when our friend needed a hand and was too proud to ever ask...and when to just let something go. Yup...some California Hummer-driving flake got ahead of us on a 3000 mile/7-horse free ride to Florida...I know, I know, we should have known...with foreclosures of horse property all over the west there's bound to be a bunch of homeless horses and some desperate Californians running to Florida, home of the bankruptcy homestead act. Is that going to change the way we do business...not really...not even. We've worked hard for a long time and we can take the hit, no problem...still got way too many wonderful horses, a nice ranch, great friends, good trucks and...new friends we've met...and more right up the highway.

...the desert in the winter...

2007-11-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

...means incredible nights with friends and their horses...BBQ artists are showing off their talent...and a promise of another stunning trail ride in the Borrego Anza mountains. Remember that Wings Horse Transport has been taking groups of horsepeople to the desert for long weekends and incredible trails for 20 years...you don't need a big truck and horse trailer to enjoy horse-camping with lots of friends because Wings makes all that a breeze. We can gather all your horses on take-off day and deliver them to campground of choice...and at the end of the weekend, we'll come pick your horses up and take them home safe and sound. Letting Wings handle the horse stuff allows you to concentrate on the fun stuff and get a fast start for the weekend...email us at contact@wingshorsetransport for the details, reservations, and campgrounds and we'll help you plan the horse-trip of a lifetime...

With a couple quiet days at the ranch with our horses and loved ones

2007-11-23T17:45:00.000-08:00

...after a 12 day loop picking up and delivering horses all up the West Coast, Oregon, Idaho...down to New Mexico through the Pecos to Texas and back home for the holiday...Mitch and I are sitting on the tailgate of the truck swinging our boots and planning the mega-trip next week...and it's a brutal event. San Diego to Florida on the 27th with 2 full rigs...deliver all the horses there and heading to JFK N.Y. to pick up some Icelandics for Sunland Ranch...then send 1 full truck back by the South the other powering to the North for picks and drops all the way to California...for around 18K miles in 3 weeks. One actual workday left to have all the maintenance done on two trucks and two horse trailers...new tires and balance/oil and filters/full chassis lubes on the trucks and bearings in the trailers...the sheer lateral stress of 10,000lbs of horses in each trailer...winding around mountain passes...turns original equipment Japanese bearings to filings and mush...so Mitch's preemptive discipline is to put $1000 of U.S. Steel bearings per trailer rather than being in the middle of Fargo flatlands freezing with 14 horses and the bearings coming apart like a cheap watch. I wouldn't want to send my horses across the country with a hauler who's a little short on the dollars...because the cash-call bell for maintenance and repairs rings clear and often. These horses aboard these rigs are the most precious possessions of the people who entrusted them to us...when Mitch loads these horses they're in his herd and thereby his absolute responsibility. You won't be having too many lunch dates with Donald Trump hauling horses, but if you love the smell and feel and the warm wet sweet breath of horses...and you want those horses in every living moment of your entire life...then sittin' here on this tailgate while your horses are nickering for evening feeding may be a promising occupation.