Is this okay?!

Thats how alot of harness racing trainers jog multiple horses at a time they are tied to a "Gate" and jogged. They also jog o9ne and pony one beside them. The horses are used to it and trust me the man driving is watching them. Plus they have a panic clip that if one falls the snap breaks.
TRR

TRR

Well, you said he was driving in a field, so he is not on a road open to other vehicles. I don't see the danger there. But, full out running? That seems a bit over the top, I can see the danger in that if, for some odd reason, he were to slam on his brakes. But then, why would he? It certianly isn't something I would do, but judging from what others have said, I guess it is practiced.

I never heard of this guy ever using his horses, more of a pasture ordainment. I'm guessing its for excise. I just hope that he is being careful and using the right equipment.

I have seen it with the racing horses that they use for chuckwagon races. It keeps them in shape and they don't have to pull just run behind.

Happens all the time at the harness training track across the road from me. The harness trainers just tie the horses to a rig on the back of their trucks and go at a set speed (somewhat like a horse walker, they have bays that you put the horse in and tie it to the front). It saves a LOT of time harnessing and unharnessing for those trainers who have a lot of horses. They just catch them, tie them to the rig, and go, rather than fiddling around with harness for 6-10 different horses.

I can't say I would ever do it but it's common practice and I've never seen an accident. If there was one I would know about it, like I said I live across the road from the only public training track in town and the private ones aren't vehicle friendly.

I wouldn't do it unless it were a dire emergency, like one that was posted on the same kinda thread... where is that? Can't remember who said it but she had to catch her loose horse and had her baby with her, qualifies. And leading in hand, not many problems with that.

Just be careful you aren't seen having an accident doing it around here! A guy's horse got loose and he went after it with an ATV, got him caught and tied him off. Was taking him down the road at a good pace and the horse slipped and the man dragged him for quite a ways. Now IDK if he just didn't notice and reacted too slowly or he was a bad guy and didn't care. I think the story got misconstrued and someone said he sped up to get the horse back on his feet!?!?!? Any ways the horse had to be PTS. They even showed his injuries on the news and that man was in a WORLD of trouble. So if you do it, make sure no one sees JIC you have an accident!

I'm trying to think of how this might be dangerous. If the driver is in a big open field without any other vehicles and is paying attention to make sure he isn't dragging the horses I don't see a problem. Off the bed of a truck, the horses are far away from the tires enough (I'd assume) to prevent them from getting run over or snagged... if the horse starts to panic, the driver just stops .... I could see some danger from having to stop suddenly and the horses run into the truck, or god forbid the brakes go out...

I don't know, doesn't seem like a 'huge' deal

Can you articulate exactly what is dangerous about what you saw?

I'm not talking about the million what ifs that one could imagine here.

I'm talking about the exact situation you saw. That speed, that location, that number of horses, that method of attaching the horse to the vehicle.

Was the driver spraying turf out of his back tires or was he driving at a comfortable speed for the horse?

Was he talking on a cellphone or constantly checking his mirrors?

How much time did you spend observing this? Or was this just a "drive by"?

I wish I had the sense to do that years ago.

Now I work my hound every morning runing by the truck

He goes 15/20 miels a day.....every day....rain or, shine.

He was driving over hills through a pasture, with 3 horse tied to the back of the truck together. I have no idea how they were attached because he was driving and I was on the road.

He was jogging them at a fast pace and driving somewhat straight. Making slight turns and not stopping.

I drove by twice after dropping someone off and this was about 15 minutes later.