Travelling to Manitoba

[Kelli Hjelmeland <kelli@mb.sympatico.ca>]

After reading Lari Shea's request, while I can't help, I can offer my
experiences.

I travelled from Manitoba to S. Cal. in March of this year with a
two-horse trailer and a diesel 1 ton truck. The round trip cost me
approximately $450 USF. I believe my truck gets about 20 mpg. It is a
great trip with good roads all the way (I took 15 to 90 to 94 to 29).
The only stressful area was around Salt Lake City where they are doing
major construction and have narrowed the lanes quite a bit. That
normally wouldn't bother me, but there was separations in the road
surface that grabbed the tires. Hopefully the construction will be
finished by the ride time. Canada Customs are extremely easy to deal
with - just know what you have to do, because (and this goes for the US
side as well) sometimes they have new people on shift that don't have a
clue what they're supposed to do with horses!

If you plan on unloading your horse anywhere in Montana, you will need a
permit number. It doesn't cost anything and you can get it over the
phone (no paperwork required). I'm sorry I don't still have the number
for you to call, but it will be the state agriculture office - your
local ag office should be able to supply it. I checked and no other
state that I passed through needed anything but negative coggins and
health papers. (ND, ID, UT, AZ, NV, CA). However, I am a very small rig
- your rig may fall under different regulations.

I would like to add that I live approximately 3 hours from the FEI ride
site, and I have two very safe turnouts if anyone needs to bring horses
early. I also have a barn with three large tie stalls (rubber matted)
and one 9x9 box stall. Humans are welcome to camp on our property and
use our facilities, as I don't have any spare bedrooms at the moment. On
the map, we are located ½ hour north of Winnipeg near Stonewall. We are
only about 20 minutes from the airport.

Look forward to seeing all you yanks!

Kelli Hjelmeland