I have been out elk hunting 4 times and always wished i had my horse. well this year a diffrent group of us has decided to give it a whirl. we have been walking a lot outselves and riding the heck out of our horses for the last 2 months. feel like they are in great shape. has anybody else ever taken "flat land stock" out west and how hard was it for them? got all the legal part figured out. going in early sep. north of durango.

The physiology ofa horse is not much different from us humans. In other words, they should acclimate themselves to altitude like we do...plenty of water, not a lot of strenuous riding the first day or so. If you can, stop and pull them out of the trailer and give em a break too.

slim23,
Almost 30 years agp, my Grandad gave me a horse, brought it out to Colorado from Illinois. We lived at 7000 feet then. It took her a good month before that mare aclimated to the altitude. Could not ride her for the firstweek she was so tired from just walking around.
I would counsel you to leave yours at home and rent horses here. I don't see how they will make the 1200 mile trip, then be any good to you at 10,000-11,000 feet. Might even hurt them. Conditioning is great, my horse was in good shape too, but going from 600 feet to 10,000+, trying to pack you around/or an elk out is not going to happen given the experience I've had. I know there are outfits that rent here in Colorado for $300-400/wk. Figure that against the savings of pulling a trailer.
Even when we took our horses hunting back then, they lived at 7000 ft and we took them to 10,000+, they would blow a little extra the first day or two.
Might also call a vet out here and ask his opinion. PM me if you want, I'll get you the name & number of some local vets.

Legal: They need a health certificate and a coggins (EIA) blood test. The coggins test is generally good for a year, but the health cert needs to be 30 days or less from the date of the trip (including return trip). Bottom line is ask your vet BEFORE a week before you leave so you can work out the details of the testing, which generally has to be sent off to a lab and can take a few days.

Also, any national forest requires that you only take "certified" hay from a preapproved dealer. That is so you won't be taking any noxious weeds into the forest.

I am a vet, and I know lots of people that take horses and do ok, including my partner who takes mules. Just treat them like you do yourself: get them in shape, go upa few days early to adjust, and take it easy at first. If they look ,sound like they need a breather, give them one. If youtake a fat horse who has been standing in a stall and hasn't been ridden in 6 months, you are asking for trouble.

I second that. Good post txhunter58.

thanks for the replys.We have all of the paper work in order and the hay lined up in durango. My vet also said to get them out of the trailer every 6-8 hrs and walk em around a little and water em. It will be a learning experience for us all. we are planning on staying for 2 weeks so we wont have to push the horses and more oppertunities. what sucks is i tore up my shoulder 6 weeks ago requiring surgery and will only be calling/trout fishing/cooking. still some good scouting for next year and a good vacation!!!!!!

not quite accurate...

horses are dramatically different atleast as tohow they process oxygen, they are not nearly as prone to altitude issues...horses can put about twice the amount of oxygen in their blood than humans, causing them to be less prone to these issues, partially caused by a much larger spleen to store and oxygenate red blood...

the bigger issue to be most concerned about is dehydration...especially with the long drive...

having carted my critters all over the country hunting the elusive wapiti (2.5k to 14k feet elevation), the most critical things (besides the legal ones above) are rest and water...some horses are NOT good travellers...would highly suggest hay bags or if you have a trough, keep it full for them, but then you have to make sure you get them lots of water at your stops...get them out, walk them around...let them rest out of trailer for awhile...with good access to 5 gallon buckets of water...

water is your biggest issue IMHO, they can live wihtout food for awhile, but you cannot let them be without water...

You will be pleasantly surprised with how well they acclimate! I live in Northern Indiana and I've been to Durango twice with my horses!!!!!
I've found that it typically takes them 2 or 3 days tops to acclimate. Now granted, I make sure they are in shape before we go, but from experience, I will tell you give them plenty of oats and hay (don't bring anymore than you need for the trip there and back, you have to buy certified hay when you get there to take up to the mountains)
2 falls ago we were in the mountains riding a minimum of 10 hours per day for 7 consecutive days my paint lost at least 100 pounds!

You won't be sorry for taking them!

I got a follow up question with regards to hay. How in the world go you pack enough hay? I figure a quarter bale per horse per day, so for a week long trip that would be 2 bales per horse. If you're packing into the back country, How do you pack that much? What about Alfalfa pellets? The few backcountry hunts I've been on where Outfitted. They had hay and pellets stocked and camp set up prior to my arrival. Is that what you would be forced to do? I quess it could take a couple of trips to get set up.

Great point Shato.

Where we go, we're able to drive to. It takes a good 4X4 and some tire chains, but there's a loggin road we can drive to. So we use certified hay. Packaged, unopened alfalfa cubes are fine as well.