New trailer regulations cause concern for horse owners

STAUNTON - Laura Martlock's life is all about horses. And that means a lot of traveling.

She travels around to clients' homes, instructs at her farm Wildwood Farm in Swoope and instructs at local camps and clinics. She also judges horse shows around the state. 

But a new requirement with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration may cause a hiccup in how she transports horses and her overall profession. 

The new requirement may cause some horse owners to get a logging device and a commercial driver's license.

Those in the horse community were stirred up by this news, because many said they weren't contacted or consulted on the change.

The regulations are confusing, according Martlock, who serves on the Virginia Horse Council Board of Directors, the Middlebrook Horse Show Committee and is the president of Ride With Pride Inc. Each state is interpreting the regulations differently and some are trying to bypass them. 

"This policy was put in place with little to no input from the relevant parties," she said. "Virtually nothing was communicated to the agriculture industry as a whole, and certainly nothing was discussed with the equine industry. It's a ridiculous, confusing and ultimately harmful mandate, and most of the agriculture industry is trying to get some of this modified or removed, but until then, we have to deal with it."

The new electronic logging device (ELD) mandate requires that a vehicle used for hauling be fitted with a device under certain conditions. 

Hauling your horse to a horse show does not qualify as an exemption for livestock and/or agricultural transport, so horse owners may be forced to fit their vehicles with ELDs.

The ELD device syncs with the engine and logs driving time, routes taken, vehicle speed and mandatory rest periods, according to a pamphlet from the American Horse Council.

Vehicles with 26,001 pounds or more may require a commercial driver's license, or CDL. This involves additional training and testing for certification for the type of license that commercial truckers must have.

The gist of the new regulations is that those engaged in transporting horses for shows may have to adhere to rules meant for long-haul truckers, including hours of service (HOS) rules, even though they are not constantly driving for a living.

Under the HOS rules, rest breaks are required per-day in addition to the existing mandatory 10-hour rest period. All rest breaks are tracked by the ELD. After an eight-hour period of driving, commercial drivers are required to take a 30-minute break, which can't be broken into two smaller breaks. 

Those using a sleeper berth provision must have a least eight consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus an additional two consecutive hours either off duty, in the sleeper berth, or some combination of the two, the American Horse Council said.

Drivers in breach of these regulations could face penalties, which could include heavy fines.

Those mandates could cause major issues with horse shows, according to Martlock.

"If you get up at the crack of dawn, trailer clients and horses to a show, spend all day at the show, and come home after dark and get pulled over for something, the officer may determine you are in violation of this mandate by not having an ELD, by exceeding the ELD rules and limits, or both," she said. "Doesn't matter that you were not driving that whole time; you were in service that whole time, and thus is part of the hours of service limits."

According to the FMCSA's website, there's an exception for the transportation of horses and other animals to shows and events, as well as cars, boats and other similar items.

The exception only works when the transportation in question is not business-related, where the driver doesn't receive compensation and isn't engaged in business related to the move, the FMCSA said.

"If they write off anything on their taxes pertaining to their truck or trailer, the mandate considers them a business, even if the horse owner does not and does not even have a business license," Martlock said.

The requirements also don't apply if prize or scholarship money is offered, but there is some gray area. A transport would be exempt if a driver isn't writing off any expense of their rig on their taxes. 

"Most people who chase points, for example, in barrel racing circuits, will often have enough prize money that they offset that by writing off gas and other expenses of their rigs," Martlock said. "Doing so now under this new mandate will require them to have an ELD."

A CDL is not necessary to operate "covered farm vehicles" of 26,000 pounds or more operated by a farmer or employee within a 150 mile radius of the farm or ranch. Covered farm vehicles of fewer than 26,000 pounds are already exempt.

That 150 mile radius – measured by "air-miles" and not by road miles, is not responsive to the type of distance horse owners travel. 

Moreover, they've developed their own way of transporting their horses to maximize the animals' comfort and lower the horses' stress levels on long trips.

"Many horse operations and competitions are in rural areas, routinely requiring long, and repeated, trips," the American Horse Council said in a release. "These animals, when loaded onto trailers, are vulnerable to changes in temperature, humidity and precipitation. Horse haulers are accustomed to managing these changing conditions through planning, log books and notations in those books. These planning techniques have adapted and evolved over decades as technology has improved. Unfortunately, the quick transition to ELDs does not allow for the natural trial and error process to adequately meet the needs of the horse industry."

Many in the equine industry have expressed concern regarding the implications of this rule, which could have negative impacts to standards in welfare, biosecurity and cost, the American Horse Council said.

"The equine industry and the millions of horse fans who attend equine events rely on safe and effective methods of transportation from every corner of the United States," the council said. "Domestic transit of our competition and breeding animals is critical to the business continuity of our industry and largely relies on the use of large commercial haulers. We are disappointed that the FMCSA did not feel the need to reach out to the larger livestock industry stakeholders prior to finalizing this rule, but specifically for not reaching out to the equine industry considering the constant and repeated travel inherent to the competitive, coast to coast nature of our industry. While horse haulers are able to provide more accommodating shipping conditions compared to other livestock sectors, the issues we have with immediate implementation of the rule mirror those of the larger animal agriculture community."

According to the 2017 American Horse Council Economic Impact Study, the U.S. equine industry has a direct economic impact of $50 billion annually, with a $122 billion indirect impact on GDP per year.

Cliff Williamson, the director of Health and Regulatory Affairs for the American Horse Council, said while the regulations aren't new, the enforcement has been low.

"As such, compliance will continue to be low, and this confusion will continue to have adverse effects on event managers, who will suffer from decreased participation, product manufacturers who will see a drop in consumer purchases, and even to equine enthusiasts, which includes nearly 30.5 percent of U.S. households, as animals are pulled from competitions and exhibitions," Williamson said in a release. "This loss to our economic potential will be felt for years to come if this issue is not quickly addressed."

As of Tuesday, the FMCSA announced a 90 day temporary waiver from the ELD rule for agriculture related transportation. During that time period, FMCSA will publish final guidance on both the agricultural 150 air-mile hours-of-service exemption and personal conveyance.

The FMCSA had previously issued a 90 day temporary waiver for the EDL rule back in December. The new waiver is an extension to the previous waiver. 

To find out more about these regulations or have questions, the Virginia Horse Council is inviting people to the Virginia Horse Festival March 23-25 at the Meadow Event Park in Doswell. More information at VirginiaHorseFestival.com.

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Follow Laura Peters @peterslaura and @peterpants. You can reach her at lpeters@newsleader.com or 213-9125