10/02/2019
So, all of you, us horse people, who,ve been driving for years pulling either bumper pull or gooseneck trailers, must now have a commercial class A license to pull anything over 10,001 lbs gvwr. Heres the kicker and the thing that doesn,t make sense. A Commercial class A driver has always referred to the classic truck for hire or business. Under the guide of DOT to also be subjected to drug testing, logging hours, and pulling over at chp truck inspections. As well as carry a current medical certificate. The entire horse community needs to have this addressed and placed in a different class. Who will oversee your hours logged??? Who and how will they do random drug testing because now, you,re considered a commercial driver!!! Where are the study guides to even begin to take the ridiculous driving test that not only expects you to address everything under the hood of your vehicle,and around it, but maneuver your truck and trailer into either a blind alley to dock, parallel park your rig and do a weave around cones. We all check our tires, lugs, lights and flooring because we want our horses to be safe. All of us can back our trailers, all of us can safely drive in and around traffic and can safely park our rigs in normal horse event parking. Which is usually pull through or back in. Do you think you are going to parrallel park your rig given only 5 ft of space. In a normal situation, that would not be enough space to unload your horse. Nor would you need to back your HORSE TRAILER to a dock !! We need to take action. I can,t imagine a horse owner was a part of passing this law. We need to voice our concern and our frustration. NOW.
