Hey... I have a New Jersey fact question for my novel.
My story is set during a massive traffic jam that has afflicted most of the highways in the Tri-State area. Many people have just given up on the idea of getting to their destinations and are just exploring and enjoying the day, but some, for whatever reason, absolutely have to be somewhere. Some are walking, some have found motorcycles that can snake through the stopped cars, some have access to helicopters...
THERE NEEDS TO BE A HORSE. I cannot finish this story without someone riding a horse down the Jersey Turnpike or some similar highway. It simply has to happen.
I know there are horse farms across the state, but are any of them close enough to a highway that somebody could semi-plausibly get off the highway, steal, beg, or borrow a horse, and ride it down the highway? What kind of security would be in place to prevent such a theft?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
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Daring to live for the impossible.
51,572 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 08 02
There are some horse farms near I-95 near the PA border. But that's too far away for you.
OTOH, there are cars pulling horse trailers up and down NJ highways all the time. Make it a horse getting to one of the horse tracks in the area (meadowlands, Freehold, Monmouth park) and you're in business. Far more plausible than a big brown animal ambling down the shoulder.
----------Bill The Computer Guy
Scrivener ordinaire
Participant, 2008. Novel euthanized at 9.7k on Nov 15.
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50,166 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 09 18
My horse is kept sort of close to the NJ Turnpike. Feasibly, you could ride from his farm to there, though it's a few miles. I'm not sure where the closest exit onto the Turnpike is, but there would probably be some way of getting onto it even if not an actual exit.
As for security... at this farm, there is little. Technically, you could walk in, grab the tack from one of the horses there, and just take them out of the field. (Though my horse is untrained, so that would make for an exciting surprise if someone chose to steal him, teehee ;) A lot of farms I've been on are like that, though. Sometimes there's people around, sometimes there isn't, and if there isn't, there aren't always neighbors who'd bother to question.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other horsey questions; I certainly don't mind answering!
50,166 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 09 25
Also, as a comment on Bill's suggestion-- it's a good one in that there frequently are trailers on the road. However, don't expect that someone could just hop on a racehorse and start walking down the highway. Those horses are trained to run (or, in the case of Standardbreds, trot real fast) in a counter-clockwise circle, and until they've been retrained, they don't do well walking with an unfamiliar style of rider in a new and scary situation. (Believe me, I ride one that's fairly recently off the track... )
A lot of people do trailer their horses down the highway to go trail riding and such, though, so there could quite feasibly be a nice little trailer of some pleasure horses.
50,461 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 09 54
there are plenty of horse farms/stable and riding/jumping schools in Bedminster. The ones I am thinking of are less than a 1/2 mile from where Routes 287 and 78 intersect. I travel past them often.
----------60,034 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 11 04
Palermo Show Stable borders on the 78? (or maybe some other major highway). Literally, there is the pasture for lesson horses, a itty strip of land, and the highway
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50,008 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 15 16
Thanks for all your help. The idea of getting it from a horse trailer seems like a better fit for my story's style. I actually like the idea of my character getting on a horse that can only move counterclockwise and trying to figure out how to ride him. What exactly do you think a racehorse would do if it were loose on the Turnpike with a new rider?
----------Daring to live for the impossible.
50,166 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2009 - 15 34
In all honesty? Probably end up terrified, bolt and hurt itself/the rider, particularly if it's surrounded by a lot of cars/other people/chaos. Horses are pretty darn good at hurting themselves, and particularly if it's an ungelded Thoroughbred racehorse stallion, they're notoriously hard to handle and a touch crazy/dangerous. A gelding or mare may be slightly calmer about the situation, and there are always exceptions to the rules, but Thoroughbred racehorses are pretty notorious for being a little nuts.
Does the character have decent riding experience? One thing which has bothered me in books I've read is when someone who's never ridden a horse gets on gallops off into the sunset, because it doesn't happen like that. It takes some time in the saddle to get used to the way they move, particularly when they move in an unexpected way-- spooking at something, speeding up, etc. You aren't actually balanced on all that much, and it's pretty easy to come off. (And I've had enough falls to prove it, heh heh.)
Depending on how realistic you want this to be, also consider the tack. In a trailer, the horse won't have a saddle or anything of that nature on. Most likely, they'd have a horse blanket on and shipping boots, which cover from about the 'knee' down on all four legs. Tack would be somewhere in the trailer (most have attached tack areas)-- saddle, bridle, saddlepads, etc. Bareback is certainly doable (though slippery!), but without a bridle steering won't happen unless the horse is a trick pony or something of that nature.
Sorry if I overloaded you with info there! Take and pick what you want from it :)