Vintage Wordless Snapshot: How Pickups Were Used In The Old Days
– Posted on November 12, 2018
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Something tells me that this didn’t end well for the horse.
Don’t worry. He’ll probably be re-purposed at the glue factory!
Except the horse is wearing a saddle and other riding paraphernalia. Surely that wouldn’t be necessary if this was a trip to the glue factory.
The whole glue-factory thing would happen after the horse fell out of the I-H truck, not before!
No-one takes a saddled horse to the glue factory!
The whole glue-factory thing would happen after the horse fell out of the I-H truck, not before!
Shhh! It’s a surprise!
Is that a 1958 International-Harvester A-100 I see? What a treat to see of these things “back in the day!”
so that’s what max horse bonding level gets you in Red Dead Redemption II. That’s my boah!
Of course, if you reach that max bonding level, you would think twice before putting that horse in this danger, considering how dumb those horses act.
I used to drive flatbeds and get shivers thinking about that feeling when the load shifts a little. (Nothing ever fell off, except the Stanley knife I used to leave up there seemingly every day)
Hauling a loose, live (!) horse in an inadequate vehicle is another level entirely.
According to my better half (whose father raised horses, as well) this was not only common, there are purpose-built racks for properly securing horses in a pickup bed – which I don’t see here. About a year ago, we saw a horse being hauled this way outside of Tulsa, on the Cherokee Turnpike.
Today we’d hesitate to haul ours in an enclosed straight-load trailer (versus a slant-load, in which they’re less likely to fall), much less in the open, where their eyes are exposed to dust and debris. Not only that, it’s bad enough when a horse gets spooked in a trailer; I’d hate to see what one of ours would do in an open pickup bed.
Cattle racks as I’ve heard them called were once common. That’s (part of) the reason why stake pockets still exist along the rails of pickup beds. I’ve seen my grandfather haul multiple calves in the bed of his various Chevrolet pickups while using the cattle racks.
Still see ‘em around here very so often…
“Cattle racks” or some call them “livestock racks” are still somewhat common amongst hobby farmers here in north Florida and South Georgia. My uncle had them on his ‘75 C10 for hauling his hogs. I’d see him quite often making his daily rounds to restaurants for their scrap to make hog slop. He was a sight; coming down the interstate with a half dozen 55 gallon drums inside the rack and the spare tire tied off on the roof of the cab. I sure miss that guy.
I have to concur with your better half.
Pretty much every farm that had to move livestock had a set sitting around if they didn’t just stay on the truck. There had to be a loading ramp, too, to get them up to truck-bed height.
I was grown before I saw a livestock trailer designed to be pulled by a pickup.
I bet the driver of the Plymouth hopes he doesn’t get a free hood ornament!
That Plymouth is the awesome Imperial.
Right you are, a ’58.
The whole scene reminds me of a one-liner I saw a long time ago, painted on the front bumper of a big truck, the translation would be something like “300 horses and 1 jackass at work”.
If you think that’s bad, here’s an even less suitable vehicle being used to transport a bull:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bull-ship/
“What’s the hold-up, Wil-burrrrr?”
Actually, we know that this was *not* Mr. Ed because riding in an International would have been a breach of his sponsorship contract with Studebaker. 🙂
I resemble that remark!
I learned here that the not exactly matching beds on these are from Dodge.
…… then there was Jack Nicholson’s piano-paying on a flatbed in traffic, in “five Easy Pieces.”
Now THAT’S what you call horsepower!
( ba-dump-bump-dzzt )
The horse puts out the cleanest exhaust of the whole group!
Two mid-50’s Cadillacs in a row in the next lane, and an Imperial and I think a Lincoln following! And is the passenger in the ’58 Bel Air two door holding a cigarette out the window? Of course he is.
Not positive but I believe the lack of the ribbed chrome trim piece on the C-pillar and the placement of the model script (Bel Air was on the end of the fender IIRC and web images I’ve viewed are correct) indicates this car is a Biscayne.
I recall cigarette ashes (and even burning ends) landing in the rear seat and floor of cars back in the day as a result of the wind catching them as cigarettes were held outside. Ask me how a burn hole appeared in the carpet under the driver’s seat of my Dad’s T-Bird circa 1967. Good thing he never found it (and that I quit smoking after college). Good times.
The horse is probably heading for movie work.
Also, the passenger in the Chev is holding his cigarette Army-style, which was common in the ’50s. Haven’t seen that technique in a long time.
And the driver is doing it without a twelve inch lift kit and four wheel drive!
Since he has a two-wheel drive pickup he needs the horse to pull him out when he will inevitably get stuck. He’s just planning ahead.
There are laws against this kind of thing now, aren’t they? Even pigs and sheep ride in trailers now as opposed to directly in a pick-up bed.
Not that I know of, and even when there are, it’s less an issue of legality and more an issue of who would bother. By about the mid-’80s, farms were so big that transporting any more than a few livestock a short distance this way was inefficient. You’re very speed-limited when carrying a large live animal in an open bed.
No matter what your cargo is, you have a legal responsibility to keep it secure and in your vehicle. “Failure to secure your load” is what a law enforcement officer would cite you for, usually after your load is in the road. If your failure results in property damage or bodily injury other charges pile up quickly and it can get very expensive fast.