Buying a horse abroad

[coblets]

This is more out of curiosity than anything else, but I'd love to hear some people's experiences of buying a horse abroad. It just seems a very daunting prospect to me! Apart from the language barrier, how do you make sure to get a trustworthy vet check? Surely if you use a vet the stables recommends, you're at risk of a biased vet check.

I understand there are often agents involved, but this seems to be mainly for popular breeds (the PRE in Spain, for example).

The logistics of buying a horse abroad seem daunting, however it seems to be on the rise. The amount of people I know looking for sports horses on the continent, or even in America, is definitely rising - not to mention the increase of interest in regards to foreign breeds - so surely it can't be as troublesome a task as I imagine.

Haha I'm rambling now. But, once again, would love to hear of people's experiences - this matter has been preying on my mind an awful lot recently.

 

[Leandy]

Interested in the responses as I have never done this either. I think it would be great to be able to go somewhere and see a number of potentially suitable horses all in one place. I think this is the advantage over looking in the UK. If you are looking via reputable people all the rest is relatively easily soluble I think. What I would never ever do though is buy unseen, whether from abroad or the UK. Too much to go wrong even if all concerned are genuine and honest, for your own use, you still need to actually like and click with the horse and you can never test this except in person.

 

[texenstar]

I brought a horse from abroad a couple of times. The first time was in the UAE but I was living there at the time and flew the horse back with me to the UK when I moved back. I found that horse through a friend, tried him a couple of times then agreed to buy him but there was no vet check! I don't think I would have much faith in the vets I had available at that time anyway. Luckily, the horse was sound pretty much for his entire life so it worked out well.

The second time, I bought a Lusitano mare unseen from Portugal. I used a breeder/trainer that had already sold a number of horses to my instructor and some of my friends so I already knew that the horses he were selling were all of good quality and most importantly they were all sane. A friend of mine was already out there for a riding holiday so she rode a few for me and sent lots of videos and spoke to the trainer about my ability and style. I did get a vet to look at her before buying but I wouldn't say it was of any use. Luckily, the horse and I got on extremely well but I'm not sure if I would want to risk buying unseen again as it can be a bit of a pot luck.

Living abroad in a few places, most people competing professionally seem to buy their horses unseen from Europe/Aus/NZ with few mishaps so it can be done

 

[Polos]

I imported my mare when she was 4 from Holland. I’m fortunate as my trainer is Dutch so we went with her and she sourced potential horses through people she knew. She tried 40+ horses the day before I flew out and I tried a final 7. My mare was the first we tried and we were so in love with her we had her vetted the next day. My trainer had booked a betting the next day with a vet they trusted just incase we found one we liked which was good as there were other parties interested in my mare. We sent the x rays back to our U.K. vet so we could have someone we trusted interpreting them.

I honestly wouldn’t do it alone though as it has the potential to go wrong. I’d definitely use a recommended agent or someone you know personally like I did. It helped that my trainer spoke Dutch as there was a language barrier at some of the barns we visited

 

[Nicnac]

Have done so twice when living abroad however one was from a different country to the one I was living in. First horse I knew so wasn't an issue, second I bought when she was 4 months and picked up at 6 months. Neither were vetted. Not as common as it is here for leisure horses.

 

[FestiveFuzz]

I bought my foal unseen from Germany through an agent my trainer recommended and then asked a horsey friend that happened to be stationed near the area for vet recommendations. I may have also asked on here too, I can't remember to be honest.

I shared the trot up videos and vetting with our vet in the UK who gave him the thumbs up and he arrived a week later.

He's everything I could have wished for, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again if I were looking for another. For now two is more than enough though 😂

 

[sunnyone]

With regard to a vet inspection I think you would have to simply use whoever was recommended. When I moved to France, the livery yard we went to suggested "Mme Thomas" and so I duly contacted her. At the time the livery yard was 1 hour from her practise and now that I have the horses on my own land, she is only 30 minutes away. So great. However I have yet to meet a horse owner for many, many miles around who does not use her.

The nearest equine vet with horsepital facilities, and recommended by Mme Thomas, is 80 miles away. We took our broodmare there for PTS and the facilities are superb. I would be happy to return there if need be, especially as charges were very reasonable. Yesterday I was checking out Brantome Retired Police Horses on Facebook, they use the same horsepital and are more than a 2 hour drive away from us, so even further for them.

Why there is such a shortage of facilities I have no idea but I would take a current owner's recommendation if I was buying a horse not in my locality.