Buying from the continent

[Governor]

Please don't shoot me down British breeding supporters - this is a purely hypothetical post.

Anyone who's bought from the continent (in particular youngstock...from Holland or Belgium) would you be so kind as to give me a run down of the costs and generally share your experiences?

I'm just curious as to shipping and hidden costs?

Thank you.

 

[volatis]

not bought from Holland or Belgium but have frm Hungary and Germany. The horses we bought from Hungary we went through a 'friend' who acted as our agent. The yearling was everything we expected , the older mare was a little different to what we were told. The horses I bought in Germany I saw and chose myself but still using a contact to take us to see them. Would never buy unseen again no matter how well I thought I knew someone. In fact in future I'll probably go through the verband.

Transport was no hassle, the transporter sorted all the paperwork and they all travelled fine. Cost around £500 a horse

 

[idefixbis]

I have bought a German horse in Belgium for the simple reason that I'm living out here. However the guy who I bought my horse from (and still stable him there) always has good horses for sale, has many contacts in Germany and has clients from the UK who go through him to buy horses. (up to GP level)
I would recomment him as being good as all the horses I've seen are good and any that have had health problems he has always been up front about.

 

[Wisnette]

We've bought from Holland - the foals we bought at auction, the older horses were by private sale.

Its actually easier than you might think, we have always used Gelissen horse transporters who are very good - they do the paperwork and arrange the pick-up date with the seller. I think transport costs were in the region of £300 per horse.

I don't remember any hidden costs - the auction obviously charge their predetermined commission rate which you need to remember if you are buying at auction. Because it took a couple of weeks to arrange transport after the sale was arranged, one of the sellers wanted a little bit of board money, but that was only to be expected really.