Cost of buying and importing horses from Europe

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dozzie

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Following on from Eurohorse question I got to thinking!!!! Sorry it does happen from time to time!

Does anyone know how much does it cost to import a horse from Holland or Europe in general? Do you have to pay import tax? Or is there a way round this?

The horses sold by some dealers/importers seem very/suspiciously cheap in comparison to similar in this country and bearing in mind they have been imported.

Or are horses in Holland particularly cheap?
 
not sure of the cost but in Holland if a horse doesn't meet the grade required of its breed type they used to pts but then some bright spark realised that the brits love them and hence the popularity of imported horses in this country.You still pay the earth for an imported horse over here from a dealer but you can certainly buy them and import them cheaper.
 
*Importing* a horse isn't expensive at all (in terms of the transport). When i was doing it the opposite way around, we got quote from as little as £350 including all paper work, pre travel vetting etc done.
In the end, I wasnt willing for mine to travel in company and insisted on a single load transport... even that, again with all paper work and all pre-travel vettings only came to £1000. Always insure before the horse steps foot on the lorry, even if you don't intend to keep the insurance up once home and at this point, id be insuring for full purchase price or value (should you think you got a bargain)

Of course, dealers in the UK wont pay for single load transport and when you consider they can bring horses over in wagons that carry 20 horses... it works out quite economical.

Horses in Europe vary drastically in price just like in the UK. Anyone shopping over there should be aware to go through an agent though, because the dealers in Holland, Denmark and Germany (starting to occur a lot with Czech horses now also) will see UK shoppers coming a mile off. They're more than aware of the fashion for imported warmbloods.. you can guarentee that if their horses are for sale its because they're at the lower end of the spectrum anyway, and they aren't stupid, they know they can bump up the prices. Theres also a problem with foreign horses being sold with incorrect paper work and passports, primarily because UK buyers don't know any better
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Depending on the dealer in the UK (and some do carry the better stock, theres no doubt), they will buy often several, possibly unseen horses for immediate import and to sell on in the UK market.

Rule of thumb? If the horse is IN the UK, the chances are it was deemed not good enough for the home market (world beaters dont get exported to the UK). Always try and use an agent that is fluent in any of the languages of the target country and who can also recommend independent vets. Always use someone with a good reputation who's been in the business a while and should have the better contacts to try and ensure you a nicer animal.

Some lovely horses can be found in mainland Europe and depending on where you go, you can find some very correctly started youngsters. Be aware you'll always be slapped with points from registering societies when you do get them to the UK though.
 
I imported a Friesian with her foal a few years ago from Holland - graded animals, not especially cheap! - and was pleasantly surprised how cheap the transport was. About £300 if I remember correctly.
 
I used to import some horses from Germany and the cost was generally around £500 and this included all import papers etc. and was door to door delivery.

The horses themselves were not expensive either.

I would be very wary about importing horses from over there now though. I did it long before the PMU situation. Most European horses you will find for sale, either over there or already imported to England will generally be the lower end of the market I'm afraid....however for those just looking for a nice horse to totter around on then you will end up with a cheap horse.

Read Tierra's report - I agree with everything she says.
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So if a horse was for sale over here for £4500 having been imported then what do you think was paid for it? £2000? Much more than that and surely it wouldnt be worth it in terms of profit unless you could move it on very quickly?

So what sort of horse would £2000 get you in Holland or Germany?
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Im only puzzling this because a friend has bought a very nice, 16.2 4 yr old from dealers, imported from Holland, for £4500. It is stunning but I cant help thinking wheres the catch!!
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And if there isnt a catch then Im extremely jealous!!
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I used to pay about £700 for medium advanced dressage horses; generally all were around the 7 - 9 year old age bracket.
 
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I used to pay about £700 for medium advanced dressage horses; generally all were around the 7 - 9 year old age bracket.

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Im thinking that would have been early nineties? An "average" comp horse would have been about £3500, so about a £2500 -£3000 mark up (not all profit I realise) but it gives a clue as to how much these horses are bought for. It does begin to make me understand why people go abroad to buy! And why they are being imported. In this country we have the market for lower level continental horses due to the competition structure.
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I'd happily pay £1000 + £400 to import, for a horse that could do medium/advanced level dressage! Not that i could remember the tests!!! That would require a brain transplant at the cost of......!!!!!
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LOL!! No I was a pony seller and producer. The WB's were all sound physically but were basically blown out mentally, so I rehabilitated them and found them kind homes for a fraction of the prices that dealers are advertising them for today.
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Not a very good photo but here is one that I had back in July 2004; Hanoverian 8 year old mare:

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The WB's were all sound physically but were basically blown out mentally,

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That is so sad. How long did it take to rehabilitate? And what did you do? I'm presuming that they had been schooled into the ground?

My friends horse had issues leaving the yard and I did explain to her (shes a bit inexperienced!!) that it had probably never left an arena!
 
Most of them had no concept of what grass was, believe it or not. They had panic attacks out in fields as they were so used to living 24/7 indoors, only leaving their stables to walk down the corridor to the riding arena.

Some took a couple of months to come right, others took much longer, but when they left me they could hack out and were much more relaxed than they had previously been.

Most people I've known who have had a recently imported horse (or imported one themselves) have found these horses to be quite unlike British bred ones and have had a number of surprises along the way!
 
Well this is our second time around unfortunately! 2nd cut is acoming - been unloading large rounds all morning and this afternoon we should have another 1,000 small squares that need putting in the barn..... and then another 1,000 tomorrow.
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My friend bought an 8 year old imported holstein mare from a dealer in Gatwick for £4k jst over a year ago. No "Catch" is just a lovely horse. Hopefully your friend will have the same good luck.

I imported my own horse from the Czech Republic over 2 years ago. You do have to have your wits about you because they will drag out a lot of the 'low end' horses.
 
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