Friend is moving to Germany -- What should she think about?!

Happy Hunter

Happy Hunter

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Hi all

Friend is considering upping and moving to Berlin!!!

She is going to move them herself with horsebox, and rest breaks - but not unloading (for fear of dodgey loader not getting on again!)
She says the Defra Vet just has to check them before/after travel - and no 'extra' jabs are needed. She has one ex SJ who is now having a new career with her aged 12, and a 18yr old Tendon injury now field companion pony.

Has anyone else got any experience - Got any pointers?!?!?!

It was a bit of a shock once I realised she was being serious!!!
 
Can't really help but maybe bring a couple of spare bags of her usual hard feed in case she can't get it there and needs to introduce new stuff.

I found it difficult enough to transport myself and two suitcases from here to NL via easyjet so I'd be useless!
 
She (and horses) will be fine, but remember & accept that things are done differently in other countries, so may not be able to do / have things that are considred "sacred" over here. Horses seem to be fine in germany, 'tho!
 
Nah it won't be that bad!

They may get a bit of snow (more than at home, not necessarily depth but time period-wise) but they will cope with it far, far better than we do here. The infrastructure is set up to cope with things like that.

When I lived in Switzerland, I would always know when it had snowed in the night because I would be woken up at 5am by the sound of the snow plough.. ooh that made me so cross!

Germans are notoriously efficient so don't worry!
 
Getting their feet/shoes done just before she goes, might take a while to find a decent farrier.

Make sure that her breakdown cover will cover her wagon in Germany, would be typical to breakdown just as she arrives on German soil.

Learn some German :D
 
springer1021 said:
Getting their feet/shoes done just before she goes, might take a while to find a decent farrier.

Make sure that her breakdown cover will cover her wagon in Germany, would be typical to breakdown just as she arrives on German soil.

Learn some German :D
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She will love Germany,a brilliant place to live (lived there for 6 years).Tell her NOT to EAT
"BRATWURST" ITS HORSE. I neally had a fit when I found that out yukkkkkkkk.
 
It isn't necessarily horse.. usually beef, veal or pork as far as I know..

Braten is the German verb for frying.

Useful to know: Pferdefleisch = horsemeat

In Switzerland the meat helpfully came with a helpful pic of the origin animal on it, not sure about Germany.

I'm a veggie anyway ;)
 
Happy Hunter said:
Hi all

Friend is considering upping and moving to Berlin!!!

She is going to move them herself with horsebox, and rest breaks - but not unloading (for fear of dodgey loader not getting on again!)
She says the Defra Vet just has to check them before/after travel - and no 'extra' jabs are needed. She has one ex SJ who is now having a new career with her aged 12, and a 18yr old Tendon injury now field companion pony.

Has anyone else got any experience - Got any pointers?!?!?!

It was a bit of a shock once I realised she was being serious!!!
Click to expand...

I'd be inclined to take a few bags of feed, and some hay they are used to, it might sound unnesesarry, but it took me ages to find a supplier here ( am in France though ).
Also to have their feet done just before they go is a good idea. I'ts also a legal requirement to have the horses chipped once they are registered in Germany but that could be done by new vet once arrived in Germany.
You are right that the horses will have to be checked by a DEFRA vet before travel, but not after. They obviously need their passports and usual jabs up to date i.e tetanus, horse flue etc.Hope it all works out for them!!!
 
sheep said:
It isn't necessarily horse.. usually beef, veal or pork as far as I know..

Braten is the German verb for frying.

Useful to know: Pferdefleisch = horsemeat

In Switzerland the meat helpfully came with a helpful pic of the origin animal on it, not sure about Germany.

I'm a veggie anyway ;)
Click to expand...

A man whose teaching my son in college (ex soldier) told all the students (learning german as part of welsh bach) said it was horse meat.I did some googling and majority of brat wurst is made from horse meat.I always believed and thought it was pork too.Amazing what you find out.
 
Sorry, Bratwurst isn't usually horse meat. It can be, but it's usually pork or beef. Any kind of sausage that you might put on a grill can be termed a Bratwurst.

Berlin isn't that bad in winter. Bit colder and drier than UK, I'd say. Probably more snow, but also managed more efficiently.

There're strict rules about competing in Germany; you have to sit a riding exam to be allowed to compete in many types of competition, and AFIK they do not accept any BHS Stages as substitutes.
 
Hey there,

I live in Berlin. Put her in touch! There's a link to my email address on my blog. :)

Oh, and there's very little horse meat for sale in this city. I've only seen it in two places. And Berlin does have that effect on people - one minute you're on course, the next you've found Berlin and bolted :D
 
As for snow, depends whether it's Berlin or Brandenburg! It wouldn't last for six months in either case - a month at most - but they do get seriously deep snow and low temperatures in the countryside. The snow in the city isn't always effciently dealt with either, because this city is B.R.O.K.E. There were days in the last couple of winters when it was too dangerous to go out because of the impacted and iced over snow.

Most riding/livery facilities are very much clubs for which you pay annual membership. Not much turn out (if any) at the clubs that are actually in Berlin's outskirts, but it's easy to reach Brandenburg.

Vorsicht if she wants to live in the country too – a friend of a friend's entire village just got a bill of six thousand euros a head, to be paid in one month's time, for sewers/water pipes put in after the wall fell. Not sure how all the pensioners and unemployed folk in the village will cope with that...
 
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