has anyone emigrated and taken their horse/pets?

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catherine22

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my Oh and I are looking at moving to Australia with our 2 dogs and 1 horse, we have looked into the prices etc of it all but I just wonder how they will cope (especially my horse) with the heat and climate change.
has any one do it and can give me any advice? I was thinking i'll probably have to clip him all year round to start with but thats as far as i've thought!
and selling him and leaving him here isnt an option!!
 
I think they would adjust eventually..... I'd just make sure there was plenty of shade whereever he was to be kept and maybe that you moved when it was their winter so it got warmer gradually!!
 
I sent PF out here in September 04 when she had something of a winter coat. Saw her in December (summer!) and she STILL had it, poor girl. Grooms gave her lots of baths though, to help her cope but she did drop a bit of condition (that said, she drops condition quite easily and she was living out on sparse grazing) She seemed perfectly happy though and when I caught up with her again in March she had settled right in
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I moved no where near as far with mine, but im sure they will cope. We briefly looked into the options of taking Jack to NZ with us and i know the prices we were quoted were around 8000 pounds per horse so its a very costly ordeal for sure.

As it happened, we had change of heart and headed back to my OH's home country of denmark and took Jack, two dogs and a rabbit with us.

Jack was on a box for about 25 hours in total and arrived very dehydrated which was our main issue. He'd point blank refused to drink for the entire journey so our priority at this end was getting fluids into him.

We've moved to a slightly colder climate as opposed to warmer and aside from some teething problems in regards to horses being kept very differently, its all gone smoothly and he now looks 100% better than he ever did in the UK.

Im not sure the deal on the dogs going to Australia. Ours travelled on PETS passports but i was under the impression these covered EU countries only. Both the dogs travelled fine although we opted to drive them with us this time. My husky has flown multiple times before and there have never been any problems there either. In fact, id go as far to say that the small animals being flown by the airlines seem to get better care and treatment than their human partners.... Again though, be aware that flying small pets is also expensive... I seem to remember the last time we flew with the husky, she cost us around 800 in airfare costs and that of course excluded all the vaccinations and paper work she needed before hand.

All in all, id choose your time of year carefully to try and give the horse/s as smooth a transition as is possible. We moved Jack at the beginning of the summer so he wasnt coming straight into a scandinavian winter.

Im sure they will cope fine, just be prepared for the financial side of moving them because its sure not cheap
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I moved a mare, my dogs and cat here to Canada in December when the temperature in England was +9 on the day we flew; in Canada it was -15. Small pets flew on the same plane as us and travelled perfectly. They settled in immediately and with no problems at all.

The mare had no problems; I brought tonnes and tonnes of rugs for her to keep her warm over the winter and she was fine cold-wise. She was, however, quite out of sorts for about 6 weeks after she came here. She behaved in a manner which I had never seen in her in the 7 years prior to us moving here. It was short lived though and by February we had our lovely little lady back with us in mind as well as body.
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we sent my aunts spaniel over to NZ in may - she went through a company called airpets and we sent her over after my aunt had gone, settled and bought a house out there. I had to take her to the vets and have lots of tests done etc, then it was easy - the company picked her up in a nice van from here and she flew the next day - checked in NZ then allowed to leave - no quarantine as tests were clear. It cost a couple of thousand i think, and i was really worried about sending her as she is very nervous, but now, to be honest, she is absolutely loving it out there and it seems that her ordeal was worth it!
 
I shipped 3 horses and 2 dogs to NZ 2 years ago now. If you go from winter to summer (like me) the horses are fully clipped and are hosed several times a day. Mine quarantined in Sydney, which was min of 30C temperatures in January and they were absolutely fine. The horses have settled in far better than the dogs did and I would think twice about taking the dogs again, but the horses did just fine straight away. Whereabouts are you moving to in Aus as that will make a difference too?
 
My daughter's friend moved to Aus and a short time after, her previous loan horse came up for sale so she bought it and flew it out.

I thought it was stupid and cruel, but apparently it went without a hitch and the horse was completely fine.
 
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