Import current horse or find a similar priced one in the UK?

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halcyyon

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I'm considering shipping my horse to the UK with me next year (I go for Uni). Well it's an odd situation actually, she's not my horse- she belongs to my friend who has offered to give me her for free (+ full wardrobe) if I ship her over with me! (I've ridden her about 10 times and honestly, the first time I rode her we just clicked!).

She is a 15.2hh 7 year old TB and works in a very nice soft contact and has placed every dressage test she has done (prelim, now at novice level) and has some scope in her! She used to compete showjumping regularly up to 1m but has had a break from it to school her dressage more ;)

It would cost me about £2500 to ship her over and I'd probably have to buy some heavier rugs for her but apart from that she has everything she needs.

I've been looking online here and at horsemart for some horses similar priced at 15.2-16hh and I just can't find much that really catches my eye (plus I'd have to buy pretty much everything..). I found some nice youngsters but I really don't want to wait for them to grow up- and with Uni I'm not sure I will have time to train a 3yo). I'm not sure if I'm just being stupid though! ;) I'd probably like some of the horses if I went to try them.


Anyway..opinions? :D

(by the way my friend just giving her to me might seem odd, I know! But she has a horse on loan that she really gets on with and wants to buy him in the future and she doesn't have time for two horses and work. I'd be getting her vet checked to make sure she's fit for the journey anyway :))
 
If you think the horse is the one for you then I would go for it. Just make sure you get something in writing to say that the horse is now yours, I'd buy her fir a pound to seal the deal.
 
3Beasties said:
If you think the horse is the one for you then I would go for it. Just make sure you get something in writing to say that the horse is now yours, I'd buy her fir a pound to seal the deal.
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This ^^^ you would be lucky to find a horse of similar quality for £2.5k over here, even in a poor market nice well schooled horses are hard to find.
 
Thanks guys :) I'm visiting the UK for Christmas and will have a look at livery yards and stuff and hopefully I will be able to get her on loan or something for a couple of months to make sure I really like her :D
 
Id take the cost of shipping her back into the equation when deciding something like this. What if the owner wants her back at some point or she's ill and needs to go home? You would need to ensure you have shipping money ready for any eventuality.
Taking this into account I would be looking to see if I could find a similar or better horse for less than £5,000 and also making sure that your loan contract is very specific about who pays for transport if they want her back or she needs to be returned. I know it's a friend but that makes it even more important that every situation is allowed for as you could easily lose a friend if things don't go as planned.
 
I'd go for it, but I wouldn't loan her especially as her owner would be in a different country..make sure she will legally be yours. if you like her go for it, if it doesnt work out later on then the old owner will have option to ship her back or if not you can sell her to recoup your shipping costs over! simple. where are you at the moment?
 
I meant loan her whilst we're both still here- not in the UK, haha!
I'm still here until May-August (not decided when exactly to leave yet :p)

If I do ship her over, I will make sure she's definitely mine on paper :)
 
So what happens to her during your holiday when here? Or will you not go back home? Or will you take her back and forth every holiday?
 
I took my horse with me when I moved from the Netherlands to Scotland last year :-). No way I'd leaving him behind!
Have you spoken to ETA (Equine Travel Agency)? We used them. They are brilliant and not too expencive. It cost us about £ 900 to move him.

Where are you now?

You're very welcome to PM me if you need more details/information :-)
 
Where is the horse coming from? If from Europe, that seems a very high shipping cost. I'd also account for the return journey in case it doesn't work out and you have to return him to his originating country.
 
TandD said:
So what happens to her during your holiday when here? Or will you not go back home? Or will you take her back and forth every holiday?
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I will be gong to the uk in 2 weeks for 11 days, mostly to sort stuff out for uni but I was going to look at some livery yards anyway.

Anything happening with her..loaning/owning will come after January. She will stay with her current owner until then.
 
We had a German student come to look at our yard recently with a view to moving her horse over next year when she starts uni here.

I'd suggest making a trip over to check out yards in Spring and if necessary get on their waiting list as the really good smaller ones are often full! I assume you'd need a yard with full livery option to cover trips home etc. And if you won't have access to a horsebox or trailer while you're over here a yard with competitions on site might be a bonus? Or one with easy access to transport hire? Stuff to be thinking about anyway :)
 
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