Importing From Ireland..

FlyingCircus

FlyingCircus

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Just looking for people's experiences of it :)
How did you go about it? (Did you visit Ireland yourself/get an agent? etc)

Considering it due to the £££ that's added to Connemara prices as soon as they step foot in England.
 
I haven't, but our last horse came from a nice dealer who regularly imported. She said she didn't bring connies over anymore as she couldn't make money on them as they were already expensive over there.
 
Honey08 said:
I haven't, but our last horse came from a nice dealer who regularly imported. She said she didn't bring connies over anymore as she couldn't make money on them as they were already expensive over there.
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That's interesting. I've been looking at Connies over here and have seen numerous 14.2 4 year olds at £3500 - £4500. Over in Ireland they seem to be no where near this price (even when you take into account the transport and such). I'm not sure if anyone is buying these 4 year old Connies for these crazy high prices (crazy high to me, when i've seen nice established horses for that kind of price!), but that's what they're currently up at :/
 
I'm in Northern Ireland and saw a really nice 5yo Connie for £750 due to sweet itch.
We have an overhorsing problem, and Connie's are so common that they are selling cheaply.

However if you're importing, I'd make sure any Connie is registered at least. So many Connemaras are 'unregistered' and have awful conformation and seem to be bred by slightly dodgy characters.

It also depends where in Ireland you look, generally reg. Connies seem to be selling for between £1000 - £3000 depending on what they've done, breeding, area and age.

Looking on DD there's 3 Connies on the first page (without having clicked on the ads) they're listed at £790, £475 and £1100 (although these are prices in euros that have been converted)

If you're willing to take a bit of a chance to import unseen then I would go for it, because generally they are so much cheaper.
 
sasquatch said:
I'm in Northern Ireland and saw a really nice 5yo Connie for £750 due to sweet itch.
We have an overhorsing problem, and Connie's are so common that they are selling cheaply.

However if you're importing, I'd make sure any Connie is registered at least. So many Connemaras are 'unregistered' and have awful conformation and seem to be bred by slightly dodgy characters.

It also depends where in Ireland you look, generally reg. Connies seem to be selling for between £1000 - £3000 depending on what they've done, breeding, area and age.

Looking on DD there's 3 Connies on the first page (without having clicked on the ads) they're listed at £790, £475 and £1100 (although these are prices in euros that have been converted)

If you're willing to take a bit of a chance to import unseen then I would go for it, because generally they are so much cheaper.
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Hi Cee ;)

And wouldn't be wanting to import anything unseen if I did do it. I have lots of horsey experience, but 0 buying experience as i've ridden for people/loaned throughout my years of riding so wouldn't have the necessary experience nor contacts to be able to happily buy unseen.
 
FlyingCircus said:
Hi Cee ;)

And wouldn't be wanting to import anything unseen if I did do it. I have lots of horsey experience, but 0 buying experience as i've ridden for people/loaned throughout my years of riding so wouldn't have the necessary experience nor contacts to be able to happily buy unseen.
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So what you are paying for in the UK is the experience and contacts of the people who do import. The reputable ones at least! Add on the costs - £150 for the vetting, £300 for the shipping - there is profit built into those prices, but less than you might think

We have bought in Ireland - unseen on occasion - but we do a lot of homework 1st and do have contacts who can check a horse out for us as well
 
spacefaer said:
So what you are paying for in the UK is the experience and contacts of the people who do import. The reputable ones at least! Add on the costs - £150 for the vetting, £300 for the shipping - there is profit built into those prices, but less than you might think

We have bought in Ireland - unseen on occasion - but we do a lot of homework 1st and do have contacts who can check a horse out for us as well
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I'd be quite happy to pay for experience + costs of dealers, but some seem to add a crazy amount to the price as soon as they're fresh off the boat. It's all well and good paying for experience, etc but their mark up on each horse must be a fair amount or people wouldn't be doing it in droves. That said, I don't know if these horses are selling for these prices (£3500 +), so maybe there is just not as much mark up on the cheaper ones (2k ish).
 
Oh hi! Didn't realise it was you haha.

If possible, bring someone to have a look with you. Generally you'll be able to tell through the phone if the owner is someone you'd trust with a horse. I'd also have an idea on how far you'll travel if you do come to have a look at them. It does take hours to get round Ireland and I have noticed in general some counties do breed better horses than others.

I've been looking myself and I have seen a few nice ones, just not sure if they're exactly what you're looking for.
 
We went across to the Clifden sales ourselves and hired a transporter lorry to meet us there, Loads of fun too once we found what we wanted and put on Julie Magnus' lorry and off she went, then we hit the irish pubs to celebrate!

We found 6 lovely ones and brought them back, we wanted 2 really but family and friends jumped on board too!

Maybe you can do a horse and hound one!!!!
 
I have imported 5 month old foal for Ireland she is now 6 brilliant experience and would highly recommend. I went over on my own for a two week holiday choose my foal then went back with the horsebox hitched on a couple of weeks later and asked my brother would he like to go for a pint of guiness on a luxury cruise boat LOL. So easy to do but a long road trip. Would rec going to Clifden show in August as Connemara ponies on show are often marked for sale in the programme and also the sales are after the show but the quality can be variable at the sales and would say take an experienced eye. Connemara is an amazing area and a truely amazing people its like my second home just love going back and visitng.
 
Imported form Southern Ireland my big ID boy visited him in Ireland. Had him vetted and dealer arranged the shipping. £250 door to door. Horse was well looked after on a shared load 48 hours traveling with over night stabling en route. Horse looked wonderful when he arrived.
 
I'm in Ireland every two weeks or so, visit lots of the sales and private buyers. Beware of anything on done deal that's isn't sold straightaway, believe me the Irish dealers will buy anything that's on there that's quality straight away! There's frequently a dodge/conformation fault if it hasn't been sold.
Clifden is great but still tricky to grab a bargain, plenty of the dealers/professional producers will give good money for a smart pony. They then have to put their profit on top plus transport etc. Also don't forget their accommodation expenses and costs whilst away at these sales, plus keeping and transporting the pony back to their yard. By the time the pony gets to England and the dealer on this side of the water puts on their profit you can hopefully begin to understand where some of the costs come from. If you want to save a some money buy from a trusted dealer in Ireland direct rather than a dealer from this side of the water (who obviously needs to make a profit to). However bare in mind that you may pay more buying it here but as least you should hopefully have more of a known quantity.
If anyone wants anymore details of contacts etc in Ireland then let me know. I often go over and look for horses for people whilst out there.
 
I bought my lad from a breeder in ireland, I did a day trip accross to see him and it cost me £300 to ship him across, I didnt bother with a vetting as he was unbroken anyway.

If you want an unbroken connie I know my lads breeder has connies for sale and they are not expensive.
 
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