keeping a foal in Germany

[ferdimb]

I have recently purchased a foal from an auction in Germany and am planning on keeping him over there for a couple of years, I have no other foals for him to run with so thought this would be the best option. At the moment he is insured through the auction house but this will stop once he is weaned and moved away from the breeders. Does anyone know about any insurance companies that will insure foals kept in another company, and has anyone else done a similar thing

 

[christine48]

Just make sure you are happy with where he will be kept. Some of the large studs run them in huge herds and it is very much abase of survival of the fittest!!

 

[Bennions Field]

I brought a 6 month old PRE (andalusian) filly from spain, it's 6 years ago now but NFU will insure elsewhere, in fact they were happier with her there as the vets bills are cheaper on the continent apparently ! they didnt need anything extra other than the address where she was being kept. They also didnt appear to charge any more (or less) for the time she was there.

The filly stayed in spain for 4 months in the end whilst her registration paperwork was sorted, i knew where she was being kept so i was very happy with the way they looked after her, she was weaned with another filly and they stayed together till they both came to the UK. She arrived well handled, happily loading and well socialised, which was fantastic as she was feral when i went over and brought her

best of luck with your little man, its hard waiting for them to come home, but its worth it when they do

 

[mutley75]

I presuming you brought your foal at one of the the verband's! Usuallyi the deal is if you buy the foal the breeder will keep till weaning, come october and weaning time its time for you to step up. For many years i brought many weanlings back to uk from these sales. Bottom line vendor has there money, your best bet is to get weanling home!!!

 

[crabbymare]

Only problem with insurance may be the fact that you want to keep him there for 2 years and most will not give you cover for that length of time. Do you have somewhere lined up for him to go to? if so they may well have other youngsters insured and may be able to recomend someone. Otherwise LV versicherung, Bahlmann konzepte, Uelzener are all german insurance companies so you can get an idea of whats on offer if you gat stuck

 

[AmyMay]

I presuming you brought your foal at one of the the verband's! Usuallyi the deal is if you buy the foal the breeder will keep till weaning, come october and weaning time its time for you to step up. For many years i brought many weanlings back to uk from these sales. Bottom line vendor has there money, your best bet is to get weanling home!!!

Yep. You can always buy yourself a little 'cheapie' to keep him company.

 

[crabbymare]

I presuming you brought your foal at one of the the verband's! Usuallyi the deal is if you buy the foal the breeder will keep till weaning, come october and weaning time its time for you to step up. For many years i brought many weanlings back to uk from these sales. Bottom line vendor has there money, your best bet is to get weanling home!!!

I prefer to get mine home as well but the OP said that its a colt and they are leaving it to be reared in Germany until its 2 so its possible that its not going to be gelded until 2 or 3 and its harder to keep it entire here than in Germany. as long as its at a good farm it will be well looked after and there are a fair few there now that have all year turnout and keep them a horses instead of having them stuck in barns all their lives.

 

[Kareen]

Congrats on your new boy!
As we have a lot of boarders from abroad and often have horses stay for years I can tell you it's probably a lot less GBP to keep his insurance policy from the auction for as long as he stays in Germany.
Benefits are he has already been vetted for the sale and the insurers let you not only extend the policy but you can even chose to upgrade the coverage as he grows older (and thus more valuable).
Depending on where he comes from it's also a good idea to have someone local check on him as some breeders think a bit along the lines of out of sight out of mind and you want to make sure he gets the appropriate attention specifically in the way of deworming and hoof care

Feel free to get in touch if you need a let out here to check on him or the insurance coverage fixed. The major difference here is that health insurance is virtually non-existent. The up side of that is our vet fees tend to be a lot lower than in the UK (I know because I am a vet )
Also wherever you end up keeping him it's a good idea to insist on a boarding agreement in written to clearly outline what each party's responsibilities are.
Be sure to keep in touch with who boards him and make sure they understand you do want him turned out daily if keeping him out 24/7 with a run in shed is not an option. We're lucky in having light enough soil to keep them out year round with hard feed being given by hand and hay/haylage available ad lib. Not all farms in this country have fields that are useable year round.