Possible move to USA - movin horses & competitions??

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Hi we are possibly moving to USA(Houston Texas) and I am needing to convince kids/myself that all will be good. But I am struggling to find out about the horse world there.

I have been over in the past and did meet people with horses but none who competed seriously. My daughters competes BS fairly successfully and we would hope to take ponies with us.

Just really looking for to know all about the competition scene,are comps regular? what are the pony height/track sizes/rider age rules etc? Jst wonder if the affilated classes are similar to BS?

Oh and as I imagine we will be in the city some info about livery yards - are they pretty much run the same as here/plenty of them?

and transportation?

Just really any info will be greatly appreciated.
 
I cant help too much but one thing to bear in mind is you will most likely have to travel a lot further to shows. I have friends with show dogs in America and they see travelling 2-3 hours to a show as the norm, i cant imagine things would be much different with horses. Though, of course, if you kept the horses at or near a place that holds shows you could just attend those regularly :D

Good luck though, i would LOVE to relocate to America.
 
I am in the US but will need some translation I am afraid. What is BS? I am assuming it must be pony hunters and jumpers?

I am not in TX but have friends there and will help if I can.

Small ponies go to 12.2, med 13.2, large 14.2, however they changed to FEI a few years ago making the 14.2 in CM a little over 14.2

They had the pony measurement scandel here a few years ago, so the issue with over sized ponies is not nearly as bad as it was.

I have always hauled my own horses and ponies but there are training barns where the barn has the transport and takes horses from the barn.

Be prepared to drive ALOT farther to shows than you are used to.
 
We was going to move over to Maryland a couple of years ago, this is what I found out:

We worked out its about £4000 to fly the horses and for about a week the horse has to stay in quarantine over here in a special stable. If you get a good one they will also transport your horse to the airport. On the plane one person is allowed to stay below with the horses to comfort them, there is also a vet on board so if a horse becomes distressed they are sedated and in severe cases the horse may be PTS.

Competition wise for children under 16 equitation classes are more wide spread but they look quite boring compared to BS. They have jumper classes aswell which is the most similar to BS. Unfortuanlty people seem to be on horses a lot sooner then they are over here so you may find your daughter may want a horse by the time she's 14 to fit in better. But some people do remain on ponies.

It might be worth joining the USPC as they hold regular competitons but they tend to go higher then normal SJ in England, I think at your normal show heights go up to 4ft, and there are no age restrictions in the pony club to whcih height your daughters can jump and which height horse they need to be on.

As for yards we found out that if you really want to compete the best thing to do is to keep your horse at a barn with a good trainer who stays there. As a barn you go to competitions together with the trainer and other people from the barn. Your horses may aso get ridden by the trainer whilst your children are at school.

The cost of competing is more over there then here and a decent horse over there is way more expensive then anything over here so I would defintly recommend brinigng your ponies with you, but they may take a long time to climatise to Houston weather, I'd reccomend going in winter.

Good luck if you do go, we chickened out in the end and are still regreting it to this day! :D
 
UnaB said:
I cant help too much but one thing to bear in mind is you will most likely have to travel a lot further to shows. I have friends with show dogs in America and they see travelling 2-3 hours to a show as the norm, i cant imagine things would be much different with horses. Though, of course, if you kept the horses at or near a place that holds shows you could just attend those regularly :D

Good luck though, i would LOVE to relocate to America.
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2-3 hours would be considered pretty close. When I lived in the mid west, I only had one show that was less than 4 hours, and most were 8 or 9 one way LOL.

Funny, I have always dreamed of relocating to England, literally.

Be prepared for very hot and HUMID. Hate to say it, but Houston would be really near the bottom of my list for locations in the US. Weather makes it very hard, and compared to some areas, mostly the east coast, there is not a lot of horse activity.
 
equinedriver said:
2-3 hours would be considered pretty close. When I lived in the mid west, I only had one show that was less than 4 hours, and most were 8 or 9 one way LOL.

Funny, I have always dreamed of relocating to England, literally.

Be prepared for very hot and HUMID. Hate to say it, but Houston would be really near the bottom of my list for locations in the US. Weather makes it very hard, and compared to some areas, mostly the east coast, there is not a lot of horse activity.
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Shall we swap? lol! I know my dog show friends travel overnight sometimes to get to shows if its a judge they really like. I dont know if i could cope with that sort of travelling!



Kokopelli - I lived in Maryland when i was young :D
 
Kokopelli said:
No way! I used to aswell we moved back here 9 years ago now :( We lived in Columbia I didn't ride much over there though as I had a lot of other hobbies :)
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I was only over there for 4 years, moved back when i was really young. We lived in Silver Spring :) I learned to ride on a HUGE quarter horse over there when i was about 2-3 :D
 
UnaB said:
I was only over there for 4 years, moved back when i was really young. We lived in Silver Spring :) I learned to ride on a HUGE quarter horse over there when i was about 2-3 :D
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We was only there for four years with my dads work, Ohh I think I know where silverspring is, I wasn't very old over there either, we moved back here when I was 8.
 
I have a friend with horses in Arizona. He competes very seriously at dressage. His horses live at a "barn" 1.5 hours drive from him as this was the only decent facility (to be fair, he lives in the middle of nowhere!) and the standard of care is very high. Competition are frequent and the yard drives all the horses in a huge trailer - usually a few hours drive at least, though they think nothing of going 8 - 9 hours for a large event. Nearest vet clinic is a 2 hour drive, so the grooms at the yard are all well versed in horsie first aid, etc. It gets too hot to feed their horses after 9 a.m. in the summer, despite ventilated and dehumidified stables! Dehydration colic is quite frequent and even the top horses look a bit poor in the summer. He said the really posh riders send their horses north for the worst of the summer - a huge load of them go with the lead trainer for about 3 months every year and continue their trainer is a better climate. His just get the time off ;)!
 
I was in Houston for a week in July.

Hot, very very hot. And humid, so much so that it wrapped itself around one like a blanket. We went from air con airport to air con car to air con hotel to air con restuarant to air con office, etc. etc. etc. Walking to the shopping mall (five mins) brought up a sweat pretty quickly!

Houston is very flat.

I didn't get to ride, too busy working :(

People are very friendly :D
 
I have relations living in Washington State which is north-west.
Although they were in the local Pony Club (run by the Church) there was nothing close, the distances are vast. There certainly doesn't seem to be anything like the UK when you can just decide to go to a show one weekend and have a choice within 30 miles.

Maybe it is different if you keep your horse at a barn and they do regular competitions, but my relatives chose to buy a house next to a forest where they could buy a permit and ride straight from the house (don't go on roads!).
 
I worked in the Midwest for 2 years and decided not to bring my horse, for a number of reasons. Some points to consider:

The livery places we saw varied greatly in quality, and as others have mentioned the distances can be huge, so before you make a decision it may be worth taking a look at the facilities in the area you intend to go to. Indoor schools are very common, but hacking can be limited since you are very unlikely to be able to go on the roads.

The transport is not cheap, and it is quite a long journey for the horse. We were quoted about 6k from the UK to the midwest for two horses, that was transport only though and all the vet costs etc. would come on top.

Warmbloods are quite expensive in the US but in the area I lived you could pick up a very reasonably priced TB or Quarter if you were prepared to school it yourself.

Depending on your job, you may find yourself with 10 days vacation a year, and really long working hours, so you may have less time than at home to ride. Where I was it was normal to spend 10-12 hrs a day in the office, more when needed.

Also... if you have not lived in the US before you may be tempted to spend your spare time on getting to know the new country and culture, and to try new activities :-)

Best of luck with your move.
 
One more thing - due to the distances you may not necessarily find a good trainer in your discipline of choice nearby. So that may be good to consider as well. Most places I found in the Midwest were hunter/jumpers.
 
I think you will find it massively different. I work with a lady in our Houston office, who has horses. In the US they live in barns and "the mexicans" look after the horses. The barns have fans to keep the horses cool. It is very hot and humid and people don't seem to hack, or turn out much. She told me horrible stories of the things the americans do to their show horses - paralysing their tails to make them droopy so they look relaxed. Putting weights on their headcollars to keep their heads down - they seem to think this makes them look relaxed too.

Don't get me wrong, because I like americans, but they do things very differently over there.
 
What is BS? British Show Jumping - affiliated competitions

I am not in TX but have friends there and will help if I can. That would be super

Small ponies go to 12.2, med 13.2, large 14.2, however they changed to FEI a few years ago making the 14.2 in CM a little over 14.2

In BS you compete against the same heights and there is age restriction on riders for height of ponies.

We do travel regularly in excess of 4hr drive but I just wasn't sure of the competitions - I knew equitation classes were big there but that's not really her or the ponies thing.

I am used to keeping them at home so will have to downsize and go the livery route which does scare me - a lot.

I really want to go but ponies & showjumping is pretty much our lives and scared of scarring my kids for life - ah tough decisions! Thanks for all your replies.
 
£6000 seems good for flights. A friend flew her horse from Cyprus to UK and it cost £5000. It may be cos they have to go to Jordan 1st but still, it's a lot less far than USA.
 
tracey01 said:
I think you will find it massively different. I work with a lady in our Houston office, who has horses. In the US they live in barns and "the mexicans" look after the horses. The barns have fans to keep the horses cool. It is very hot and humid and people don't seem to hack, or turn out much. She told me horrible stories of the things the americans do to their show horses - paralysing their tails to make them droopy so they look relaxed. Putting weights on their headcollars to keep their heads down - they seem to think this makes them look relaxed too.
Don't get me wrong, because I like americans, but they do things very differently over there.
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Please don't think this is common for all Americans any more than Americans doing Parelli.

Unfortunately it does happen in Western Pleasure competitions, mostly for QH's and Paints. There is abuse in the "Big Lick" Tennessee Walkers also but steps are being taken to combat it.

Many, probably most, of the barn workers are Hispanic, no big deal.

Houston has warm winters and HOT HUMID summers with the occasional tropical storm.
 
If you do move to the US, you could enter the wonderful and strange world of Hunter competitions... where according to my friends from across the pond, wearing the wrong colour jacket is an insult to the judge and all hoses should be jumped in a standing martingale because it's the fashion! :eek:


Hunter-Jumper-Horse.jpg
 
I was in the mid west but not south. I thought I knew hot and humid, but the other woman wasn't joking. I was there once also in July and you literally ran from one air conditioned place to another and like I said I was used to 100+ degrees F with some humidity but it was nothing compared to Houston. I came home saying I now knew the meaning of "the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife".

There are no age restrictions here as far as I know on the ponies. But my kids are 25 and 23 now, so it's be 10 plus years since I have been active in that scene. The hunters here are depressing to me, a contest to see who can canter the slowest and jump the biggest over a fence, on a counted stride in an arena.

Pony club here, if it's a good club, would have very fun games and stuff for them to do.

It is rare for horses to be ridden on any roads in the states. I live in Aiken SC which is a huge horse community where at least half of the US international horses winter (not kidding) so there are miles of dirt roads but most areas have dedicated equestrian trails, most 20 miles or more for people to ride and drive on, which is VERY rare in the US. From Dec or so until May there is a show within 30 miles every weekend in some discipline, which is almost unheard of. It's why I moved here VBG.

I think the other persons suggestion of going to Houston and checking out barns and trainers would be very important. Houston is huge, it could easily take you 2 hours to drive across the city, so you would need to know the location of places you were interested in.

OTOH, I have a friend that got divorced a couple years ago and had 3 large horse farms just north of Houston, not all of which had anyone living in them the last I knew. I don't know if they would be within commuting distance of where you were going to work, but I'd be happy to check with him if you wanted. He is wealthy and didn't have them "for rent" but I think would be interested if it was a private deal. Nice guy. They were welsh pony breeders. His wife and daughter live in Aiken now.
 
Forgot, as far as the shipping, you can ship by the pallet. You can get 3 ponies on one pallet as opposed to only 2 horses, so it wouldn't cost much more to ship 3 than to ship 2, however my friends that just got back from the world singles driving championships in Italy in July spent about 5,000 per horse (each way) and that is the figure I have always heard to import a horse from England. I think that includes all the quarantine fees etc.

Prices for horses in the US are down quite a bit from what they were. The top ponies at the auction after the equivalent to our national championships only sold for 44,000. I am sure there are still a few 200,000 plus ones out there, but nothing like it was. 10,000 will buy you a pretty nice pony now.
 
Hi, A friend of mine re-located from Surrey in the UK to Texas in the US a few years ago, she's a Fellow of the BHS, mainly concentrates on Dressage but she may know what the show jumping scene is like. I'll PM you a link to her website.
 
I relocated to the US seven years ago. I live in NYC, and ride in either Connecticut or NY state. I don't know much about Texas, other than it's hot, but I can tell you that the equine world is COMPLETELY different over here.

*US Hunters are NOTHING like WHP classes. The horse moves in front of the vertical, the neck is braided with a zillion plaits, and it's de rigeur to jump with washing line reins (to highlight your horse's tremendous bascule, apparently). Hunter courses are almost always run in figure of eights, and executing lead changes is an important part of the class. D-ring snaffles are worn 99% of the time. Recently, there has been a move to reinvigorate hunter land, with the introduction of Hunter Derbies, where the jumps are bigger and more solid (4' as opposed to 3').

*US Barns are very different. I've only seen herd turnout once, and it's more common to turn out solo or in small groups for 4-6 hours in what, in England, would be considered small paddocks. In eventing-focussed areas, you'll find a more traditional approach to horsemanship (inc. the availability of 24/7 turnout) but I'm not sure that Texas is a mecca for eventing.

*Tiny kids ride ponies, but most children upwards of 12 in the showing world are on Warmbloods. The cost of equitation horses can run to high-five/six-figures, with hunters of quality in the same price range. OTTB are reasonably priced, as are Morgans, Quarter Horses etc.

*Hispanic men are almost always the grooms. For showing stables, it's rare to find less than full board facilities, and most kids--even those jumping 3-feet--will have a trainer. Barns are usually divided by discipline i.e hunter/jumper, dressage, Western, though there are some exceptions if you have a good look around.
 
Hi
I am a BHSI who moved to Texas 10 years ago - and good grief it is very different. I live just north of Houston and know all the barns and trainers here, but am not an expert on pony jumpers, however one of my clients is as her daughter competes. Reply and I will give you my email, you can ask me anything - not just horses - and I will look forward to meeting you!!
 
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