Shipping Horses from Germany

[chickeninabun]

I have been offered a Fjord horse by my friend's sister but he is in Germany. Does anyone know the in's & out's of shipping a horse from somewhere in Europe, such as costs, documents needed, etc etc??
My friend said we can use her box and it's just fuel costs and a ferry there and back, but surely there is more to it than that??

Also, does anyone have any experience with Fjord's? It's coming from a riding school is about 15 years old and 13.2hh. It's mainly for me to potter about with but my little girl would ride it too. Can Fjord's carry adult weight too? Only for a short walk/trot down the lane etc, obviously!

 

[Tierra]

Shipping costs range from anywhere between £400 to well.. £3k ish for single loads with some large companies. The lower end of the price of course being for a shared load (usually upto 20 horses with the larger companies)

Horses need to have medicals prior to travelling to confirm they are fit to travel. Technically they should be vaccinated but this is never actually checked apparently.

Germany to UK on a shared load with a big company can take around 5 days during which time they'll be rested at stables en route.

Personally, i wouldnt do it on your own. The ferry costs alone are quite high and its not usually worth it financially.

The vet needs to be approved to travel check animals and has to fill out an intra trade certificate. This then has to be faxed and stamped by the appropriate government departments (in my case when i took my horse from the UK to denmark, it went to defra and then to a place in copenhagen). Both have to sign and stamp it and return it to you before travel (this has to happen damn quick since the vet check needs to be done no more than 24 hours before the journey).

The horse will need to hold a passport and the details on this have to be provided for the vet at the inspection (they're then forwarded to the government bodies also).

All in all... let a company do it for you

 

[hadleigh]

When I bought a horse from Germany I paid a reputable company to bring him over for me. He had to have a blood test done prior to being transproted and his passport of course. The company I used took care of all the other paper work and were brilliant. He left Germany around 6am and arrived at us in Cheshire at about 10pm the same day. The wagon was huge and had CCTV in the cab so the horses were always checked. Because there were only 2 on the driver had left them loose with half the wagon each. They even had water to drink if they wanted. Well worth the money about £500.

 

[foraday]

you cannot pay someone to do it unless they have an operators licence and a DEFRA T2 licence and the lorry has been inspected by DEFRA.

The ports are checking every horse lorry at the moment due to FMD.

Your horse will need to be microchipped and health papered along with the passport.

A shared load will cost around £500 plus vat and up to £3000 for an individual load.

www.findhorsetransport.com have got some very good registered and legal transporters on there.

Good luck

 

[crabbymare]

I imported one and used a transporter, they were very good and they do all the paperwork. Horse needs a certificate of health to travel which needs to be signed by a state vet.

From Hamburg mine was collected at around 3pm and was stabled at their yard in Dover overnight, then came on to me the next day.

Cost was £350 + VAT but this would depend on where in the country you are. I cannot remember the cost for the State vet as it was all paid with the cost of the horse and purchase vetting.