Taking a horse to France

As Jokadoka has said, no specific vaccinations needed. Once in France the horse will need to be microchipped if it isn't already.

You will need to apply to Defra for an export license and have to fill in details like which port or airport you are leaving from, vehicle registrations, length of journey etc. Then you have to have the horse health checked by your vet within 24 hours of travelling. Defra will have sent the necessary forms to your appointed vet and they pay for the health check too. It isn't anything like a vetting, the vet will just do a basic health check to ensure the horse is fit enough to travel. They will also check that the horse matches its passport and microchip (if applicable) and is the horse listed on the export license.
It is very easy and not complicated at all. We send ponies to France frequently and in fact have four going tomorrow.
 
If your horse is going to reside in France for more than four week, it must be registered on the French National database SIRE. You need to pay a local vet to check the passport and ID and prepare a new ID in French. Registration costs 100 euros+.

If you have a pedigree horse or part-bred from a recognised stud book, it is worth registering as 'cheval de sport'. If not registered in this way you cannot compete in other than Le Trec and Western Riding.

Where are you going to live? I hope you will enjoy your life here - we do.
 
Booboos said:
As far as I know the 'fit to travel' applies only to ponies not horses.
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That is very interesting, I have just looked at our licence and it does say ponies all the way through it. All ours would be under 14.2 anyway so I have never really paid that any attention.

It would seem strange not to have a health check for a horse too, perhaps they have a different form?

I know you have to state a minimum value for the pony so they know they are not going for meat.

We always have to supply a signed invoice for ours as they are being sold to prove they are above the minimum value.

Best thing would be for the op to ring Defra and check with them.
 
jodie3 said:
That is very interesting, I have just looked at our licence and it does say ponies all the way through it. All ours would be under 14.2 anyway so I have never really paid that any attention.

It would seem strange not to have a health check for a horse too, perhaps they have a different form?

I know you have to state a minimum value for the pony so they know they are not going for meat.

We always have to supply a signed invoice for ours as they are being sold to prove they are above the minimum value.

Best thing would be for the op to ring Defra and check with them.
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When I moved over in Sep 2010 it was just for ponies and it had to do with protecting meat ponies from travelling if they were in poor condition. Now you might ask why didn't the same apply to meat horses, and the answer is I haven't got a clue and neither does anyone who made the rule I suspect! My three horses just needed the export license, my mini had the declaration of value and the vet visit (poor vet had hardly ever seen a horse in his life and had no idea what to look for, it was a complete waste of time).

OP in some areas of France they have West Nile virus which is not something your horse will have routinely been vaccinated for so you may want to add this. It's not obligatory but it may be a good precaution, although you can always get it done in France (provided you are re-locating).
 
We have just had our health checks done and I asked the vet about it.

She said it is just ponies that have to have a health check. It is to do with a tri-partite (?) agreement we have with France and Ireland so competition horses are able to move freely between the countries. She said that would include any passported horse.
 
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