Transporting a horse from Canada to the UK?

[PiebaldRosie]

Whilst working on a Canadian ranch last summer, I fell in love with a beautiful American Bashkir curly horse out there and was told that if I wanted I could import her for no cost other than shipping. What would the relevant costs be to do this? Does anyone have any experience of shipping a horse from Canada to the UK? Is this even feasible? I might be a bit of a daydreamer but before I write this off completely I need to know! She is only young so there is time to save up..

Thanks in advance for your replies

 

[L&M]

One of my liveries looked into transporting her horse from the uk to canada - if I remember right she was quoted around £5000/£6000.

She decided against it as although she adored the horse, the cost totally outweighed the value of the horse and sold it before she emigrated.

 

[PiebaldRosie]

Hmm interesting...Do you think it would be roughly the same cost to transport the other way round (Canada - UK)?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Why not contact international transporters on both sides of the pond? Then you will get a price

Over here try:
John Parkers
Pedens
LOC
IRT

 

[smellsofhorse]

If I was to move the cost if the travel out weighting the cost of the horses would bother me.
It would be if I could afford the transport cost. If the horse(s) could cope with the journey and if they would like the new lifestyle.

I think your horses move wouldn't be a problem to her.

I have no idea of costs but heard they can be £10000.

Can you get in contact with racehorse trainers and other people with well traveled horses they may give you an idea of how it works and a shared journey to reduce costs etc.

 

[PiebaldRosie]

Why not contact international transporters on both sides of the pond? Then you will get a price

Over here try:
John Parkers
Pedens
LOC
IRT

Thanks Xmas Furry- that's a good point.. which transporters are good and which are the ones to avoid?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

All the ones I have listed have a pretty good reputation to maintain.
Personally I'd be using Parkers or Peden, but thats my own choice. (and I used to do travelling groom for both back in the early 80's - flights only - so am prob biased).

You'll get pretty good prices from them tho & good treatment for horse

 

[HollyWoozle]

I've been looking at transporting a horse from Eastern Europe to the UK and have been recommended John Parker Int. multiple times. I have emailed them and sent a contact form via their website but unfortunately never received a reply, so I will call them sometime soon. I'm told that calling is best and I guess if they are that good, it is worth persevering (though it aggravates me slightly that nobody has ever answered me!).

ETA: Before I started investigating I already remember Parkers as I have seen them recommended so often online... so they do seem to be the ones to go for.

 

[Spring Feather]

We used to transport horses across Europe to the UK regularly and always used Parkers as they really are one of the best long distance, land travel, haulers.

As to overseas flights for horses. We used Peden Bloodstock and Mersant Intl to move ours from the UK to Canada and they were excellent. This was 10 years ago and the cost was just under £7,000 for one stall door to door, including all quarantine. I know that the other way around it is generally cheaper, especially if you have the horse fly KLM into Schipol rather than direct to the UK. I've recently heard quotes of around $5,000 to do it that way.

 

[Nightmare before Christmas]

I think with paper work quarrentine and flights you will be looking about 7-10k from Canada to UK

 

[yellowdun]

It cost us over 7K to import our Bashkir Curly several years ago.

It also takes them a long time to acclimatise to the UK way of life-sights and sounds- if all they have seen is a ranch and mountains!!

 

[DoesDressage]

We bought a horse with us from the UK to the US 18months ago. Used Pedens. Wonderful service. Kept us updated on his progress and were competitive on price. Not sure if they work in Canada but worth a look. Would highly recommend

 

[Fidgety]

Thanks Xmas Furry- that's a good point.. which transporters are good and which are the ones to avoid?

I had the same problem with another poster re Parkers not responding to emails, in the end I put a shout out to friends and another forum who virtually all recommended LOC. Brilliant transporters, helpful, friendly, knowledgeable, the pone arrived in the UK last year looking as fresh as a daisy - and I shall be using them again over the next few weeks to move her back to the continent. I won't even bother checking other transporters to compare prices .

 

[california dreaming]

I looked into flying my horse to Cyprus with me but unfortunately it was not meant to be because of the cost involved. It was explained to me that when you fly a horse your paying for the space not the horse. So if, for example there were four horses traveling to the same place as your horse, the cost to you would be split four ways. This would work out a lot cheaper. However, if your horse is the only one going to that country then you end up paying for all the spaces that the aren't taken up. In my case, because nobody fly horses to Cyprus, the cost to me was around the 10'000 euros. This included everything and a stable to stable service.

 

[Caol Ila]

US to UK was about $4000 for the flight from JFK to Schiphol in 2006. Don't know what it would be now. But ground transport was a separate cost; you have to get the horse to the airport from wherever it is, and then to its final destination. To give you an idea, in addition to the Transatlantic flight, it cost me about $1000 to get her from Colorado to New York and about £800 from Amsterdam to Durham.

I used Dutta Corps., http://timdutta.com/, and they arranged all the ground transport parts, so I didn't have to do shight, other than send them money and make sure my vet had done all the necessary health checks, vaccinations, and paperwork. They used Parkers, recommended above, for the European travels, and a great US company called Bob Hubbard for the trans-US bit.

My horse has now been here since Sept 2006, and she still thinks the weather is pants.

 

[foraday]

You need shipping agents rather than international transporters! The latter will put on their commission!

You need

BBA Shipping
Irt
LG bloodstock

All 3 charter planes and organise all the quarantine, paperwork and bloods as well as the transport to and from both airports.

All will give you more or less the same quotes as all the costs are uniform

But depending on whether mare stallion or gelding as the tests differ and therefore the costs!

Good luck

 

[california dreaming]

You need shipping agents rather than international transporters! The latter will put on their commission!

You need

BBA Shipping
Irt
LG bloodstock

All 3 charter planes and organise all the quarantine, paperwork and bloods as well as the transport to and from both airports.

All will give you more or less the same quotes as all the costs are uniform

But depending on whether mare stallion or gelding as the tests differ and therefore the costs!

Good luck

Thank you faraday that is very useful and helpful information. I will look into it.

 

[yellowdun]

Thank you faraday that is very useful and helpful information. I will look into it.

We used IRT. Good service. It was all straight forward, just not cheap- but then I never expected it to be. We have done this a couple of times and found it okay. The gelding arrived without any weight loss. When we transported a mare over she dropped quite a bit of weight in quarantine- but she soon put condition back on once she settled .

 

[druid]

IRT and LG Bloodstock are fabulous, we use both regularly through work and they're always efficent and professional.