Transporting a horse to Southern Ireland - advice please.

[wonkey_donkey]

One of my horse's is off to his new home in Ireland so can you help with the following please;

How much can I expect to pay one-way from the East Anglia area to the Tipperary area in Ireland?

What documentation will my horse need for the journey?

Who is a good company to use ?

Will the transporter also take his tack/rugs etc with him ?

Is it worth doing the journey myself in our lorry - or is it a complete nightmare !?

Thanks in advance

(Also posted in NL)

 

[only_me]

you will need his passport and *i think* vaccinations up to date? not sure about that. also may need a vet cert but i cant remember if the transporter gets it done at the docks.

i dont think that they take tack/rugs etc. as usually there is no living/storage in the lorries.
you could do it in the lorry - the journey is fine - have done it with old pony to scotland for tetrathlon and pony club champs. the lorry yourself may be easier, as then you can transport all your stuff in lorry

hope that helps

 

[coffeeadict]

He just needs his passport to travel to Ireland. You do not need a vets cert.
It is not a difficult journey though it is a very expensive ferry. off the top of my head on the Fisguard route the charge for a lorry on return trip is about £100 per meter.

We do horse transport to Ireland - but only individual or very small loads, so that horse don't get dragged around the country en route.

Whoever you use just make sure that your horse is not going to be dragged up through Scotland and across by Larne. It makes a very long journey.

 

[lucretia]

talk to the racehorse transperters in newmarket, they like to have a lorry load and dont only do racehorses. pedens, curragh blooddstock agency, there are lots to ask x

 

[Maesfen]

If you're going to drive yourself you'd be better going from Fishguard to Rosslare I think. Roads are good to Fishguard and from Rosslare you are at least spared the nightmare of getting through Dublin (ferry) or from Dun Laorghaire (Cat) Going through there alone, can put upto two hours on your journey, or at least it used to.
From Rosslare, you are at least in the bottom half of the country already so will have less of a journey that side (depending where you're going of course). I don't know about fares for lorries, I do know it's quite expensive but as a commercial, you do get passenger perks as in separate dining and rest area, meals provided too; I would far prefer to go as a commercial driver than as a normal passenger, they seem to take more care of you if that makes sense and the horses always seem to travel by water very well!

Transporter wise, if you can pack your rugs up into a couple of those rug bags, no transporter worth his salt would complain and you will probably find they would prefer horse not to wear boots as they do get quite hot while travelling and can cause more problems than they're worth; with professional drivers, they won't be thrown around the lorry so you can rest easy! A lot of the horses travelling over to Ireland are racehorses, broodmares or competition horses, you don't get muppets driving them usually!
With travelling from East Anglia, there should be lorries travelling over regularly, somebody like BBA, and a shared journey would be much cheaper too. It's quite a way before you even get on the ferry so another way could be to travel over to a transporter nearer to the ferry, stable horse there overnight and for it to travel the next day. If you decide on that route, pm me and I'll give you a local transporter's number who is very good. I don't know when you want to go but there are still some mares coming back from studs in Ireland so you could be lucky and get a shared journey if you're on the ball!
Good luck, it's not as daunting as it seems!