Transporting horses abroad

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Amaretto

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Well, not quite - 40 miles outside of Dublin. Am in Manchester and need to arrange for 6 horses to be transported on 4 June to come back on 8 June.

Does anybody transport to Ireland regularly?
If so, what's the cheapest/most efficient option - ie 2 private HGVs, one 6 horse transporter with driver???
Are there any special requirements (someone mentioned to me you need a licence to transport animals, but I thought this was only if you are doing it to make money).
Any other information I need to know?

Thanks guys, my head is spinning with it all! :-)
 
If you are going down the transporter route rather than doing it yourself, Boothroyden Horse Transport are also in Manchester. They are very good. You could try them for a quote to help you decide which way to do it.
 
There are lots of companies transporting between Ireland/UK/France they should be DEFRA approved, but in my opinion this does not mean a thing.

I have used several different companies and been very unhappy with the service. One horse arrived dehydrated because he did not drink in transit, when he returned, I sent wet s/b with instructions that he was to be given this very wet and that did the trick.

A stallion who should have been shipped Kent - Dover - Calais dep. Sat am and arrive Sat eve finished up in livery in Normandy where EVA had been rife.

I knew nothing of this until the driver rang about an hour before he should have arrived to say he would not now be delivering until following morning. That was one of the top Intl. Transporters.

Some companies do not use any leg protection - I insist on it - just as well as one young horse fell off a steep ramp.

I think it is a lottery. If you are hiring your own driver just for your horses you have more power. My advise read the small print in the contract and specifiy what you want e.g. feed/hay/ water rest stops and travel protection. Check that there will be a groom on board at all times. I had horses collected and delivered without a groom on board.

Make sure you know the route before hand and that you have a contact phone no. another trick is for drivers to ignore all your phone calls asking for progress.
 
They should have transport certificate and have passed a test on handling and transporting competency something or other So make sure you ask to see the paper work otherwise they are technically illegal. This should not affect you but just something i know they should have. I went with one guy to france to pick up some racehorses a friend recomended me the job saying what a nice bloke he was and how if her lorry is ever broken then he would take her horses etc etc. Well needless to say he was aweful, as soon as the owners were out of sight he took off the legs protection as he didn't want them to get damaged as they were his and he would have to pay for a new pair and despite my arguments and insistance he point blank refused to hear me out i knew i should of got out there shame i was in france and my phone didn't work!! we picked up another horse that was covered in flys and ticks he told me not to remove them as it would put us behind time, the other horse soon became agitated as well so he kept breaking sharply to 'try and stop them from fidgeting' it was the worst experience of my life! he didn't stop to let them stretch their legs when we were on the road and they are meant to every six hours! We only had one stop in 4 days of traveling where he did stable them at a girlfriends place then didn't leave that night or the next day (so we were well over our schedual due to his incompetance and wanting to see his french girlfriend) i had managed to remove all said ticks and horse flys and cleaned the wounds and patched the poor things up as best i could during this break. We set off again but i had to keep forcing him to stop when on the road to let them have a drink it was horrid i am actually scarred for life and so the poor horses must be!! So make sure they have references,
You really don't want to see what goes on in this industry! if you don't have transport yourself hire some, it is the best way because once you have seen what goes on in a bad case such as mine then you will never trust any company again!
 
Very interesting as you say some of them don't care at all for the horses.

Did you report him to DEFRA? A friend and I have reported two separate companies?
 
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