Importing/Travelling from the UK.....

[luckilotti@hotmail.com]

hi,
i'd be really greatful to hear of anyone who has experiance of moving/importing horses from the uk, the reason is - i was at university in the usa for a while and have had to come home to the UK to finish my degree - problem is - i want to go back to the usa full time! i own 5 horses - i dont want to part with any really but not sure of how to move them internationally anyway - maybe i would get discount for moving so many ;) so , any stories - please share!

(ps - i think i will end up east coast rather than west coast)

[tacotory]

Your first step would be to contact an importation broker. They will handle most of the arrangements for you and will be your point of contact. We are on the west coast and we use Triton. Our contact is named Carl and their office number is 310-215-0056. They could put you in contact with someone that works on the East Coast.

The basic process is as follows. Your horses will have blood tests done over in Europe to make certain no diseases are brought into the States. Once approved, they go to the airport. Horses are shipped in containers that have 3 slots in them. See attached photo. Generally, there are enough horses flying that you only have to pay your slot as they will fill the other slots with other people's horses.

Once they arrive in the States, they have to go into a USDA quarantine facility. While there, they have more tests done to make certain that nothing was missed in the tests on the other side. The length of time depends on sex of the horse. Geldings- 2 days, Mares- 2 weeks, Stallions- 1 month. I'm fairly certain on these durations, but if anyone knows better, please speak up. While they are in quarantine, you can't see, visit, touch- nothing- no contact. Unfortunately, they get no turnout during quarantine, so after a long flight and then a long boring quarantine, they can get a little fresh. :eek:

After the quarantine period, you can pick them up and you're done! All or most of these details will be handled by your import broker.

Going to the West Coast, I think it's about $6,600 per horse- for geldings. Part of the fee is the airfare, but part is also the quarantine charges. This makes it more for mares and stallions. Again, these are rates into LA, not sure how the fees would vary to the East Coast.

[musiccraze777]

Hah, if I WERE to do that, I would leave the horse out for days or months of not having to go in a stall. Quarentine sounds AWFUL!

[Haley]

Yeah, but that's what it takes to ensure that no diseases are carried over. One month really does seem excessive for a stallion, though.

[moniexponie]

One month is quite a long time.
Mind you, when I was at my last barn, to quarinitne, all they did was put the horses in the end stalls and the paddocks on the other side of the property. So they didn't really go that far away from all the other horses. [This is just once they got to our barn. I have no idea what happened before.]

And normally when we imported, we imported two at a time, so that they would have some company. ^^

[DixieGirl]

Your first step would be to contact an importation broker. They will handle most of the arrangements for you and will be your point of contact. We are on the west coast and we use Triton. Our contact is named Carl and their office number is 310-215-0056. They could put you in contact with someone that works on the East Coast.

The basic process is as follows. Your horses will have blood tests done over in Europe to make certain no diseases are brought into the States. Once approved, they go to the airport. Horses are shipped in containers that have 3 slots in them. See attached photo. Generally, there are enough horses flying that you only have to pay your slot as they will fill the other slots with other people's horses.

Once they arrive in the States, they have to go into a USDA quarantine facility. While there, they have more tests done to make certain that nothing was missed in the tests on the other side. The length of time depends on sex of the horse. Geldings- 2 days, Mares- 2 weeks, Stallions- 1 month. I'm fairly certain on these durations, but if anyone knows better, please speak up. While they are in quarantine, you can't see, visit, touch- nothing- no contact. Unfortunately, they get no turnout during quarantine, so after a long flight and then a long boring quarantine, they can get a little fresh. :eek:

After the quarantine period, you can pick them up and you're done! All or most of these details will be handled by your import broker.

Going to the West Coast, I think it's about $6,600 per horse- for geldings. Part of the fee is the airfare, but part is also the quarantine charges. This makes it more for mares and stallions. Again, these are rates into LA, not sure how the fees would vary to the East Coast.

my horse wouldn't get in that!