Taking Horses
 

Hi,
This may be a shot in the dark, but has anyone taken a horse with them to Canada? I am in two minds, my head sensibly says that it would be wrong to put a horse through the journey, and it could be daft to try to settle into a new life with imediate commitments. The other side is my heart desperate not to leave her behind. I know that in the long run my head has to rule, but I would just be interested to hear of anyone elses experience.

thanks

Re: Taking Horses
 

I owned an equestrian business here for a number of years, and horses were regularly shipped from Europe. They adapt and acclimatize fine. From a financial perspective, you may find shipping is more than the horse is worth, so you need to weigh up the pros and cons of the investment you're making. If you've somewhere to board her here initially it'll take a lot of the pressure off with everything else that'll be going on.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Hi,

We're hoping to move later this year and are planning on taking our four horses. All quotes through international transport firms are for between 5 & 7k which is a bit steep, they want £1600 - £2000 just to take them to the airport!! but through alot of research I've found out that if the horses are your personal horses & not for sale / breeding then you can do it yourself. They are still subject to the same health checks and quarantine but no licence is required.
The only UK airport they can fly from is apparently Prestwick & they sugested I get in touch with Hellmann Worldwide Logistics - I haven't yet. Other option is Cargolux. Some airlines will only deal with registered transporters but these will deal direct.
Will post more when I get more info!

Where in Mid Wales are you from, we moved from Welshpool area recently & are just about to move near to Brecon until we hopefully leave.

Hope this is some help
Sam

Re: Taking Horses
 

Something to consider, based on past posts on this topic, is that a horse crate (or whatever they call the device the horses stand in for the flight) takes three horses. Four is going to be a lot more expensive than three.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Hi,

Thanks for the info, I knew it would be expensive.

Sam, We are in Montgomery near Welshpool, small world :D. Let me know how it goes, it will be interesting to see. Where abouts are you going?

Re: Taking Horses
 

Thanks OP for posting this. My daughter was wondering how much it would cost to ship her mare to Canada, she wants to take her but of course it will come down to cost. either way she has a home for life, either with me in the UK or with daughter in Canada.

Re: Taking Horses
 

I know - that's the downside of any other number than 3!! you pay for a crate no matter how many go in it

Re: Taking Horses
 

We're going to Saskatchewan. What about you?
Definately taking horses no matter what as they were our inspiration to go and look at Canada in the first place:unsure:
Will let you know when I find out more!!

Re: Taking Horses
 

Oh my word!!! We are also looking at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan!:eek:

Re: Taking Horses
 

Wow! I am no longer going to worry about what not to pack... you are taking your HORSES?! That's hard core!!

Good luck! It's nice to hear that you are that committed to your pets. The uber-wealthy fly thier horses from North America to Europe on a regular basis for competition, so I hope your horses will be fine, especially if they can see / smell each other.

Good luck!

Re: Taking Horses
 

We brought 2 Horses to Canada and both travelled and adjusted with no problem, but the route they took was a bit different , they travelled to Amsterdam by road and the flew from amsterdam to Toronto.
One thing to be aware of is that nothing travels with the horses

Re: Taking Horses
 

Horses normally travel better on planes than on roads. It's a smoother ride for them and less work for them to balance. At least according to the grooms I know who've travelled with horses to major competitions.

I'm not sure about paying per crate. I've seen the crates on planes with horses inside and I've never seen just one horse in one crate. My understanding is that if you want the entire crate for yourself, you pay for all three stalls. If you want your horse to have a wider stall then you pay more.

You can do loads yourself to cut costs however, most airlines will only accept bookings for horses through a freight agent. You may want to look in to that.

Also, if you check with jockey clubs etc, you may find that there are planes dedicated for horse transports crossing the atlantic. You might be able to blag yourself on to one of those loads and cut costs. You'd be surprised to find out how many european born race horses are sent to kentucky when growing up to grace kentucky bluegrass then shipped back to europe to start their racing career.

I talked to one of my cousins who is in to harness racing here in Sweden and he said that when the time comes I should let him know and he'll check if he can get my geegees across the atlantic a lot cheaper than going via Peden, airhorse or any other equestrian freight company.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Hi
I had the same quandry when I decided to move to Canada, in the end I decided to put my horse through the journey knowing that the rest of his days would be safe with me.
I used John Parker transport and they were excellent, it cost around 5000 GBP door to door (Dorset UK, to Nova Scotia Canada).
Emotionally, I think it took my horse around 6 months to really get over the journey (although he is now better than ever), he was a fairly stressy horse anyway, physically he arrived in excellent condition and has stayed that way since.
Do I regret my decision to fly him over........... Absolutely not :D

Please feel free to get in touch regarding any more info. I would recommend leaving your horse with someone in the UK whilst you deal with your move, and send for your horse later, that's what I did and it worked really well.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Hi thanks for that. I had thought about arranging for her to follow a few weeks later, a friend has offered to look after her until I am ready to move her, which is great. A couple of questions, did they stop anywhere on route or did they go straight through? Where did yours fly from, was there a choice and how long did it take to arrange? Did the transport company sort out the paperwork, and what sort of things need to be thought about vet wise etc?
I really appreciate any help and advice. Thanks

Re: Taking Horses
 

If you search back far enough tiaribbon documented her experience in bringing horses. iirc there was some advantage to flying them to the US and trucking them from there.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Apparantly it's really dificult to get a shared load to anywhere in the middle of Canada so you have to pay for all the stalls in the crate not just the ones you use yourself!
Have spoken to Prestwick airport which seems to be the main route from UK to Calgary and they gave me two freight companies that will deal direct with the public, those were Cargolux & Hellmann Worldwide Logistics. I haven't phoned either yet. But I have been assured by Prestwick that either will be a far cheaper option than going through a horse transport company.
As we're going to Saskatchewan the option of flying to USA & transporting by road isn't really an option as the road trip is way too far.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Small world :thumbup:

When are you off? We've had a change of plans and are now moving back up to your neck of the woods temporarily, we'll be in Llangadfan in about four weeks until we can go!

Sam

Re: Taking Horses
 

I'm not sure I follow, my neighbours took their horses to Texas for the winter each year for decades. That has to be farther than the nearest airport is to Saskatchewan. It seems to me that it's all about the cost/bureaucracy. One would have to be careful about choosing a shipping company from the US of course since horses sent to Canada aren't usually expected to arrive in good condition.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Probably is just bureaucracy - I'm just going by what I've been told - mostly from DEFRA, the Animal Health export people and various horse transporters!! Even if it's wrong I don't think I'd risk going down that route in case I hit on a problem getting them in!!

Re: Taking Horses
 

Hi Sam,
Just early days yet, OH has applied for job and is waiting to hear, so I'm just getting everything sorted and preparing myself just incase it becomes too impractical to take my horse... I fear I may be more devistated at leaving her than family!

Re: Taking Horses
 

That's why you go via a freight agent who tries to consolidate the loads.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Hi,

I am also in the same boat, so please can you let me know when you get any more information on doing it yourself and the charges etc.

Re: Taking Horses
 

My horse was collected from Dorset and taken straight to the Hook of Holland, he then flew from Amsterdam to Toronto, spent 2 weeks isolation in Toronto (I think it's longer for mares) then was trucked to me in Nova Scotia.
The transport company sorted everything for me, all paperwork and they liaised with the vet. Make sure your vet knows what he/she needs to do (blood tests and vaccinations), your horse will have to do isolation before he/she travels, again the transport company can arrange it if you can't. Mine was able to do his at the yard I kept him at, your vet will be able to advise you on that one.
It can all be arranged fairly quickly, the transport company will wait until they have a full load (3 horses for a crate), it depends on how long your horse will have to go into isolation for (mares and geldings have different periods of time). Just make sure your horses passport is all up to date and that your vet knows what needs to be done.
Hope this helps. I would also advise bringing any rugs/tack etc with you a choice is limited here and expensive (well that's true of Nova Scotia anyway). You'll find there isn't the supply and demand here in Canada so there are much less in the way of different brands and most of the rugs are designed on big shouldered quarter horses!

Re: Taking Horses
 

All the agents I contacted said they would have trouble doing that anyway - have tried that!!

Re: Taking Horses
 

Can anyone tell me if they know at all what would be the entire cost of taking my three horses to canada ?. i know getting transporters in will be pricey - was thinking maybe of arranging all myself independantly . Has anyone ever done this and if so how much did they save themselves . :confused:

I would also like f anyone could provide me with details on how the whole process would work !!!

Be grateful of any help , an owner not wanting to leave behind her faithful steeds

Re: Taking Horses
 

Check this link for CFIA requirements.
http://airs-sari.inspection.gc.ca/Ai...ns.aspx?lang=1
This link for Customs
http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/d...9-1-1-eng.html

Re: Taking Horses
 

well my 2 cents worth,

we have arabian horses, and we transported them from the uk to belgium by road, where they stayed about 6 weeks or so before we flew them out to egypt.
we had to get their passports all medical records, have them wormed etc,
the road part was easy because we could do it ourself in out own trailers, the flying bit, the crates some in standard cargo sizes, they each take 3 horse, if you ship 1 horse or 2 or 3 you will pay the price for the whole crate unless there is someone else that is flying the same route at the same time. ( you will normally find this last option of sharing before major events/shows by a number of weeks where there are more horses moving about)
you will need to consider and allow for if there is any quarantine requirement when they arrive and cost for food/hay etc for flight and when they arrive, and transporting them from the airport to your stud.

im planning on doing the reverse, but this time from egypt to belgium then from belgium to ontario, but probably wont be till the end of the year or so once i finish pr and get everything sorted once we land.

hamazz

Re: Taking Horses
 

Heads up all of you taking your horses to Canada. Starting January 15 2012, ALL horses (no matter if they are mares, geldings or stallions) have to go through 30 day pre-exportation quarantine before they can fly out.

Going via US is no longer an option as you'd STILL have to quarantine the horse for 30 days unless it has lived in US for 60 days before entering Canada.

That just added €750 to the freight bill for my boy.

Re: Taking Horses
 

Heads up again, those of you taking a horse to Canada.

Overseashorseservices.com (based in calgary) just emailed me and told me that CFIA are changing the rules for geldings. They will now only need 7 days of pre-export quarantine.

I hope this takes effect soon. Still not seeing any of it on the CFIA website.

Yup. They just updated. No mention of set time at all. Just need to be isolated for the time needed to go through all tests.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals/.../1325285922473