| Buying a
horse from Europe is not the same thing as buying one from
Canada or the US. I just got my new stallion, Felix, home from
Norway and I had to jump through many hoops to do it.
There is a lot involved to importing a
breeding stallion . The total time testing time was eleven
weeks. I needed two test mares, that meant 3 horses in
quarantine. Lucky here in Canada you are allowed to have the
animals in quarantine at your own farm. The enclosure that the
horses are kept in must be fly proof and 100 yards away from any
other horses. Even so, having them at home can save a lot of
money.
When shipping a horse from Europe I find it
necessary to hire an experienced broker. There is a lot of paper
work to be done and a lot of scheduling to be organized. You
also need a shipper in Europe to arrange all of the shipping
details. The shipper will arrange the trucking from the farm to
the airport, the flight, plus all of the exporting and importing
papers.
At home the paper work starts with a
quarantine station permit. Your barn must be inspected by a
government vet. This is a $300 charge. Then you need a blood
permit. This permit is sent to the stallion owner in Europe. He
sends a blood sample back to the Government labs in Canada.
Meanwhile in Europe the stallion is blood tested for CEM. The
negative results of the CEM test are sent to Canada. When both
negative test are in the Canadian government's hands along with
the quarantine station permit, an import permit is issued. |
This
import permit plus the CEM certificate, a Coggins test and a
veterinarian health certificate must accompany the stallion
during shipment. Keep in mind that you have only30 days from the
time the last blood sample is taken for the CEM tests to get
your stallion home. Felix came home on the thirtieth day. The
import permit is good for 6 months but the CEM permit is only
good for 30 days. If you are a Canadian you must have a GST
number and an import number. If you do not have these numbers,
your broker can make arrangements to get them for you.
When horses are shipped by air, there are
three horses in a container. If you are only shipping one horse,
the shipper in Europe must find two other horses to fill the
container. In my case Felix came from Norway and his flying
partners were two Polish warmbloods from Poland. Imagine the
organizing of time and paper work to have all three horses in
the same place at the same time.
Because Felix is a breeding stallion he was
only allowed a twenty-four hour rest period in Amsterdam. He
left the west coast of Norway on Sunday morning by truck and
arrived in Amsterdam Tuesday evening. He was in the air by
Wednesday morning.
Felix arrived in Canada at 5pm on the Wednesday
and after two hours of signing release forms and a vet check, he
was on the way home. I live another 3 hours away. At this point
he had been traveling for four days and was a very tired young
man! |
I arrived
at the farm at 10 pm with a sealed trailer. On the way home from
the airport, I phoned the government vet on the car phone and
told him of my estimated time of arrival. He was waiting to
release Felix from the trailer. He broke the seal and made sure
Felix was put into his stall. Felix was finally mine, and of
course, there was an over time charge. The cost to get Felix from farm to farm was
$6,400 Canadian for the shipping, fees and paper work in Europe
and $1,400 for the permit fees and services of the broker. $130
was the overtime charge for the Vet to take off the seal on the
trailer. Plus I had many phone calls, faxes and courier expenses
to Europe. I estimate that my total cost at $8,000 Canadian. Over
and above the traveling cost is the quarantine expense.
That started off with a government fee of $350 for stallion
testing. My vet was at the farm 20 times in a 15 week
period for the testing of CEM. Her fee was $1200. Would
I do it again? Not for awhile. But I feel it is
important to bring good breeding stallions into North
America. And I like the challenge. |