Just curious, what does it cost to fly a horse to various parts of the world. Seems to me it is being done more and more. I have a few examples in mind. In general what does it cost to
Ship from CA to the East Coast
Ship from KY to Japan
Ship from East Coast to Dubai
Do they try to arrange groups going over?
Thanks for your help.
I can tell you in 2007 I flew 3 horses from Edmonton to Toronto and it was right around the 15,000. mark. including shipping from the tracks to the airport. I had to buy the whole shipping pallet , so the price remained the same for 1 or 3. I believe it is cheaper to fly horses in the US
In the US the key player in the horse flight segment: Tex Sutton’s Air Horse One - Sutton Forwarding
From that link you can even track their flights.
An old article from Sports Illustrated: March 14, 1988 - Horses That Really Can Fly
Each year Sutton transports nearly 3,000 horses in his leased jet. John Henry, Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, Foolish Pleasure, Affirmed and Alydar are all among his former passengers. In fact, of the last 21 Kentucky Derby winners, 17 arrived in the Bluegrass State on a Sutton plane.
Sutton charges about $3,200 for a one-way ticket from New York to California if the plane, which holds 18 horses, is fully booked. The fewer horses there are on board, the higher the fee. Occasionally a good horse will fly cross-country alone—at a cost of about $37,000. Sutton’s business grosses close to $6 million annually.
Tex Sutton is a big player in horse shipping by air but believe it or not, the biggest player is Fed Ex. Price definitely changes based upon the number on board.
My boss flew a couple from fl to ca this year and I think it was around 2800-3000.
Business Week Apr 12, 2012: “Air-Freighting Animals: A Most Lucrative Game”
Lufthansa flies three horses from Frankfurt to New York for about $5,248 per beast. By contrast, it can cost as little as $880 to ship a conventional package of similar weight across the Atlantic.
Cargo chief Ram Menen says Emirates’ equine flights have included one from Sydney, Australia, to Stewart International Airport in the Hudson Valley, home to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s New York Animal Import Center, which was the longest flown by Emirates at 18 hours, 15 minutes.
Using a Boeing (BA) 777 freighter, the service carried 16 horses for breeders, earning “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for the single run.
A little off-topic, but I was actually working at Fed Ex the afternoon a guy and a girl from New Zealand flew in after quarantining at LAX. They were enroute to the Rolex 3DE, both to compete. The girl (I don’t recall her name) wanted to sell her horse while in the States. The guy was Nick Larkin, who with his horse Red, went on to win Rolex that first year it was 4*. Fed Ex does ship a lot of animals, not just horses.
[QUOTE=realrush89;6711393]
A little off-topic, but I was actually working at Fed Ex the afternoon a guy and a girl from New Zealand flew in after quarantining at LAX. They were enroute to the Rolex 3DE, both to compete. The girl (I don’t recall her name) wanted to sell her horse while in the States. The guy was Nick Larkin, who with his horse Red, went on to win Rolex that first year it was 4*. Fed Ex does ship a lot of animals, not just horses.[/QUOTE]
Fedex is known to ship from the US to overseas - for slaugher for human consumption (they do it a lot).
Well Fed Ex ships horses for their owners to do whatever they wish with them. It’s not like they are going out and buying horses at New Holland to shop to slaughter. I don’t see how shipping a live horse for slaughter by air could be remotely cost effective.
Think Fedex ships draft horses to Japan for slaughter. Seems to be the preferred horse meat.
[QUOTE=jennywho;6711157]
My boss flew a couple from fl to ca this year and I think it was around 2800-3000.[/QUOTE]
Then he got an incredible deal because that is not much more than a van ride costs using a box stall and a quality company with a layover.
I was quoted $4000 a few years ago Los Angeles to Lexington because they needed to fill a pallet but what I have heard is more like $7000 just calling a shipper up. But for me, I would need to have a favorite in a bigtime stake to justify the extra expense.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;6713948]
Well Fed Ex ships horses for their owners to do whatever they wish with them. It’s not like they are going out and buying horses at New Holland to shop to slaughter. I don’t see how shipping a live horse for slaughter by air could be remotely cost effective.[/QUOTE]
My first thought is that if that truly happens, it must be like the coffee that takes a trip through an elephant and costs $500 a bag. I’m pretty sure shipping to Japan is a low five figure ship for live animals. If the idea is meat, why not slaughter them in Canada and ship the dressed carcass Vancouver to Tokyo? It’s gotta be cheaper unless there is a compelling reason not to do that. Does Kobe beef come here on the hoof?
[QUOTE=Pronzini;6714497]
Then he got an incredible deal because that is not much more than a van ride costs using a box stall and a quality company with a layover.
I was quoted $4000 a few years ago Los Angeles to Lexington because they needed to fill a pallet but what I have heard is more like $7000 just calling a shipper up. But for me, I would need to have a favorite in a bigtime stake to justify the extra expense.[/QUOTE]
We’ve shipped Kentucky to SoCal a few times we’ve paid in the 4-5K range. A friend paid 8K round trip for Louisville to Monmouth, so as others have said, the price is dependent upon how quickly you need to go and how many others are making the same trip.
To whoever thumbs downed my post, just google: Draft horses + meat + Japan
or sashimi (raw horse meat delicacy).
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