Flying a Horse Across the World

[mills.horses4]

Hello, I currently live in Georgia and I’m interested in flying my one horse to the Netherlands or somewhere near there in Europe. (I’m open to suggestions on places in Europe to live.) I don’t plan on doing it for several years so I’m just gathering information now. So I have several general questions.

1. How much do you think it would cost?

2. How long would it take to plan the flight? (30 day quarantine is average right?)

3. What time of year would be best to do this?

4. What airlines are good?

5. Again, what areas in Europe would you recommend me moving to with my horse? ( I would prefer the North West part of Europe.)

6. What place are the cheapest to live? And the cheapest to board a horse at? (Stable recommendations would be greatly appreciated.)

Do do worry about answering all of the questions, just answer what you know.
Thank You!!

[ladyj79]

You’ll fly into Amsterdam, let’s say 10k, board is relatively cheap in Holland and Belgium. Where you board depends entirely on where you’ll be living.

In my fantasy I live in Portugal because it’s cheaper still :lol:

but where I lived in Belgium our boxes were 350 excluding stall cleaning/hard feed, full care/feed was 450, and my one bedroom apartment in the barn complex was 450, which included laundry and all utilities.

[mills.horses4]

@ladyj79 So you estimate that to total cost of flying my horse would be approximately $10,000? Just making sure.
How did you like Belgium? How’s the weather? Is it ok to just know the English language?
Did you used to live on the states? If so, did you fly a horse there?
Also, are there areas that I should stay away from in the Netherlands?
Thank You for the quick response!

[Kal1]

I can’t comment on flying a horse, but Matt Harnake on YouTube just made a documentary about moving his horse from Australia to Holland. It’s really well made and also gives some insight into the whole process of moving a horse.

[CanteringCarrot]

$10k is about right for the shipping.

The average box price is still in the range that Ladyj mentioned.

If you only speak English, you are better off in Holland than Belgium or Germany in my opinion. You’ll find more English speakers there and the Dutch will hire English speakers and teach Dutch later. They seem more open to that. Belgium and Germany are hit or miss IMO. You’ll be likely to find more English speakers in the big cities. There are also several ex-pat community forums and groups from what I’ve heard.

I like it here, but my next quest is Scotland!

[mills.horses4]

@Kal__ Matt’s documentary series was actually what really inspired me to try and do this. I’d always wanted to but it never really seemed possible for me. When I he announced the series I was hopeful that I could get more information and I did! It helped me a lot but I still have some questions.
@CanteringCarrot Thank you for the advise on that! I will definitely keep that in mind.

I do have another question, would the cost vary for different airlines? Could there be specific airlines that aren’t good?

Thank You!

[gumtree]

I used to buy and arrange shipping for a lot of racehorses. $10,000 is in the price range.

If you don’t want, need the horse to be there on a predetermined date you can save a fair bit of money. It’s called “first available”.

The owner generally has very little to do with arrangements, paperwork etc. You call a shipper they do everything else. The owner pretty just writes the check.

Designated horses flights are, were the cheapest. The whole plane is pretty much used for horses. The shippers can lease the plane and crew and fill it with horses. So if you ask for “first available” they know that have a horse to add to the load. The ones I worked with gave a pretty good idea of what the timing would be. So we could plan accordingly on the other side.

I would bet the racehorse industry is one of the biggest shippers of horses. Especially after the yearling sales on either side of the pond. Though more TB yearlings and breeding stock are bought and shipped to Europe than the other way around. So if you can have your horse shipped around those sales it could save quite a bit of money.

I have been out of that side of my horse business for a while now. So things may have changed a bit. But it was as above for the 20+ years I was involved. I pretty much always used IRT (International Horse Transport).always did a great job and great people to work with. But I am sure there are other with happy customers.

My first trip to England/Ireland in 1983 was on a designated horse flight from upstate NY as a flight groom. 48 horses. Knowing how stupid/silly horses can be I was a little nervous. The horses never blinked. Take off or landing. Not the most comfortable flight I ever took, but it was free ticket. Plus I was moving there so I had a lot of stuff with me. No luggage charge, lol.

[mills.horses4]

@gumtree Thank you for so much information. It was extremely helpful!

[findeight]

If you are moving over there, be sure you check on visas, work permits and such for yourself. The specifics vary between countries but you can’t just move and go get a job. Start checking that out as early as possible to narrow down your choices.

[Libera]

Board will be cheapest in the north, Friesland/Groningen/Drente. If you want to have year round turnout, Drente is a good choice since most of it is sand and there are lots of trails to ride on.

But the south is way more horsey, more/better shows, and reasonable boarding available as well. Brabant/Zeeland/Limburg.

With horses I would stay out of the west (Noord Holland/Zuid Holland). That is where the most jobs are, and the highest wages, but also the least pasture available so little turnout and no trails.

Utrecht is nice and central but also very urban.

If you are hoping to buy your own farm, Germany is a lot cheaper. Land is very expensive in the Netherlands!

[bluepece2]

On a different note, you do know that you need to get paperwork to move over here? It’s not just as easy as deciding where to move and budgeting.
Do you need to ship you horse over?

[mills.horses4]

@findeight Is there a website or person to help you know what’s you get to get done for myseld before I wouldn’t move? Or is what you listed all I would need?
@Libera Thank you for that! That information will be extremely helpful.
@Lucassb I will look into that airline. If young don’t mind me ask asking, did you like Georgia or Europe better and why? Wher did you live in Europe?
@bluepece2
What kind of paperwork would I need? Would I need any for my horse? And yes, I’m taking my horse.

Thank You to every one who took the time to respond!

[Lieslot]

Mills.horses4. It isn’t all that simple.
Start by determining which county you wish to move to. And then decide for how long.
Find yourself an employer who can help you with the necessary visa/immigration paperwork.

Then go to the Embassy of said country and file for a work permit, for which your prospective employer will need to help you thru the papermill.
Without proof or overseas employment arrangement it will be hard to get a work permit and stay beyond the customary tourist visum length of stay.
Once you have that in place, only then would I make arrangements to move the horse.
For the horse contact an international shipper like (irt.com) for example, they can give you details on where to quarantaine your horse or how to get your own facility approved for quarantaine. For Europe I believe it’s 1 month of quarantaine.
The shipper will also arrange the necessary bloodwork & import paperwork, you only have to provide them name of the barn horse has to be dropped off at in Europe.
Like others have said, it’ll be roughly $10k.
Boarding cost in most European countries will be around 350 Euros a month, includes stall, feed & hay.

Of course if you have saved up enough and you don’t need to work overseas you could stay short term on a tourist visum, which will not allow you to work however.

Also insure you cover yourself medically, inquire about health insurances, so you don’t end yourself into a costly scenario if God forbid you get injured or even just when you are sick.
Your employer should be able to arrange such for you.

You can do perfectly fine in English in most European countries, all Scandinavian countries are a good option, Netherlands, west side of Belgium (Flanders), Germany, …

Best of luck, exciting for sure if you plan things carefully.

[bluepece2]

As lieslot said, first you need a job that will give you the right to work in Europe then you can start thinking about everything else. In reality the easiest thing of the whole move would be moving your horse. I would also leave your horse at home for the first few months to make sure you’re happy. It would really suck to have to pay to ship them over then realize that you want to go home then have to ship your horse back again.
i know movies make moving to Europe super easy but it’s not, just like moving to the US. I had job opportunities in the US but they couldn’t give me the job because an American could fill the roles that I was interested in.

[mills.horses4]

@Lieslot @bluepece2 Thank you! That makes a lot of sense. I’ll start looking into it and I do plan on going over there for a while to make sure I like it. Thanks again!

[Libera]

Getting a Dutch visa can be hard. My brother (we were born and raised in the Netherlands) has lived in Thailand for a few years, got married there, and wants to move back to Holland. Despite BEING Dutch, they will not give him and his wife a visa to live there. Even though my parents live there, and are willing to be guarantors, without minimum one year long contract from an employer, he cannot come back. They have almost 200k cash savings to live off of, but they will not let them.
So please, before you make too many plans and assumptions, make sure you can even get a visa!

[IPEsq]

@Libera

Getting a Dutch visa can be hard. My brother (we were born and raised in the Netherlands) has lived in Thailand for a few years, got married there, and wants to move back to Holland. Despite BEING Dutch, they will not give him and his wife a visa to live there. Even though my parents live there, and are willing to be guarantors, without minimum one year long contract from an employer, he cannot come back. They have almost 200k cash savings to live off of, but they will not let them.
So please, before you make too many plans and assumptions, make sure you can even get a visa!

I assume he still has an EU passport? That is crazy! I just got back from horse shopping in these countries and especially with board prices and lovely facilities in some areas, I’m pretty ready (in my mind) to move myself. The whole job thing though…mine doesn’t transfer very easily internationally.

[Libera]

Problem is that there are not very many jobs in Holland that will give you a contract, unless you are very skilled or already employed by a business that is transferring you there…