Foursocks: your experience sounds very similar to ours. We found so many good quality, lovely young horses here but if they had 1 - 2 years old successful show experience with the potential to move up and were healthy etc. they were out of our price range. The fact that they were fragmented all over the place surely didn’t help since we too are trying to fit the horse shopping into an already very busy schedule. We did fly several places and the time and $$ it took is really unbelievable. Unfortunately, the cost of raising, training and obtaining a show record in this country is very expensive and it makes sense that it will have an impact on the overall price. It’s a serious dilemma for breeders and individuals just trying to sell their horses :(.
[QUOTE=foursocks;8392797]
If you have a big budget you can find oodles of lovely horses here in the States- homebreds and imported. If you don’t, you end up needing to either luck out or change your parameters. I found several young jumpers who I would have loved to take home, who fit perfectly into what I was looking for- but I could not afford their price tag. My own horse would not have been affordable for me had he been here instead of Argentina. I went down there and rode all day long, every day, for five days. There were videos and pictures before I came so I had a short list, and I got to ride the ones I liked every day, and try new ones at their farm and other places, too. Where can you find that in the States?
The one I ended up buying was on the higher end of my budget, including import, but he was still WAAAAY cheaper than anything I was finding back home. It’s a shame, but it’s the truth.[/QUOTE]
This is exactly it! I was lucky enough to find a horse here in the states, that I am super happy with, but it took a LOT of work to find him. That was mostly because each place I visited had maybe 1 or 2 horses to look at. After that I’d be off to the next place and so on. One weekend I was in three states in three days!
I can totally see why a lot of people will travel abroad so they can see a large amount of horses in close proximity. Spending a few $k to travel to Europe for 5 days will get you many more horses to try than spending 5 days in the US.
[QUOTE=TSWJB;8148596]
I have no idea who she is using. This is the price she told me. I don’t think she is getting the horse vetted because she bought it at an auction and I believe it includes quarantine.![/QUOTE]
I think the $7500 is strictly the shipping cost. The quarantine is a separate cost and has to be done stateside, not at the auction. I think in NYC, I was quoted $300/ day for quarantine cost. All total my costs would be 10,000 to US including quarantine costs and $2000 give or take to ship from NYC to me. That doesn’t include any extra in case something should go wrong and I need added vet care. Or the insurance.
I’m purchasing in the spring so I’ve been researching this part of the financial equation. I’m lucky in that my coach has a great contact in Europe so I feel safe spending my money there.
[QUOTE=Sueby;8393094]
I think the $7500 is strictly the shipping cost. The quarantine is a separate cost and has to be done stateside, not at the auction. I think in NYC, I was quoted $300/ day for quarantine cost. All total my costs would be 10,000 to US including quarantine costs and $2000 give or take to ship from NYC to me. That doesn’t include any extra in case something should go wrong and I need added vet care. Or the insurance.
I’m purchasing in the spring so I’ve been researching this part of the financial equation. I’m lucky in that my coach has a great contact in Europe so I feel safe spending my money there.[/QUOTE]
I imported my guy from Germany in late August and used Tim Dutta’s services. He flew through Amsterdam into JFK and did 3 days of quarantine (gelding) in NY. The cost was around $6600 including the transport from his home stable in Germany to the airport in Amsterdam & quarantine in NY. They handled all the paperwork, vet services, groom on the flight, and quarantine arrangements for that price.
There was an additional charge for the shipping down to me in GA after he was released from quarantine, but I can’t recall exactly how much it was. For sure, under $1000. He arrived looking great and he was not stressed at all.
