Purchasing/transporting a horse from Canada

Oh, and have you asked the burritos their opinion of a new friend? :rofl: :laughing:

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I just saw this :laughing: Argie will be mad. He is not a horse fan, though he’s chummy enough with the 30 yo to be in the same stall with him and Odie. Odie won’t care.

Quick update, I passed on the mare due to risk with a performance career of any sort affecting QOL even as a broodmare later, so I’m proceeding with her newly weaned (as of yesterday) sister. The mare went class 1 at inspection, with good marks! Seller asked if she could send pictures or if it would be rude and I told her to send them away - she looked amazing and I’m bummed but that’s horses. Now we wait on the PPE for the baby!

Makes the transport trickier as far as horse management goes, my plan was go up on a Sunday and spend the night with the mare drop boarded at a facility at a halfway point, then leave very early Monday morning, but now I think I will bed the heck out of the trailer, which converts to a giant box, and leave the filly in it overnight and leave extra very early. Babies are dumber and the facility I contacted will only offer an outside run, no stall, which would be fine for a big mare used to the weather, but not a weanling with baby fluff and a head full of upset and bad ideas. I will ask if I can park the trailer there tho, either that or padlock it at a hotel, which just sounds awful but…

Which would be less upsetting? No horse noises nearby or horse noises she can’t see nearby? She’s a big baby, so I’m going to do my best to get ulcergard into her but I don’t want to get into a rodeo in a confined space in a strange place by myself.

ETA typo

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Sorry to hear about the mare but the weanling sounds promising.

Personally I would feel safer leaving the trailer at the stable over the hotel parking lot.

Better yet I would find a friend or family member( or 2 ) and drive it straight through in shifts???

Nobody you know is up for an adventure???

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sigh

It’s the timing too; we would be sitting somewhere for hours regardless. Vet checks are only available M-F 9-4, so driving straight through even after a late afternoon meet up to give the seller time to get back home will put us at the border waaaaay before it opens for animal inspections.

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Well, if she wants you to buy her horse/weanling/equid of any age or size, she may have to spend the night somewhere so you can make the border vet!
As for drive-sharing, it’s something I‘ve done a few times, but the semantics might be the issue 🤷🏻🤔
Just a thought…

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I’m trying to remember the timing. How far is the seller from the border and how far from the border to your place? Could you load early Monday morning, get to the border at a reasonable time and then drive straight home?

The seller is about 13 hours from me, with the Canadian Rockies to contend with unless I change my travel and lengthen the trip. The seller is willing to meet me at a location that is 5 hours from her, so she’s still looking at a 10 hour day. That location is still eight hours from home and includes the border inspection. I don’t want to grossly inconvenience the seller but I also want to keep the baby safe.

If anyone has better thoughts, I’d definitely hear it! Sometimes I don’t see the woods for the trees, I know this about myself. My Dad said I should have her come straight south instead of west and meet me somewhere near the Idaho border, but either way I have mountain passes and it actually makes both of us drive longer. I’m paying the seller for her part of the trip.

ETA I didn’t answer the actual questions :laughing: I’m only 2 hours from the nearest usda border crossing, the seller is 11+ hours. She has offered for me to come directly to her all the way and leave early, and that’s a LONG day but I’m beginning to think it’s the better option. I am just a ninny about driving a trailer in the snow, and I also don’t like the idea of getting no sleep, leaving at 3am, hitting even a small amount of traffic, and missing our vet check appt at the border.

Additional ETA: I could punch south and cross at Eastport, ID, less chance of not making the border in time but ohhhh boy that trip sure looks like I’m riding the Rockies the whole damn way versus crossing them and then I absolutely will need to stop for the night and make the trip in two legs, without another nine to go AND the Cascades to cross.

I would do the Idaho crossing with the majority of the travel from there on the valley floor of Hwy 2/95 to I 90. That gets you out of the mountains in BC . Cascades on I 90 is far easier remember it is more downhill than up

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This is what I’d do, given the new information.
I remember the trip a few years ago to and from Montana along that route, and wondering when we were going to get to the mountains :upside_down_face:

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Well I posted on a FB Horse Transport page and pretty sure I’m already getting scammers…

This is such a mess. You can’t find another horse of equal caliber in the US ??

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Not for bloodlines already represented, for more, farther away.

You could check in with your usda vet inspection. I’ve had vets come after hours to look at a horse for an additional fee.

If you’re looking for a reputable shipper good at handling young horses and reasonable rates contact Equine Transport Inc- Shawn Armitage. He transported 2 yearling out to Alberta for us this summer and I’ve used him for weaklings previously.

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Poor weaklings :laughing:

I checked in, that’s how I know the hours (which were not posted anywhere I could find). I had a very grumpy person on the phone, the thought they might be willing to come after hours is… Yeah I doubt it. He sounds like a retired vet getting some federal dollars to supplement his retirement income, and he didn’t sound inclined to stay late or return. In fact he told me to be sure I made an appt because if they don’t have appts, they leave the for the day and then there’s no one. Charming.

Best horse transport to ask questions of (or use) if that’s what you’re now thinking is Foothills ……they’ve been around for many years and know exactly what you’ll need at the border etc! This is who everyone out here uses if we don’t have our own transportation

https://www.foothillshorsetransport.com/

I’m actually going to save some transport fees and brokerage fees by hopping over the border and bringing her across myself. I’m less than two hours from the closest usda crossing so it’s not a problem.

The vet check is occurring now :crossed_fingers:t4:

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BABY HORSE PASSED

Of course but still. Vet said she was very nice physically and commented on manners and personality. He told me that he had felt all four legs and picked up her feet, then wanted to go look at something again after she had been turned loose and he picked up her feet again.

The seller sent me this :purple_heart: They grey is actually the bio-mom, but the baby was an ET baby so she was put with mom and others when she was weaned.

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oh she’s super cute!

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Ya, I definitely think you need to get lost on the way home and have to drop her off on Vancouver Island to come live with my IDSH :sweat_smile: :rofl: :joy: :rofl: :laughing:

Congratulations, by the way!