I’m hoping with the wealth of knowledge on this board someone might have shipped a horse to or from Hawaii. I’m thinking about possibly shipping my horse with me when I go in a year but I would obviously need to budget that and make sure all of his health certs etc are good to go and meet requirements. I haven’t been able to google anything incredibly useful so hoping you all can help!
Okay, well, from the first page of Google results ;):
Transport company, with pricing: http://www.hawaiian-transport.com/
This is by boat, you of course have to get the horse to CA first, so factor in the shipping across land as well.
Flying has to be done out of CA too, for most companies, so that cross-country transport is going to pretty much be a given.
I priced out flying a year or two ago, and it was closer to $4k/horse instead of $2k-ish for the boat. Since I was shipping multiples, the boat route made far more sense. Here’s a company that does the flight route: http://pacificairlift.com/
Most are just getting you to the big island, then you have to get your horse where it needs to go from there, there are a lot of local transport companies that can help with that. The people running the boarding barns there are also pretty familiar with everything…there are a lot of pretty serious reiners and hunter/jumper types there, who are used to moving between the islands, as well as back to the mainland US, whether competing or when buying new horses.
I seriously considered it for a while before realizing I couldn’t really find a serious job in my field there. It’s still a little bit of a “maybe in retirement!” dream, though! I’m coming from the expensive east coast, but even considering that most everything has to be shipped in, the boarding is remarkably affordable!
Obviously I fail at google or work filtered that out, it’s entirely possible. Thanks for the details. I would likely opt for the flight just because my horse gets antsy and the shorter option would be best for him. I noticed a lot of QH people when I was doing some of my googling. I was thinking about selling my guy and buying a QH there. Decisions…
Work does indeed filter it out so I will check the link when I’m home 
I read an article a while ago in which a military family chose to send their horses back to the mainland from Hawaii by ship rather than air when they learned that they had to sign a euthanasia release for the horses to fly. But they also noted that going via ship was much less expensive than by air.
I’m not sure which route I’d pick. Both have pros and cons.
A friend of ours moved to Hawaii 5 1/2 years ago with 2 horses. They had some vaccinations that had to be given at specific times before, health cert, coggins, and we had to spray them both down with some spray 24 hours before the flight. I drove them down to LA to catch the 11pm load time at LAX. It was our 2 and then 8 quarter horses. Flight only went once a month, and was horses and cargo. I know it wasn’t cheap and they had a short quarantine and got sprayed down again once they unloaded in Hawaii. I can find out the name of the shipping company if you want from my friend. I know they were the ones that walked them through all the vet and quarantine requirement.
That would be awesome! I did find some much more useful information at home but a company recommendation is always welcome!
Unless you really, really like your horse, I would recommend selling and buying something else in Hawaii. Having lived in Hawaii and shipped stuff (not horses) there, it gets very expensive fast.
Try to avoid the inter-island transport by ship. Owners/caretakers are not allowed to accompany the horses and bad things can happen. A friend from California almost lost her horse because his water spilled sometime during the 23-hour trip (from Honolulu to Kona) and no one noticed. I don’t know whether this applies to Trans-pacific shipping or not.
It’s also true that once your horse is there, supplies are way more expensive than you may expect. Grass hay, grain, bedding pretty much all have to ship from the mainland so there’s a very significant markup. Check with horse owners/boarding facilities before you decide.
I would guess you’re going to Oahu because you’re military, but should you be going to Big Island, I have a cautionary tale for you. One of my homebreds lives there and because of the “volcanic fog” developed serious breathing problems. This was a healthy young horse with no apparent susceptibility but it affected him in a bad way. The breathing problems are believed to be permanent.
Thanks Ironwood, I’ve been debating it pretty much daily since we received our follow on assignment, heck who knows, I could get diverted anyways. It seems that Arabians aren’t very popular over there…
HP, I will be on Oahu thanks for the forewarning!
Your flight would come into Honolulu. So no inter island transport.
There are several stables on the North Shore that that have a lot of turn out with grass, not always available on other coasts. It is also a fairly easy run from Hickam, at the right time of day. Time of day is very important.
Feed costs are high. There are some good vets, and some good farriers.
Jeloushe-Is/Was the “jumping percheron” Air force?
Yes, merrygoround she was/is. I have been reading her blog this morning and love her ponies! I noticed you said feed costs are high, the few prices I’ve found for boarding have been really low. Do you know if it’s customary for feed to not be included? I know here I average $500 a month full board somewhere but I was finding published pricing no higher than $300 on Oahu.
When I was in Hawaii (I have only vacationed there, quite a bit, but never lived there), some horse people told me there’s a poisonous grass there that is really bad for horses … I don’t remember much about it but it is a concern I think. Others can probably fill in the details on that.
I love Hawaii but I might try to buy/lease instead of importing. Maybe your horse could sit in a field for a year or two on the mainland, get a horse in Hawaii, and then when your assignment changes you could have your horse back. It would probably cost the same as importing one and then moving it back somewhere.
There are a lot of horses on the Big Island … great trail riding there, too. I think most are QHs, but there was a warmblood stable outside of Honolulu as I recall, and someone was selling a warmblood out of there at the time. So you might be able to buy.
I have a friend that retired to the Big Island. She was going to ship her QH but decided against it. Native bred horses just handle island life much better than the mainlanders. The horses she bought were fairly inexpensive and handled the terrain (lots of hidden lava rock) and grasses very well.
And yes, as everyone says, it is paradise but it comes at a big expense.
I met her. She boarded at Wheeler.
Yes, most places have owners buy the additional feed. I’m not familiar with boarding costs out towards Waimanolo, but T/O is rare, and the commute would be a killer. North Shore ran around $300 IIRC, but several places had full time T/O, in individual paddocks of varying sizes.
Perhaps you might consider leasing out your horse while you are stationed OCONUS?
I’m not keen on leasing. I’d probably let him sit in a field on rough board before leasing unless we found an amazing fit locally or with a barn my current trainer recommended. I know you have Arabian connections. I am all ears if you have suggestions, he’s currently listed for sale now but I’m in no rush to either sell or lease and I know you’ve seen my boy
I’m fascinated that someone with a horse might be moving to HI. Are you at Eglin or Hurlburt? My husband was at Hurlburt for many years. We met near the end of his time there, I didn’t have a horse then. All though he had been warned of my horsey obsession many times.
We’re both stationed at Eglin. I love it here, it’s a slice of horsey paradise without the expense of south Florida! My husband swears I didn’t tell him I was into horses before we got married haha! I have my horse up in Baker and he stays in full training since AD life can be unforgiving on my horsey time.
