Importing horses

[forwardgoing]

I'm considering buying two horses and bringing them by a specialist UK based horse transport company together from Hungary to UK, and was wondering if any on here have done anything similar? I've been looking into recommended transport, vets and documentation but what do you think are the pitfalls for the novice at this?

Btw dealers in UK don't seem to import the type we are looking for, which are not warmbloods.

I know plenty of people who have imported from the Netherlands and Germany and have moved my horses from the UK to France.

Assuming you have satisfied yourself that the seller is genuine, that the horses are as described and you have had your own, independent vetting, I would leave the transport issues to the transporter. Make sure the horses are well insured as soon as you buy them, they should have microchips and passports, and the transporter will sort the rest.

Take a lot of advice on transporters. I have a horrific experience with LOC.

Thanks Booboo, for the advice on transporters.

We haven't found the horses yet, we are planning a trip to Hungary in the next few months and if we find what we want we will go back there once the sale is agreed and one of us will hope to accompany them back to UK. What we don't want is to get caught with not having done the right checks or paperwork and find that we get held up at some point by something we didn't know about. Language might be a problem too?

Are you able to be more specific about your LOC experience?

You don't need to go with the horses and indeed I am not sure a professional transporter would accept you on board.

I would imagine an English speaking vet would not be impossible to find. Have you got any breeders in mind for what you want? Get in touch in advance to see if they speak English or arrange for a friend to be present to help out? Might be worth posting on Horse and Houn, someone is bound to have imported from Hungary.

I will PM you about LOC because they complain about anything negative and threads get deleted.

Some of the companies I have looked at say they will accommodate accompanying people, for instance I think racehorses often have grooms travelling with them.

I was meaning travelling in convoy in a separate vehicle if it is suggested that it is a good idea.

Oh I see. I can't see any reason to follow the horsebox. It would be a miserably slow journey. Decent transporters use technology to let you track them and update on progress.

Oh tracking sounds good, I shall ask about that. Thanks.
I should probably not hover and just let them get on with it