Another vote for John Parker. He takes care of all the paperwork; fantastic lorries, great communication and extremely professional. Horses always arrive relaxed and in good condition.

We have used LOC and P&L Luck from Europe and both have been fantastic - couldn't have taken any more care and sorted everything.

Parker's are excellent from farther afield I understand - I didn't arrange it but my filly came over with them from the US year before last as a weanling and, although tired and somewhat headshy, she was fine in a few days.

Watch the grass - mejopa is correct, start them slowly then, hopefully, all will be well!

Good Luck with it all.

J

John Parker bought a horse over for me from Germany 2 yrs ago and recently a mare from Vienna, they were brilliant, the day she should of come over on the ferry the French were on strike so John Parker stabled her at their facilities over there. She arrived
in England looking really well, it only cost £700 from Vienna, so very pleased, definately recommend them.

I'd recommend LOC everytime. They import export horses around the world all the time and do the paperwork etc for you. Liz is very friendly, very professional. All her drivers are horse people first, drivers second, so if there are any problems they will spot them and sort them out for you. No bashed tails or illness going unnoticed with this company. www.lochorsetransport.com

Hi,

I used Nedpoint and John Parker for importing my 2 year old mule, and they were great.

Import duty and VAT were all settled by the agent in Amsterdam, and I paid John who paid him.

Unfortunately Moon developed shipping fever (a very horrible pleuropneumonia that has a mortality of 10-50%, sad to affect up to 10% of equines travelling long distance) so although she arrived in excellent bodily condition, we had to go straight into intensive veterinary treatment - she did fine, thank goodness, and recovered very quickly. On the basis that the risk factors for pleuropneumonia are things that one really cannot avoid when flying horses (e.g. stress; heads tied so they cannot drop head to floor - well you can't have loose mule on a 747...!!!!) I don't think it reflects on the carriers at all - it was bad luck. There was a lot of turbulence on her flight and although she outwardly coped fine, it cannot have been a pleasant experience for her (thus more stress than average flight perhaps). But it is something to be aware of - long distance travel is not risk free for the horse and you have to be very vigilant when they arrive.

Because Moon got shipping fever, a contact of mine who imported a mule from Texas a couple of moths after Moon arrived, decided to use International Racehorse Transport who flew directly into the UK, thus cutting travel time down by 24 hours and eliminating the Amsterdam-UK leg. This would cost more in VAT for an expensive animal, (as I understand it, VAT is charged at the rate applicable to the country in the EU the animal enters) which is I think why Luxemburg or Amsterdam are favoured as entry points. She seemed very happy with IRT.

Insurance is tricky. Mortality insurance is easy, John Parkrs can arrange, although I sorted it out myself with the same company - and you can insure for the cost of the animal AND the import costs, and it is a 60-day policy - but I could not find vets fees cover. I started Moon's Pet Plan policy 14 days before she arrived in Europe (the limit of their geographical limits) with the intention of her having medical & accident vets fees cover at the first possible moment - they initially refused to pay her vets bill from the pneumonia on the basis that they said her cover was not actually valid until her feet hit UK soil, but when I queried this they changed their mind straight away. Whether it was because I pointed out the 14-day illness exclusion is specified as to exclude pre-exiting conditions, and I can prove she was healthy on examination the day the policy started (vet check on arrival in EU)... or whether it was because I cc'd the letter to Pet Plan's director whom I know, I am not sure, but to their credit they were on the phone within a few hours of the letter arriving with them and a cheque followed the next day.

Hope this is of some use,

good luck!

We used IRT to fly Montana from Aus in 2006 and found them very informative and helpful. Did all the paperwork for us and we picked him up from the airport ourselves - the lady even stayed behind to help with the dodgy lights on our trailer at around 11pm at night! They also brough with them his many rugs that we left with him in Aus. Would recommend them anytime and he flew straight too. And stepped off the contained looking well and happy.

Post edited by: michelle_towers, at: 2008/04/10 19:58