Bringing horse over from England

[judybos]

Can any horsy person give me a little advice , I hope to bring my 1/2 irish draught + thorobred over next March,  we have one hectare of pasture and I am slightly worried on the change of grass for him, as our field in France (Dept 16) the grass looks very coarse , he is not a colicky type ,but wonder if I should stagger his grazing till he adjusts to it, I shall be bringing his feed mixes etc till I can find the equivalent over there. Also has any one brought a horse over via the Tunnel rather than ferry ?any feed back would be gratefully accepted.

 

[Lg]

Hi there - good luck is all i can say.

 

don't mean to be doom and gloom, but i brought my horses over 18 months ago, and it just isn't the same in france - nothing is the same, grass, feed, competitions etc - you need to be prepared before your horse arrives.  i didn't need to restrict the grazing, but it wouldn't do any harm for a few days just to be on the safe side.

as for the tunnel rather than the ferry 18 months ago you couldn't bring horses across on the tunnel, i don't know whether things have changed now, check it out.

good luck

julie

[Bex2www.expat-equestrian.com]

Hi

We brought our horses over about 7 months ago,and we brought them over on the ferry so i'm afraid i cant coment on the tunnel.

JUst thought id say although i'm in 22 my horse who haas had several bouts of laminitis and 2 of colic. She has been living out since with no problems! (touch wood)since  we have been here and although we dont have as much land as you she has been fine! But for the first month or so we did section off little  'paddocks' as our grass had been rested for over 2 years! So i would adgree with julie.

As for feed my horse is quite fussy but seems to love the pony nuts which we get here.

Good luck with your move!

Bex

[judybos]

[quote]Hi there - good luck is all i can say. don't mean to be doom and gloom, but i brought my horses over 18 months ago, and it just isn't the same in france - nothing is the same, grass, feed, competi...[/quote]

thanks Julie , you have cheered me up no-end ! although my competition days are over, I just can not leave him behind ,his passage comes before my husbands !! just want to hack him out and enjoy him, hopefully. Will check out about tunnel crossing, did you give your horses any a.c.p before the crossing? as my horse can be quite up-tight in new surroundings.  Thanks judy

[judybos]

[quote]Hi We brought our horses over about 7 months ago,and we brought them over on the ferry so i'm afraid i cant coment on the tunnel. JUst thought id say although i'm in 22 my horse who haas had severa...[/quote]

Thanks Bex, Had your horse had colic and laminitus before the move ? I will restrict his grazing ( greedy buggar ) till he gets used to the change, somebody told me you can get Spillers mixes over there, How much do you pay for Hay ? we shall be in Dept 16 near Champagne Mouton, so will have to check it out.  Judy

 

[Em]

Hi Judybos

I really would not get in a panic about bringing your horse over. Ours are practically commuters and have no problems at all. We do the long crossing to Caen, and they have always travelled brilliantly - no sedation required.

We had a "fattty" arrive back on sunday and turned him out on about 1 acre, and we will monitor his diet to ensure he doesn't o.d. but apart from that, he copes well with change of feed. We find Dodsen and Horrell are the easiest of the UK manufacturers to get hold of here in Normandy, so perhaps you could find out which feeds will be available to you, before you leave UK and get him on to that, so you have one less thing to worry about transporting.

When you get here, visit a local stable to seek recommendations for things like farrier and hay. We have found everyone to be really helpful and friendly. Hay quality is our biggest problem, but we now have a network of good suppliers. Bring wormers and your favourite first aid/medical kit products to see you thru the first months.

One thing I would recommend is using a commercial transporter to take the hassle out of the journey. A shared load is not expensive and will take a large burden out of your hands. We have our own lorry and although I am very experienced driving the horses, I still find it easier to offload the responsibility.

Good luck and have fun and don't forget your passport (for horsey)!!!!!

Em

 

 

 

[Bex2www.expat-equestrian.com]

Hi Judybos

Yes my horse had both colic and laminitis before we came out here, the main cause was stress! They have adapted to life here brilliantly. We buy the big round bales of hay off our local farmer for about 20 Euros but when we first came we had the little bales and they were about 1.50 E . Our Horses didn't need sedating in fact they got more wound up on the hour drive to the port than they did on the ferry and the long drive from Cherbourg. And they didn't have a very good journey as it was a rough crossing and the lorry got a puncture just outside Rennes! Then were jacked up in the garage whilst they fixed it!!!! ANyway not trying to put you off We just had a touch of bad luck!

Good luck

Bex

[Lg]

Hi Judybos

Sorry didn't mean to make you glum !  My horses travelled well and like another forum member said best to let the experts do it if you can.  I didn't give acp or anything else.  One thing you should be aware of which you may not already be, there is a tick disease horses (and dogs) can get here in France called Piroplasmosis.  One of my horses had it recently and its very VERY VERY scary.  If you don't catch it early enoough a horse can die within 4 days - YES 4 days.  The classic signs to look out for are lethargic, slightly wobbly on legs, generally gloomy, high temperature, it goes from there to not eating, sweating and unable to walk.  Apparently the tick attacks the red blood cells causing anaemia etc.  If you handle your horse every day it should be fairly easy to spot.  Unlike dogs, horses cannot be injected against the disease and the only thing you can do is spray insect repellent all over the body to try and prevent the ticks attaching.  Not just any old repellent though, you must get it from the vet.  They use it on cattle too !  Thankfully my horse survived, but it has taken him well over a month to regain full strength and vitality.

Small bales of hay are normally approx 1.40 euro's, but take care the french don't seem to know about ragwort !  I can't get any English make horse feed here in the Loire Valley, but have found a great alternative called Dynavena.  Also our local mill makes a very good mix.

If i can help any more please e mail me [email protected].

Good luck

[Lg]

Hi Judybos

Sorry didn't mean to make you glum !  My horses travelled well and like another forum member said best to let the experts do it if you can.  I didn't give acp or anything else.  One thing you should be aware of which you may not already be, there is a tick disease horses (and dogs) can get here in France called Piroplasmosis.  One of my horses had it recently and its very VERY VERY scary.  If you don't catch it early enoough a horse can die within 4 days - YES 4 days.  The classic signs to look out for are lethargic, slightly wobbly on legs, generally gloomy, high temperature, it goes from there to not eating, sweating and unable to walk.  Apparently the tick attacks the red blood cells causing anaemia etc.  If you handle your horse every day it should be fairly easy to spot.  Unlike dogs, horses cannot be injected against the disease and the only thing you can do is spray insect repellent all over the body to try and prevent the ticks attaching.  Not just any old repellent though, you must get it from the vet.  They use it on cattle too !  Thankfully my horse survived, but it has taken him well over a month to regain full strength and vitality.

Small bales of hay are normally approx 1.40 euro's, but take care the french don't seem to know about ragwort !  I can't get any English make horse feed here in the Loire Valley, but have found a great alternative called Dynavena.  Also our local mill makes a very good mix.

If i can help any more please e mail me [email protected].

Good luck

[Fil]

Hi,

we have brought five horses over in total.  And all travelled well.  We brought four initially via Portsmouth to Cherbourg but had a 260 mile drive before they got to Portsmouth and quite a long wait on the dockside as they allowed for any breakdowns etc and of course did not get any!  But they were fine - came in a friend's lovely big lorry with three people to minister to them.  We left the fifth as he is not a good traveller, on loan to a child who eventually outgrew him (for competing) and he just came over with a professional carrier who was brilliant.  He was on a shared load with another pony and four Clydesdales, and for a very (and I mean very) bad traveller, he was apparently perfect!  I must admit I worried like anything about him, but he stepped off the lorry (last one off) calm as calm could be.  It was Wofford International Transport - look them up on the net - and cost just under £600 but was worth every penny.  Really nice driver who was very horsey himself, not just a driver, and good care - they did all the paperwork etc.  No sedatives needed at all.  And I must reiterate, he is a TERRIBLE traveller - in our Ifor Williams trailer he used to lean on the central partition and try to climb the outer wall.  Scarey.  Needless to say he is not now going anywhere again.  Pity, but there are no suitable competitions here and as someone else said, everything is very different here.  I have been to a competition and could not understand the qualifications for competing in it at all, but it was nice - a ODE.  Feed availability seems to vary alot - we buy Royal Horse here in the Morbihan, but I don't truly like it.  Stopped buying those tiddly little pellets that look like lamb creep feeder when our welsh mountain choked on them.  My husband brings sugar beet over from the UK from time to time.  Hay nice and cheap but the bales are smaller I think than UK ones.  Straw likewise smaller and cheaper - nice for ladies to handle.  Would love to have some Dodson and Horrell feeds.  I can but dream - we do have Spillers available but nothing suitable for old horses or quiet hackin - seems to be all for competing and I am NOT feeding my nice hack on that!  I prefer the quiet life, thankyou!  There is an old horse feed made by Royal Horse, but it is €27 per bag - about £19!  Faint!  If anyone has to go to the UK then I ask them to bring a few bags over as special treat for my horses and feed it very slowly mixed with their normal stuff.  They do look well though.

Grass - we have four hectares and my husband does nothing but top it and it keeps it young and green.  I have never seen anyone round here top anything, and we have the greenest grass in the area.  Slays the weeds well too without putting on too many chemicals.  No-one here does anything much about the either but they can be notifiable so watch out.  Especially chardons (thistles).  As we originally had 2000 apple trees it has taken a long time to turn everything around here.  But our horses seem to do very well on the grass.

Good luck.

Fil

[Mandy Goodwin]

Good luck with bringing your horse over.  I recently had mine transported across back in November by an excellent company called JP International (you can find them on the web).  She was collected from the yard she was at and stabled at their stables in Hythe in Kent until they departed for France.  They kept me updated on the progress and when she would arrive.  When she arrived she was as calm as anything and they said the only bit she was unsure about was the ferry crossing.  However, the luxurious transport she was in she was quite happy! 

They were brilliant and have cctv in the lorries to continually keep an eye on them. 

Don't worry they will travel fine I think I had the colic etc instead of the horse!

In respect of feed I am still having problems trying to find something similar to what I used to feed, so if anyone can help with advice I would be grateful. 

Good luck with France its brilliant (even though it's cold at the moment)

Mandy (19)

 

[cary]

Bought my cob over 2 months ago and used a transport company who charge £350.  It would probably have cost me more to bring her over myself.  We managed to get her in and out of a friends lorry before leaving as she was petrified of horse boxes as the while the previous owner was travelling with her the divide collapsed on her, so i thought she would be a sweaty nervous wreck when she arrived but looked really lovely!  She came over about 4 weeks after me so was in livery and the transport company collected her stabled her at there's over night then bought her over.  The land was not prepared at all so she has just been put on it as it was but now its just mud!  She seems very happy, bought my wormers with me, equest do a year's supply pack for about £50 in england.  The vet sells them but he charges about £20 per 3 months.  got a nice english speaking vet who vaccinated them, them being  i bought a lkittle french pony for company.  Don't find the drivers on our country lanes as accomodating as i expected, some of them still whizz past with no consideration.  If you want the name of the transport company let me know and i'll gladly pass it on.  Only downfall is they don't give you and exact date on transportation, they have about 3 loads a month come over and when they have enought to fill a lorry and can route your way they then give you a day, usually about 2 days before they are coming, i had to nag quite alot and then they rang me and said they would bring her that very same day.

GOOD LUCK, let me know where you are still havn't found any riding partners!

[cary]

Sorry forgot to mention, did find a feed in Magasin vert called Happy chaff that was just like ours, managed to get one bag and now they are really confused about ordering more and are convinced i didn't buy it there! but were still trying.  Thats a spillers feed.  Also the destrier pony club nuts are good, and they also do Showchaff which just has added soya oil for a shinier coat.

[Wicce]

Hi there.   We too used Woffords to bring over a yearling from the U.K.  They were absolutely brilliant, and the driver was so calm I swear it rubbed off on the filly.  Would definitely recommend them.  We had a shared load and it really kept the costs down.

 

Mary