Planning for 2014

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. We certainly did here at EZ 2 Spot Ranch. Now it is time to look ahead as the New Year is rapidly approaching. We are excited about 2014 and expect it to be an amazing year. We are gathering horses now for January quarantine groups to Dammam (Saudi Arabia), Doha (Qatar), Luxembourg (Luxembourg) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). Spaces are currently available in each group and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Let us know if you have horses for any of these destinations and we will be happy to reserve the spaces for you.

A Great Year is Coming to An End with Successful Shipments to Libya, the EU and Saudi Arabia

This has been an amazing month ... and its only half way over! Wow! Thank you so much to our great clients for allowing us the opportunity to work with you and your horses. We appreciate each of you. So far this month, we have completed the following shipments: Tripoli, Libya - Sami Bugaighis's lovely Arabian horses left for Libya on December 2nd. They arrived safely and everything went well with their shipment. Thank you to David Notman and Quinten Wiersma for taking care of the horses on their journey. Sami, we can't wait til the next shipment to Libya. Thank you again for sharing your horses with us. Dammam, Saudi Arabia - On December 6th, we had the privilege of shipping beautiful Arabian horses to Ahmed Al Nasser, Yasser Alhafenawi, Yousef Al Rashid, Mugaid Al Otaibi, Mohammed Jonan and Ghassan Al Sadiq. Thank you, gentlemen, for sharing your horses with us. Thank you also to Kevin Mahoney, Rebecca Finberg and Pieter Visser for flying with the horses and making sure that everything went well on the flights. You are much appreciated. Amsterdam, the Netherlands - Also on December 6th we were honored with the opportunity to fly some amazing horses of various breeds, including some very precious American Miniature horses to Amsterdam. Thank you, Linn Andersson of Sweden, Petra van den Berg of the Netherlands, Dirk de Baets of Belgium, Egbert Tiemann of Germany, Dr. Gert Jan de Groot of the Netherlands, Rami Aama of Bethlehem, Israel and Leonardo Hernandez of Spain for sharing your horses with us. Thank you also to Sabrina Bos of Horse Service International and Rob Veen of World Animal Transport for taking care of the paperwork on the arrival side. Your kind assistance is greatly appreciated. Dammam, Saudi Arabia - Our second shipment to Saudi Arabis this month is in process now. Another lovely group of Arabian mares have arrived safely in Amsterdam and will fly to Dammam, Saudi Arabia tomorrow. Thank you to Dhafer Al Qahtani, Othman Alsurab, Waleed Al Anazi and Fuwad Al Zumaya for sharing your horses with us. Thanks also to Mohammed Ibrahim for facilitating the process for Mr. Al Anazi and Mr. Al Zumaya. And thank you to our grooms, Christian Barraza, Guillermo Rosado and Pieter Visser for making sure that the horses were safe and well throughout their journey. Our last flights for 2013 will go out next week. Marcus Behrendt and Yoanne Corre will have horses flying to Luxembourg and Kerim Talamas will have horses flying to Amsterdam. Thank you in advance to our grooms, Marcus Behrendt, Ellen May and Brittany Barclay for taking care of the horses during their travels. 2013 has been a great year for us here at EZ 2 Spot Ranch and we want to again take this opportunity to thank all our great clients for making it that way. We are excited about new adventures that will come our way in 2014. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us here at EZ 2 Spot Ranch!

Thank You!

At this time of year, we are thinking of all the wonderful blessings that have come into our lives over the past year - and we want to say Thank You to all our wonderful clients, friends and colleagues all over the world who have made our lives so special and have helped our business thrive. Thank you all so very much! Last week we had two very successful shipments to the EU and to Saudi Arabia. Special thanks to Lisa Berberich of the UK, Sophie Monchichourt of France, Eliane Noten Jongbloed of Belgium, Joerg Kuisl of Germany, Kay Broad of the UK, Berengere Dubost of France, Hans Silvius of the Netherlands, Florence Perriaux of France, Toni and Bjoern Kurzrock of Germany, Dr. Georg Wogerbauer of Austria, Eva Rubin of Sweden and Paul Schockemuhle of Germany for sharing your horses with us. Many thanks also to Hans Silvius, Florence Perriaux and Julie and Waco Richards for accompanying these lovely horses to Amsterdam. Thanks also to Saeed Alkhaldy, Manea Abu Saq, Dhafer Al Qhatani and Ghassan Al Sadiq for sharng your beautiful Arabian horses with us. And thank you to Pieter Visser for flying with them to Dammam. Tomorrow Megan will accompany a very nice group of Arabian mares to Amsterdam and then on to Kuwait. Many thanks to Adel Alkendari, Mousa Al Mansour and Mohammed Aldousri for sharing your mares with us. Upcoming flights are scheduled for departure on December 6th, 13th and 18th. And we are starting new quarantine groups for early January flights. Some spaces are still available, so let us know what we can do for you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Horses Arrived Safely in Doha

We are happy to report that our most recent shipment to Doha, Qatar went well and the horses arrived safely on Friday.  Many thanks to Noora Mohammed and Mohammed Abdullah Abdulmalik for sharing your horses with us.  We look forward to working with you again in the future.

Thank you to our grooms, Henry Quintanilla and Hans van Dijk for taking good care of the horses during the trip. 

Upcoming shipments this month include groups of horses going to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Kuwait City, Kuwait.  We have just started a new quarantine group for Tripoli, Libya and will be starting new quarantine groups for Amsterdam, Luxembourg, and Dammam again in the coming weeks.  We do have a few spaces available in upcoming shipping groups. so let us know what we can do to help you.  Spaces are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Lots of News!!!

Sorry it has been such a long time since I've posted a update.  So many new things to report!!!

  Recent Shipments

  Many thanks to Othman Alsurab, Ahmed Al Olait, Abdulrahman Al Maglouth, Ali Al Kater, Saeed Al Khaldy and  Mohammed Al Amer for sharing your beautiful Arabian mares with us and allow us to deliver them to Dammam for you last week.  Thank you, Quinten and Megan for flying as grooms.  Terry enjoyed your company and appreciated your assistance.

Thanks to Elena Chistyakova, Antoniette Rijntjes, Marlonne van Zelst,Anneke Sholte Albeo and Hein Marsch, Geert Kesteloot,Andre Hunger, Cornelia Schneider and Christine Zeitelhack for sharing your precious minis with us.  It was my personal pleasure to fly with them to Amsterdam and to meet some of you at the airport.

And, last but not least, thanks to Friederike Gitzel and Paul Schockemuhle for sharing your horses, donkeys and mules with us who arrived in Amsterdam yesterday.  Thanks to Phil Pelch for flying as their groom.

We have horses going to Doha, Qatar this week, Dammam, Saudi Arabia next week and Amsterdam the week after next.  More details about those shipments will follow.

We are currently gathering horses for our next shipments to Libya, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Amsterdam - so let us know if you can use a space in a container to any of those destinations.  Spaces are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Website

Have you seen our new website?  We are so proud of it,  Many thanks to Alicia Ross of the Branding Arsenal for the great job you did in creating this for us.  It is very user friendly, and includes a translation button and a fillable form for inquiries.  Please stop by and take a look.  And be sure to like us on Facebook.

New  Team Members

We are very happy to welcome the Erter family to the EZ 2 Spot Ranch team.  Chris and Heather and their son Samuel have officially joined our staff today.   We look forward to a long and happy relationship with them as they help us help our clients with the very best possible care for their equines.

AMHA World Show

Megan, Terry and I all had a great time at the AMHA World Show in Fort Worth in late September and early October.  What a treat it was to visit with so many of our miniature horse clients and to meet new friends.

AQHA World Show

The AQHA World Show is coming up soon.  Let us know if you plan to buy a horse at the sale and we will be happy to pick up for you in Oklahoma City.

That's all the news for now.  I'll be back in touch again soon.

Best regards,

Dianne

Catching Up on Our Latest Shipments!

Wow!  We have been so busy that I haven't had a minute to sit down and bring you all up to date on our latest shipments.  So finally ... here's what we've been up to lately.

Last week we had the pleasure of shipping a nice group of  beautiful Arabian mares to Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  Many thanks to Abdullah, Mesfer, Mohammed, Bandar and Faisal for sharing your lovely horses with us.  And, as always, many thanks to Dhafer for all the help you provided.  Thanks also to Brian, Kyle and Piet for flying with the horses and making sure that they were safe and healthy throughout their journey.

This week we are happy to announce that we have a group of lovely Arabian fillies on their way to Kuwait.  Thank you, Sheikh Hamad for sharing them with us!

And we also have some precious mules on their way to France.  Thank you, Stefan, for choosing EZ 2 Spot Ranch as your quarantine facility.  It was such a pleasure working with you and your your animals.  Thank you also to Jeff and Piet for flying with the animals and making sure that everything goes well throughout the trip.

We are looking forward to upcoming shipments to Mumbai and Amsterdam.

We have just started a new quarantine group for minis that will be flying to Amsterdam in October and another group of Arabian mares that will be leaving for Dammam, also in October.

We are gathering horses now for our next quarantine groups to Amsterdam, Kuwait City, Johannesburg and Dammam and we have spaces available - so let us know what we can do for you and we will get to work!

Terry and I will be at the AMHA World Show in Fort Worth, TX from September 26th through October 5th, and we will pick up and haul minis from the show to our facility free of charge.  Our trailer will be leaving Fort Worth on the 27th and again on the 5th.  Just let us know what we can do for you.  And please stop by to say hello at the booth, come in and chat with us, enjoy a snack and make yourself at home.  We will be offering free Question and Answer sessions periodically throughout the show along with  informative brochures and a slide show that explains the process of exporting minis from the USA.  We will also be giving away a limited number of coupons for discounts on future shipments.

Our website is still under construction, so please feel free to contact us by email at ez2spot@hotmail.com, on Facebook at EZ 2 Spot Ranch or by phone at 210-861-0269.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Website Is Temporarily Down

OOPS!!!  Our website, www.ez2spotranch.com is temporarily offline.  We have just hired a new webmaster who is creating a greatly improved site for us.  One of the features of the new site will be a contact page so you can just fill in a few blanks, hit send and we will get back in touch with you.  Yea!!!!

We apologize for the inconvenience and want everyone to know that we are working on the problem.    Meanwhile, we are still here and all is well.  While we wait for the new website to come online, please feel free to contact us by email at ez2spot@hotmail.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EZ2SpotRanch.

Horses Arrived in Amsterdam

We are happy to announce our most recent shipment to Amsterdam went very well.  Many thanks to Toni, Bjoern, Jean Jacques, Jerome, Elodie, Sylvia, Petra and Alberto for sharing your amazing horses with us. It was a pleasure working with you and your horses and we look forward to future shipments.

 Thanks also to Lori and Tom Cochran for taking good care of the horses on the trip.  We appreciate you!

For those of you who are new to international shipping, you may have noticed that we frequently write about shipping horses to Amsterdam or Luxembourg - or for the UK, you might see us mention Prestwick. You might wonder why we only go to those countries in the EU.

 It is not that there are so many Dutch, Luxembourgish or Scottish importers.  It is that there are only certain airports that have facilities for horses.  The major airports for horses in the EU are Schiphol in Amsterdam, Findel in Luxembourg, Charles De Gaul in Paris and Frankfurt Am Main in Frankfurt.  In the UK, it is Prestwick in Glasgow, Scotland.  Among these, the least expensive flights from the USA and the least expensive ports of arrival for airport handling and customs costs are Schiphol and Findel.  So we fly the horses into those major ports.  After customs papers are cleared and the horses have been checked by the port veterinarians, they are loaded into horse vans and go by road to their final destinations.  For example, in this most recent shipment to Amsterdam, the horses went to Belgium, Germany and France.  None stayed in the Netherlands,

We are gathering horses now for our next shipments to the EU, Qatar, Kuwait and Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  Spaces are available in each group and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.  Reserve your space today by emailing us at ez2spot@hotmail.com.  Let us know if you have any questions.  We are always happy to help.

New Low Rates for Kuwait

We are very excited to announce our new low rates for horses going to Kuwait.  We want to invite all our friends and clients from Kuwait to contact us right away so we can share the new prices with you.  Email us at ez2spot@hotmail.com or ez2spot1@hotmail.com.  We can't wait to hear from you!

Beautiful Horses Have Arrived in the EU

What a special treat it was for us to accompany beautiful Hunter/Jumpers and Arabian show horses to Amsterdam last week.  Many thanks to Kayhan Kalhor, Karim Talamantes, their clients and colleagues for sharing these magnificent horses with us.  Terry and I personally accompanied them and are happy to report that everyone had a safe trip. 

We also had a great time catching up with friends in the Netherlands - especially Hans and Els Van Dijk and Robert Veen.  Thank you for your kind hospitality.  What fun we had!

Tomorrow we have another group of lovely horses flying out.  Thanks to Mariska Schrieken of the Netherlands, Christina Zeitelhack of Germany, Elena Chistyakova of Russia, Karina Lombardi-Berelatier of France, Elie Bulens of Belgium and Caroline Channing of the United Kingdom for allowing us the privilege of working with your horses.  It has been so much fun having the foals at the ranch and watching them grow. 

Thank you to our friends, Jennifer and David Notman for accompanying these horses to Amsterdam.

We are currently gathering horses for our next quarantine groups to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Mumbai, India and Kuwait City, Kuwait.  Spaces are available, so please feel free to contact us at your convenience if we can be of help in any way.

Fall brings cool weather, colorful leaves and airfreight rate Increases

Fall is just around the corner, and if it is like every other autumn that we have seen during our time in the equine export business, that means increased airfreight rates.  We normally receive rate increases  from the airlines in October.

 Most of our destination countries require at least a 30 day quarantine.  So a word to the wise - book your horses into quarantine before late August and save money.

 Spaces are limited - and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact us today to book your next shipment so that you can take advantage of the 2013 prices.

Shipping Large Groups of Horses

We have had several recent inquiries about shipping large groups of horses, from 15 to 100 or more.  We are pleased to say that we are ready, willing and able to handle large shipments.  Just let us know your plans and we will prepare a customized, competitive quote for your special shipment.

Catching Up

Wow.  I just realized that it has been a while since I've caught everyone up on our recent horse flights.  This is a busy, busy summer at EZ 2 Spot Ranch.

At the end of June we had the privilege of flying horses to Amsterdam  for Taschina Frankfurth of Denmark, Toni and Bjoern Kurzrock, Sabrina Scherweit and Nadine Schumacher, all of Germany.  Thank you so much for sharing your lovely horses with us.

We also had the honor of shipping horses to Saudi Arabia for Dhafer Al-Qahtani of Najmah Dhahran, Yousef Al Rashid, Al Jude Stud in Riyadh, and Abdulaziz Al Kebreesh of Hail.  Thank you all for sharing your beautiful Arabian horses with us.

We enjoyed a few days in Holland, taking our friends Robin and Doug Buster to see the sights and visiting with our dear friends, Hans and Els van Dijk and Robert Veen before heading back to the USA.  Thank you, Hans, for taking the horses from Amsterdam to Dammam for us.

Another group of horses are in Houston right now, waiting for their plane to arrive.  Many thanks to Aman Aman of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sherry and Jason Hanover of Germany, Sara Tornqvist and Elina Heinola of Sweden and Martina Hackl of Germany for sharing your horses with us.  Thanks also to Rashed Al Hofaity of the United Arab Emirates and Amani Saad of Kuwait for allowing us the privilege of caring for your horses as well.

Thanks also to Ellen May and Taylor Travis for accompanying the horses to Amsterdam and again to Hans van Dijk for taking the UAE horses to Sharjah.  We appreciate our grooms so much!

Upcoming shipments include a group of beautiful performance horses that will fly to Amsterdam on July 25th. We are currently gathering horses for our next quarantine groups that will fly to Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Mumbai,Dammam and Tripoli.

Let us know what we can do to help you with your next horse shipments.




 

Horses Arrived in Amsterdam Today

We are happy to announce that horses arrived safely in Amsterdam today.  It was such a pleasure for us to work with Aline Van Der Linden of the Netherlands, Stephen O'Sullivan of Ireland, Alberto Michan of Belgium.  Thanks to you all for sharing your horses with us.  It was our pleasure working with you and your horses and we look forward to future shipments.

We are gathering horses now for our next quarantine groups, so let us know what we can do for you.  We have limited spaces available for Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Dammam, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.  Spaces are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so don't delay in contacting us and reserving your space.

Also, just a reminder about our price-matching policy.  If you should receive a quote from one of our competitors for a lower price, just send us a copy of the quote and we will match it, item for item, if it is at all possible.

Horses Safely Arrived in Qatar

We are happy to report that a group of beautiful horses - Arabians and Thoroughbreds - arrived safely in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday afternoon.  Many thanks to Hamad, Asma and Mohammed for sharing your horses with us.  It was a pleasure working with you and we look forward to future shipments.

Thanks also to Megan Moos, our manager, for accompanying the horses on their journey.  We always know that everything will go smoothly when the horses are in Megan's very competent hands.

We are currently gathering horses for our next quarantine groups for the EU, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, so let us know how we can be of service to you!

Summer Shipping Season - and Help Wanted!

Exciting things have been happening at EZ 2 Spot Ranch the past couple of weeks since our last post.  Everything went well with our recent shipments to Amsterdam and Dammam.

This week there are four more magnificent stallions going to Spain - two Aztecas and two Lusitanos.  It has been such a privilege having these amazing horses at our ranch and having the opportunity to get to know their groom and trainer, Humberto.  We will miss both Humberto and the horses when they leave on Tuesday.  Thank you, Pablo and Karim for sharing these horses with us.

We will also say goodbye on Tuesday to two lovely Arabian mares and a darling Mustang gelding who are going to their new homes in Europe.  Thank you, Daniel, Coralie and Marjolijn for sharing your horses with us.

Thank you also to Brooke, who will be flying with these horses.  Brooke is going to be spending some time in France with another one of our clients, Sylvain McQuart, helping out at his farm and getting to know more about European horsemanship.  It has been a pleasure having Brooke at the ranch this week.

Next week Megan will accompany another group of horses to their new homes in Qatar.  Thank you, Asma, Hamad and Mahmoud for sharing your horses with us.

We are currently gathering horses for our next quarantine groups for Amsterdam and Dammam and we have spaces available, so let us know if we can be of help to you.

On another note, we currently interviewing candidates for a full time, live-in position at the ranch.  If you are interested in working in the exciting world of international equine export and if you have experience and knowledge of equine health, training and care, send us an email at ez2spot@hotmail.com and include your resume and contact details.  This is a great opportunity for the right person.

Amsterdam and Luxembourg

Wow!  We are having a crazy busy Spring.  What a great time this is for shipping horses and donkeys.  Just not such a great time for finding time to sit at a computer and update our blog!

So ...here we go.   Last week we had the honor and privilege of shipping a number of lovely horses and one precious mini donkey jack to the EU.  Many, many thanks to Aline van der Linden of the Netherlands, Bernd Jung of Germany, Pascale Hameau of Switzerland, Jon Drake, Christa Slee and John Lee of the UK for sharing your animals with us.  Many thanks also to Katy Bender for flying for us.  It was such a pleasure having you at the ranch for a few days and we are delighted to have been able to help you have the opportunity to fly to Europe for a visit.

Today there are three adorable miniature donkeys getting ready to fly to Luxembourg.  Thank you Minka van Slouen and Dirk Hendrickx for allowing us to spend some time with these little darlings.  We are going to miss them!

On /Friday, Terry and I, along with JoLinda Richards and Frank Jost will be flying with horses to Amsterdam.  Then on Sunday morning Terry and the horses and I will continue the trip to our final destination in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  Many thanks to Yousef Al Rashid of Al Jude Stud, Aiman Al Shumrani and his associate, Walid Al-Nadji and Saeed Alkhaldy for sharing your horses with us.  We are looking forward to our visit to Dammam.  Thank you also to Dr. Mohammed Al Hamad for helping ensure that all went well with this shipment.

Next week there will be 5 amazing stallions headed for Spain.  We will also start new quarantine groups next week for horses going to Saudi /Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Amsterdam.  We are also looking forward to Brooke Mareth's visit at the end of this month before she flies with horses in early June and begins her externship at Sylvain McQuart's farm in France.

So ... until next time - Happy Trails from Terry, Dianne and Megan at EZ 2 Spot Ranch.!

Horses Arrived in Amsterdam Today

We had the privilege of providing quarantine and shipping for six beautiful horses that arrived safely at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam this morning.  Many thanks to Etienne and Beatrice Caillaud for sharing their adorable Rocky Mountain Horse colt with us.  Thanks also to Beata Lugans for sharing her beautiful Arabian mare and handsome Arabian colt with us.  It was such a pleasure caring for these wonderful horses and working with their equally wonderful owners.  

Also in this shipment are three very nice endurance racing Arabian mares who are going to spend the rest of the weekend in Amsterdam and continue their journey to Kuwait on Monday morning.  Many thanks to Ahmad Abdullah, Kim Williams and your clients and friends for sharing your horses with us. 

Thanks are also due to our excellent grooms and staff.  Megan Moos, our manager, took them to the airport and ensured that everything went well along the way.   Ellen May and Jade House accompanied the horses to Amsterdam and Hans van Dijk will take the race mares on the journey to Kuwait.  You are a very important part of our business and we appreciate all that you do to ensure that horses are safe and well during their journeys.

We will fly horses to Qatar next week and then we will go to Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia in the near future.  We are currently gathering horses for upcoming shipments to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, India and the EU - so let us know if you have horses or donkeys to include in any of those shipping groups.  Spaces are filled on a first come, first served basis, so don't delay in contacting us.

We are currently seeking a part-time ranch hand to help with feeding, watering, cleaning stalls, grooming, helping with the veterinarian and farrier visits and other horse-related ranch chores.  If you have knowledge and experience working with horses and would like an opportunity to work with us, send an email to ez2spot@hotmail.com and tell us about yourself.  Qualified candidates will be contacted for a face-to-face interview.

 

This Week's Shipment to Europe

We are delighted to report that a group of wonderful horses and one adorable mule arrived safely in Amsterdam this morning.  Many thanks to Friederike Gitzel, Petra Varnahova, Olivia Foley and her mother Lorraine, Toni  and Bjoern Kurzrock and Yvonne Kuebeler for choosing EZ 2 Spot Ranch as your quarantine facility.  It was a genuine pleasure working with each of you and with your animals.

Yvonne, it was great that you got to visit the ranch during Dandelion's quarantine.  For prospective exporters or importers, we want you to know that we are always happy to have you stop by for a visit during the quarantine period.  In order to maintain the quarantine protocol, we must follow certain security and sanitary measures - but we are always happy to arrange a visit for you.  In fact, we have a guest house that is available for visitors to use.  Just be sure to let us know when to expect you so we can reserve the guest house for you.

Speaking of visitors, it was wonderful having Quinten Wiersma visit the ranch for a week.  Thank you, Quinten, for flying as a groom on this trip for us.  We look forward to providing many more groom opportunities for you in the future.

Thanks also to Brian Carlisle for serving as a groom on this trip.  We appreciate your help and also look forward to offering you more opportunities in the future.

If you live in Europe and would like to come to Texas for a visit - to experience our culture, learn more about our business and help out at the ranch, let us know.  We always welcome volunteers!  And who knows - there might be a rodeo, a bull riding competition, a barbecue or a country/western music experience just waiting for you.

How Does Shipping Horses Work?

We are often met with open-mouthed stares when we tell people what we do for a living.  Flying horses all over the world is a somewhat unusual profession - exciting, fun and always full of adventure.  But when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, what they really want to know is  ... How does it  work?

So, this is how it works!

Lets say that you live in Dubai or Dublin or Delhi and you find a horse that you want to buy from a farm in the USA.  What do you do?  How do you proceed?

Step 1.  Make sure that you are purchasing a sound, healthy horse that is in good weight and condition and is going to suit your needs.  Arrange (and pay for) a prepurchase exam by an unbiased veterinarian. If you need help finding a veterinarian anywhere here in the USA, we can get you a referral.  All you have to do is ask.

In a perfect world everyone who sells horses will be honest and forthcoming about the actual current health and condition of the horses they sell.  And most people are.  However, there are some sellers who will present a horse from a photo that is five years old.  Since that time the poor horse has been left out in a field to fend for itself without feed, grooming or medical care.  We always send photos to the new owners when their horses arrive at our facility, and sometimes they are shocked to see what they bought.  So, buyer beware.  Find out what you are getting before it shows up at the quarantine station.  If you buy Black Beauty, it will not magically be transformed into Old Dobbin on the trailer ride from the seller's farm to the quarantine station.

Ask about vaccinations that the horse has received.  If they are due to be vaccinated, please ask the seller to step away from the needle.  There are some vaccinations that can cause serious delays in exporting a horse - and some that can prevent the horse from ever being exported.  Each country has its own requirements about vaccinations.  Your quarantine station will know what is needed and what to avoid - let them take care of vaccinations!

If you are buying a pregnant mare, find out when she is due  - and check with your quarantine station about the last day the mare can safely fly.  There are rules in place to ensure the mare's and unborn foal's safety.  Be aware of this so that you are not disappointed to find out that the mare has to stay in the USA until after the baby is born.

Step 2.  Work out an agreement with the seller about who is going to pay for transfers/export of registration papers to your country's registry.   Also make sure that you are clear about who pays for the coggins and health certificates that are required for transport within the USA.

Step 3.  Contact quarantine stations/shipping companies to find out the costs and procedures.   Make sure that you know what is included in the quote - and what is not.  Compare two or three or more companies before you choose one.  Ask for references in your home country.  Visit the companies' websites.  Talk with other people who have shipped horses with them in the past.

Beware quotes that seem too good to be true.  They probably are.  Some items might be missing in the quote that you won't find out about until it is too late to change your mind. Or maybe you think the quote is in US dollars and then you find out later that it is in Euros or some other currency.

Step 4.  Make sure that you are really, really, really ready to commit to shipping your horse with a particular shipping company  before you sign a contract to book a space with that company. Booking a horse for an overseas flight is not like booking a seat on a plane for yourself.  Flying horses is much more complicated than that - and the ramifications of you changing your mind after the space has been booked are far reaching for yourself, the shipping company and your fellow importers.

Horses typically ship in groups of three.   When you book a space for one horse in a three horse container, the quarantine station/shipping company will coordinate the shipment so that there are two other horses that will fly with your horse.  The price that you are given when you book your horse is based on each horse occupying 1/3 of the shipping container.  The shipping company is counting on your horse occupying that space.  And so are two other importers.

If you decide the day before your horse is to be picked up - or after your horse arrives at the quarantine facility - or  in the middle of the quarantine period - thatyou don't want to ship the horse after all  or that you want to ship with a different company - you have just created a very serious problem.

Our only options at that point in time are :

- pay for an empty space in the container and lose a great deal of money on the entire shipment (Airlines don't give us free space. We pay for shipping the container whether there are horses inside or not)

 - tell the other two clients that their horses will be delayed until we can replace your horse with another one

 - or sue you for breach of contract.

None of these are happy situations - so please understand that when you book a space you are signing a legally binding contract and you are expected to fulfill your part of the agreement.  We take our obligations seriously - and we ask that you do as well.

 Also, bear in mind that there are only a few companies that ship horses internationally.  When we're left scrambling to fill a space because a client has bailed out of a contractual agreement, we contact each other.  We work together.  And we talk.

Step 5.  It should be smooth sailing from the time you book with the shipping company until you receive your horse.  However, when dealing with live animals and international flights, be aware that things can happen to cause delays or cancellations.

For example,if your horse received a vaccination or has had some other condition that causes false positive results in a blood test that is required for shipping, the horse will not be able to leave the USA. Some of these tests cannot be done more than 10 days in advance of the flight, so we won't know until a few days before flight time that there is a problem.  We try to reset the tests or rebleed the animal, but sometimes the time constraints that are put on us by the importing country make that impossible

Horses usually fly on cargo planes - and cargo planes are known for schedule changes, delays and last minute cancellations.  It is important to remain flexible about when your horse will arrive.  We have been delayed by everything from snow storms to volcano eruptions to birds flying into turbines - so you just never know when the flight will really happen.

If you have any questions or would like information about any of these points, please feel free to comment on this blog or send us an email (ez2spot@hotmail.com).   We will be happy to help!

Beautiful Bay Mares to Dammam

Three beautiful bay Arabian mares are on their way to Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  They left Houston yesterday, are staying in Amsterdam tonight, and will arrive at the new homes tomorrow.  Thank you, Awad Alqhatani, Thamer Almuhid and Abdou Mohammed for sharing your lovely mares with us.  Thank you, also, to Dhafer Alqhatani for your excellent assistance in ensuring that everything is in order on the arrival side.

We said goodbye to Melanie Alves yesterday when she accompanied the horses on their flight to Amsterdam.  It has been such a joy having Melanie visit and help with the horses for the past month.  It is time now for her to return to Germany and go back to school.  Thank you, Melanie and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Thank you to our dear friend and professional horse groom, Hans van Dyke, for accompanying the horses from Amsterdam to Dammam.  We always relax and know that our horses are in good hands when they fly with Hans.

It is with pleasure that we welcome back our friend Quinten Wiersma from the Netherlands.  Quinten will only be with us for a week this time, but it is so nice to have him back in Texas.  Quinten will fly with horses to Amsterdam next week.

We will be shipping horses again soon to Amsterdam,, the Netherlands, Kuwait City, Kuwait and Doha, Qatar ... and we are gathering horses now for our next quarantine groups for horses and donkeys that will travel to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, Dammam, Saudi Arabia and Mumbai, India.

We  have spaces available in upcoming quarantine groups so let us know what we can do for you!

Remember that we have a price-matching policy.  If you receive a lower quote from another company, send us a copy of the quote and we will match or offer a lower price, item for item, if it is at all possible.

Endurance Horses to Saudi Arabia

What fun we have had during the last month with endurance horses that are going to Saudi Arabia.  They left yesterday and we miss them already.  As I mentioned in a recent post, keeping your horses in condition during quarantine at EZ 2 Spot Ranch is not a problem.  Our staff have had the pleasure of riding these wonderful endurance horses during their quarantine period, keeping them ready for competition.

Many thanks to Abdullah Al Otaiba and Haytham Al Barrack for sharing your horses with us.  Thanks also to Brian Carlisle for serving as their groom to Amsterdam and Nordien Dkourou for caring for the horses on the flight from Amsterdam to Dammam.  Thanks also, of course, to our amazing manager Megan Moos for ensuring that all went well at the airport in Houston.

We are starting a new quarantine group for Amsterdam this week and will be starting our next quarantine groups for Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Amsterdam and Johannesburg, South Africa in about two weeks.  Spaces are available in all groups, so let us know if you have a horse ready to ship and we will get busy for you.

As I mentioned in a recent blog, we are also now able to fly horses to Israel from Houston, so let us know if we can help you with that!

Amsterdam Today - Tel Aviv on the Horizon

I am happy to report that everything went very well on yesterday's flight to Amsterdam from Houston and the horses all arrived safely this morning.

 Many thanks to Toni and Bjorn Kurzrock, Bernard Kuhn and Monique Goetz, Ismal El Sharkawy and Coralie Marcotte, Petra van den Berg, Joerg Kuisl and Christina Zeitelhack and Pene and Malcolm Mason for sharing your horses with us.  It was a pleasure working with each of you and with your horses.

Thanks also to our grooms, David Notman and Phillip Shields, for taking such good care of the horses during the flight and to our manager, Megan Moos, for seeing to it that all went well at the airport in Houston.

We are gathering horses now for our next flights to Amsterdam and Dammam, Saudi Arabia and we have a few spaces available in both groups, so let us know if you can use the spaces.

We are also very excited about our first-ever shipment to Israel.  I will post another blog about that in a few days, but this is the first time we have been able to ship directly from Houston to Tel Aviv, so it is a great new opportunity.

Conditioning During Quarantine

One of the things that concerns owners of  horses that are being exported from the USA is that they will lose condition during quarantine.  This is a valid concern.  No one wants their performance, show or endurance horse just standing in a barn for 30 days.  We don't want that either.

So here at EZ 2 Spot Ranch, we are very proud of our exercise and conditioning program.  Not only are all quarantined horses turned out daily in designated paddocks for natural exercise.  We can also provide lunging and riding services for you so that your horse arrives in good condition, ready to perform for you.  On more than one occasion we have had horses enter competitions or shows within days after arrival - and come out as winners!

We also groom your horses regularly and we have their hooves trimmed as part of the regular quarantine routine.  Body clipping is also available upon request. Our goal is that horses leave our facility looking and feeling as good or better than when we received them.

We also send photos to our clients when their horses arrive - and will be happy to provide video as well.  Just let us know what we can do for you.  Just as every horse is an individual, so is every client.  Customized service is cheerfully provided to you and your horse here at EZ 2 Spot Ranch.

Quarantine Rules for the EU - Importers Beware

I am always amazed at the way some people are willing to cut corners and do sneaky, underhanded and downright illegal things in the interest of getting customers and their money.  I have just learned about the lastest dirty trick that some quarantine facilities here in the USA are trying to pull.

When someone from the EU purchases an equine from the USA and wants to import the animal, that equine must meet the health requirements that have been agreed upon between the EU and the USA governments. One of those requirements is that the equine must be in quarantine for 30 days prior to export.  However, there was a recent change in the nature of the quarantine - and sneaky people are now  taking advantage of this opportunity to put one over on the government and on unsuspecting importers.

The 30 day quarantine is still required.  However, it is now "veterinary approved" instead of  "USDA approved".  Prior to this change, the USDA sent an inspector to the quarantine facility in order to approve the beginning of the quarantine period.  There were official documents that had to be signed and sent to the USDA, ensuring that the quarantine was handled properly.  And there were fees involved.

 That requirement has now changed.  It is now the accredited veterinarian whose name and signature goes on the health certificates who is responsible for ensuring that the horses were in quarantine for 30 days.

What I've been told is that some unscrupulous facilities are telling EU clients that the quarantine requirement has been completely removed and that they can get their equines shipped to them without delay.  They may actually be pulling the wool over the eyes of their veterinarians and convincing them to sign fraudulent documents in order to get away with this.  And of course, they can cut their prices because they are not feeding or caring for the horses for as long a period as those of us who play by the rules are doing.

In my humble opinion, this is playing with fire - and that kind of game usually does not have a happy ending.   When the EU or the US governments become aware of this practice, I am sure that there will be consequences for everyone engaged in the business of shipping horses.  The veterinarians who sign the fraudulent documents could be at risk of losing their credentials.  I would guess that all quarantine facilities will have to go back to the USDA inspection requirement ... and I would further suppose that any horses that arrive in the EU without having had the proper quarantine period will be at risk of being deported at the owner's expense.

So a word to the wise.  When you ask about quarantine and you are told that it is not required, be aware that you are being told a lie.  I personally would worry about doing business with someone who would lie and cheat in order to get my business.  It would make me wonder what other lies they might tell me.

I guess the old saying still applies.  Buyer beware!

On to Kuwait

Wow.  What a neat start to the new year.  We have some beautiful horses on their way to Kuwait right now.  Many, many thanks to Burhan Bakeer, Jassim Al Mesbah and Awad Mubarak for allowing us to care for your lovely mares.  Thank you also to Jamal Al Kahok for your assistance ... and to Ellen May and Hans van Dyke for your excellent service as grooms.  We know that they are in very good hands!

Next week we are off to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and then Amsterdam and Dammam again in February.

We are currently gathering horses for our next shipments to Amsterdam and Dammam - and are working on putting together our first shipment to Brazil.  Spaces are available, so let us know what we can do for you!