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.!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
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.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
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!
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!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
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!
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!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
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.
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.
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