Horses to Europe and Saudi Arabia

Last week was such a busy time that I'm just now finding a minute to sit down and write about our last shipment. We had the pleasure of send four adorable miniature horses, one handsome Arabian stallion and three amazing Warmbloods to Amsterdam last week. Everyone arrived safely and all is well. Many thanks Cedric de Broecq, Mariska Schreiken, Elena Chistyakova, Mohammed Said and Kerim Talamas for sharing your horses with us. Thanks also to David Notman for flying with them - and to Chris and Megan for taking such good care of them, getting them to the airport and loaded safely for the flight. Tomorrow we will be sending six lovely Arabian mares to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Our Dutch friends, Trisha and Gert will be flying with them to Amsterdam after having a nice little vacation here in Texas. Thank you so much for flying with our horses. It was great seeing you! Thanks also to Hans van Dijk for flying with them from Amsterdam to Dammam. As always, we truly appreciate the great service and professional care that Hans provides. We are enjoying a visit from our friend Melanie from Germany these days. Melanie came to help us out at the ranch last year and we are so happy to welcome her back for another Springtime visit. We are gathering horses now for our next shipments to Kuwait, Bahrain, Amsterdam and Luxembourg and we are looking forward to upcoming flights to South Africa. Let us know what we can do to help you!

Beautiful Mares and One Handsome Stallion Flying Today

What a great time we've had caring for six gorgeous Arabian mares during the last month+. They are at the airport today, getting ready to fly to Amsterdam and then on to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Many, many thanks to Dhafer, Khalid, Majed, Ali, Abdullah and Rashed for allowing us the privilege of caring for these horses. Thanks also to Dhafer, Mohammed and Saeed for your assistance in making things go smoothly. Also flying out today is a very handsome stallion who will go to Germany. Thank you, Karim, for sharing him with us. Thanks also to Toni and Bjoern Kurzrock for flying with the horses from Houston to Amsterdam and for Hans van Dijk for taking the mares to Dammam. We appreciate all that you do. And of course, thanks to our great staff for taking such good care of the horses! Good job, guys!

EVA Vaccination Can Make Your Stallion Unshippable

Every now and then we run into a situation that makes it impossible to ship a horse from the USA to virtually any other country in the world. It is very upsetting when someone outside of the USA learns that the horse that they have purchased is not going to be able to leave the USA. It also comes as a very unpleasant surprise to the horse's previous owner. This situation is 100% preventable. Here is how to prevent this from ever happening to a stallion that you want to buy or sell and ship internationally. Option 1. Don't vaccinate him for EVA. Pure and simple. If he has not been vaccinated and he does not have the disease, the test results for EVA will be negative and he will be able to be shipped. No problem. Option 2. If you believe that you must vaccinate your stallion for EVA, follow the proper protocol and keep documentation so that it can be presented when it is time for him to be shipped. The simplest, easiest way to do this is to have your veterinarian draw blood and send it in for testing for EVA on the same day that the vaccination is given. Ask your veterinarian to provide you with documentation of the vaccination and to send you a copy of the negative test results from the lab. Keep these documents in a safe place. When it is time to send your stallion to the quarantine facility for shipping outside of the USA, tell the staff that the stallion was vaccinated for EVA and provide the documentation mentioned above. The quarantine facility will then be able to prepare the shipping documents without any difficulties. The trouble arises when: 1. the stallion's owner and/or veterinarian did not follow the proper protocol 2. did not keep the proper records and/or 3. did not tell the quarantine facility that the horse was vaccinated. When test results come back positive (and they ALWAYS will when the horse has been vaccinated), it is the quarantine facility's unpleasant task to tell the exporter and importer that their horse can't be shipped. So stallion owners - please prevent this situation from happening to one of your horses. Just follow the proper protocol and share the documents with the quarantine facility at the very beginning.

Sweet Lady Fames, HAHR # 1A368796

We have the prettiest, sweetest half-Arabian mare at our place - and she was abandoned by her owner. She needs a good home where she will be loved and used. She was shown at halter and has excellent manners. She is in perfect health and condition.

How to vote for us in the FedEx Grant contest

We are so excited about all of our friends, colleagues and clients who have taken the time to vote for us in the FedEx Small Business Grant contest. Unfortunately, it seems that some of you have had challenges getting to the page for voting. Here is a direct link that one of our Dutch clients forwarded to me. Hope this helps. http://smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com/Gallery/Detail/c8d4c57b-b91a-486c-8558-6ac7f9f20b4d If that doesn't work or you don't want to go through FB, here is another route: Search for smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com A page will come up where you can enter a business name. All you need to do is type in EZ 2 Spot Ranch in that space. And click the magnifying glass. Don't worry about any other details (State, type of business, etc.) All you need is the name of the business. Our logo and photo will come up. Click on that and it will take you to the page where you can cast your vote. You can vote once a day, every day, through 23 February. We greatly appreciate your support and assistance in helping us do well in this contest.

Grant Contest

We have been accepted into the FedEx Small Business Grant contest and we need your help. Please go to www.smallbusinessgrant.fedex.com and vote for EZ 2 Spot Ranch. Your vote is very important because that is one of the major factors that they will use in deciding the winner. You can vote once a day from now through February 23rd. We appreciate your help and support!

Amsterdam and on to Dammam

We are happy to report that all is well with this week's shipments. We had the pleasure of sending some lovely horses to the EU, arriving safely in Amsterdam this morning. Many thanks to Sandra van den Hof and Oscar Aerdts of Belgium for accompanying Megan and the horses from Houston to Amsterdam. Thanks to Toni and Bjoern Kurzrock, Gesa Horak, Henk le Sage, Team Sport Eichorst, Carl Hanley Sport Horses and Jaime Guerra for sharing your horses with us. And thanks also to Rob Veen of World Animal Transport, Sabrina Bos of Horse Service International and the staff at Guido Klatte for clearing papers upon arrival. We appreciate the good work that you do for our clients. There are also some very nice Arabian mares resting at the KLM Animal Hotel, waiting for their flight to Dammam on Monday. Thanks to Abdullah Al Shehry, Amro Ghurab, Saheb Al Adballah, Abdulelah Alojayan, Faisal Al Anzi and Bandar Al Atiat for sharing your lovely mares with us. Thanks also to Dhafer Al Qahtani, Mohammed Ibrahim, Haidar Yousef and Marwan for the help you provided with this shipment. Our next flight is on Sunday - horses going to Kuwait. We are gathering horses now for our next shipments to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Amsterdam and Luxembourg. Let us know what we can do to help you!