How far have you gone (distance) to buy a horse?

[Cavesson]

I've been doing some shopping:D and found a very nice horse who is just what I'm looking for.........but is a bit of a drive;)
How far have you trailered a horse hours, days.... when buying. What did you do to make the trip better for your new equine friend?

Thanks:)

[JoZ]

I flew from Seattle to Calgary to look at a horse in Fort Mcleod, AB. I arranged the PPE via telephone and discussed the results the same way.

For getting him "home" I hired a commercial hauler. He did just fine. I will say he is about the opposite of "special needs" -- an easygoing, even-keel dude. It never crossed my mind that his transport would require any special considerations. Though of course I was alert to his arrival condition (which was fine, but I would have adapted accordingly had he seemed stressed, dehydrated, etc.).

How far are you talking about? Is there any reason to think this horse wouldn't travel well?

[Cavesson]

Thanks for the reply, no there is no reason to think the horse would have any problems. However the trip is around 2 days, google map:winkgrin: Which I'm thinking is crazy but was wondering if others had done anything like this.

Just window shopping but u never know

[SkipChange]

The first owner of my horse lived in Florida and purchased him (sight unseen) from Alberta, Canada :D which is somewhere between 2,500-3,000 miles from what mapquest tells me.

I only had to travel 2.5 hours when I bought him from her though.

ETA: I do remember her telling me he looked ROUGH when she got him. Pretty underweight and in bad shape but his travel companion (she bought 2 horses) looked just fine. I don't think he trailers all that well, he paws constantly and seems to lose weight when I take him to shows.

[3 is the limit]

I bought my first horse in Oklahoma City and I lived in San Jose. Had him shipped out by Bob Hubbard and he was happy as a clam when he came off the trailer. No wonder...I had bought him in the middle of winter!

[rideagoldenpony]

From Oregon to Scotland. :D :D :D

[Fharoah]

shipped my gelding from Texus to BC (Canada) He arived fine:)

[Cruise Control]

From southern Florida to SE Pennsylvania

[Thomas_1]

From England to Austria and Holland twice.

The road transport from Holland had a ferry trip across the north sea thrown in for good measure. Austria was combination road and English Channel ferry.

[TrueColours]

I think I am going to win this one ... :D

Auckland, NZ to Ontario, Canada via Los Angeles ... :lol:

She flew to LAX, quarantined there for a couple of days and then took a commercial carrier from Los Angeles to Ontario, Canada.

I dont think there is a journey that would be longer to be honest ... ;)

And she travelled completely fine as well ...

[Bluey]

Drove 12 hours to get a horse, then picked up another for a friend on the way back the next day.
Friend bought horse sight unseen, on the breeding alone.:eek:
She does has a half brother and both are wonderful horses.:cool:

When you have been looking for long time and the seemingly right horse is far away, you have to decide if to keep looking for even longer time closer by, getting the horse sight unseen, or make the long trip to see if you were right, that far off horse was "it".

[turningpointequine]

I live in central PA and sold a mare sight unseen to a woman in WA state. The trip took longer than expected due to bad weather (this was in February) but was told the mare looked great when she finally arrived.

It's funny, I've had some buyers baulk at driving two hours to look at a horse and then others say day or 2-day trips were no big deal.

When I'm looking for a horse distance doesn't matter to me. If it's what I want I'll buy it. :)

[FlashGordon]

We drove 13 hours to meet and try him.... then had him shipped up. It was a really funny weekend in a lot of ways and a trip hubby and I will never forget!

[equineartworks]

Georgia to NY 5 times :)

[Gry2Yng]

Chicago to FL, Chicago to Ohio, Chicago to Toronto, I bought one that was only 15 miles away. The others have been at least a 5 hour trailer ride. The longest 24 hours.

[SOTB]

Chicago to Virginia for me. I guess not that far compared to some of you!

[alteringwego]

Off a picture and a telephone call I drove 12 hours to the top of Virginia to buy mine. SO worth it!

[danosaur]

massachusetts to germany :D

worth every mile and every penny.

[*jumper*]

I flew from Orange County to Reno to try a couple last year, didn't find one that suited my fancy though. The horse I finally found was about two hours away, but I've taken about 3 hour drives to look.

[Mamy]

Well after reading how far some of you have gone, lol, my 6 hour trip seems like nothing! But I did do it all in one day so it was 12 hours total.... LOL!
Pony was 6 hours away, Horse was only 1 or 1.5 hours, I can't remember.

[JanDinWA]

We have bought horses that were 5 hours away and 10 hours away. For the longest trailer ride - we moved our 3 horses from NH to WA when we moved out here. They were on the trailer for 4 days and came off just fine. The drivers made sure they drank a lot.

[Cowgirl]

I bought one in germany and one in Denmark, shipped to Colorado. The one that came from Germany came in a group and the agent arranged shipment through JFK with discount travel arrangements and it was a nightmare. Horse arrived in horrible condition with shipping fever, cuts and scrapes and a capped hock and no vet was ever called and I never received any communication during the transport. The mare I bought in Denmark, I used the best commercial shippers I could find. Guido Klatte had her picked up at her farm in Denmark, shipped to his farm in Germany, hydrated and tested pre flight for quarantine tests, then shipped to Amsterdam airport. She flew to LAX, quarantined with JetPets, who rehydrated her for three days, then picked up by a wonderful private shipper who shipped her in his sealed air ride van to Colo. Springs where she did CEM quarantine and I picked her up. I had daily calls through the process. She looked fabulous when she arrived in C Springs. Not all the commercial shippers are created equal, so ask around about them. The one I used the last time was fabulous and I would recommend him again in an instant. Jet Pets will tell you which of the commercial haulers lets the horse sit in the trailer for hours before they leave, and which ones load up and go (it annoys them because they take such care to hydrate the horses). They highly recommended the guy I used. It is helpful when they can ride in a box stall with air shocks.