Travelling with horses isn't always a nice thing. Depending the country you have difficult rules and a lot of paper's to fill in. Here is some advice to travel with your horses in the USA. In the USA the type of paperwork varies from state to state. Some states don’t have check points at the border (e.g. California has checkpoints.), but if you are pulled over the officer will likely ask you for your horses travel papers. It is a hefty fine and sometimes a misdemeanor if they are missing. Here are a few tips from the school of hard knocks, so you don’t have to attend. Nevertheless check the requirements for all states you are traveling through!!: 1. The health certificate or vet inspection: Obtainable through your vet, this little piece of paper identifies your horse and verifies its health is needed to cross most state lines. 2. The negative Coggins test: Plan to have this done about month before you are planning on leaving, because it has to be sent off to a laboratory to be analyzed. The Coggins test identifies horses with equine infectious anemia. Only 1/5th of 1% of horses test positive. However, it is a retrovirus and incurable. It is spread through biting insects. 3. Brand inspection (even if your horse doesn't have a brand!): Check to see if the states you are traveling through require it . A brand inspection is a certification that you own your horse. Basically it’s like registering your car. The owner of the horse presents proof of ownership, and the brand inspector issues the owner a brand inspection, which is basically the official proof of ownership. In the event that it does have a brand, the brand inspector will be able to track all sales of that horse to the current owner. If your horse is registered, the brand inspector will check your ID against the papers, or transfer papers and bill of sale and verify that you are in fact the owner. Brand inspections are most commonly done when a horse changes hands. These are just the basic three that are the most commonly required. Just know when prepared the travel will be a delight as well as the border inspection. Oh, and P.S., always check to see if outside hay is allowed into a state, if not you will have to drop it and buy new hay in the State you're travelling in.
