Importing a Warmblood Stallion

In May 2001 I went to Holland (the Netherlands) to look for a young horse as a prospect to promote and then sell in the U.S. My trainer had gone earlier and selected some candidates from the 100's available and had 3 stallions lined up for me to see at Stal de Wiemselbach. I had not planned on buying a stallion, but when I met Patrick I started giving it serious consideration.

He was the last of the three horses that I looked at there and also the youngest. I don't even remember the other two. When he came out I felt compelled to go over and pet his nose. I was amazed at how calm and friendly he was and how white! At four years old he already had turned almost completely white.

Most grey horses take years to turn white - the whiter the grey the older the horse - usually. He was very obedient with his rider and went around the jumping course like he had done it 1000 times - I later learned that that was his first day in the "big" jumping arena. We visited some other farms and looked at several other horses and then returned to our hotel to discuss what we had seen and decide which one - if any - would work out for me.

This was my first time at buying a prospect and I found that it was a difficult decision to make. The horses were all young and had no show records yet. They were all different, but all had good gaits, conformation, and pedigrees. My trainer said that she thought that several would meet my requirements; I just had to decide which one had the right price tag and get an appointment for him to be vetted. As we were discussing each horse, recalling what color they were, what markings they had, how friendly they seemed, and how willing they had appeared under saddle, I realized that Patrick, the white stallion, was the only one that I had even touched! I remembered that I had felt drawn to him and had approached him without the slightest hesitation, even though he was a young stallion, and that he had dropped his head and looked at me with those soft eyes inviting me to touch him. He was the only horse I had seen that day that I had no trouble picturing again in my mind, in fact, I was getting the other horses all mixed up. Was it because he was the only white horse? Very likely, but I also knew that I had felt something different about him that wasn't about his color, something that told me that he was my horse - we had made a connection.

We were able to get an appointment with a local vet the next day to have the prepurchase exam. I was very pleased as I prefer to be present so that I can see for myself that everything was done and could have stopped it at any time if something unfavorable was discovered. The vet clinic was also a breeding station and there were several mares coming for breeding while Patrick was being examined. He paid a lot of attention to this activity, but I was happy to see that he never became unmanageable and was in fact a perfect gentleman! He passed the exam with flying colors so the next step was arranging for him to be shipped to the U.S.

The vet bill was $700.00.

If you need more information about pre-purchase exams this article on Prepurchase Evaluations will answer most of your questions.

I had to decide if I was going to keep him a stallion or geld him before making the arrangements to ship him because stallions have to go to a quarantine station as soon as they enter the U.S. and remain there for a minimum of 28 days to test for a sexually transmitted disease, Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM). First the stallion is tested and then he must breed two mares and the mares undergo several tests. During that time the stallion may not leave the farm that has been approved as a stallion quarantine station until the tests are completed and the results are received. The stallion owner must pay for the board at the farm, the lease of the two mares, and the tests. This will add $4000.00 to $6000.00 to the price of the stallion, so it was not something I wanted to do if I thought that I might not want to keep a stallion.

Patrick had not completed the stallion testing with the KWPN-Dutch Warmblood Registry, yet, which is why he was in my price range.
There are three parts to the test and he had passed the first two, but he was not at the height requirement for the third part. The owner had chosen not to geld him because he felt that in another year or two he would be at the required height and would pass the third test. I was not very educated about the requirements of the Dutch Warmblood Registry, but my trainer claimed to be, and she felt that he would be approved also. I will go into the stallion approval process later, but for now I will just say that I am glad that I did not geld him. At the time my decision was mainly based on his gentlemanly behavior. I felt it was worth the risk but that if he became an ill mannered, dangerous stallion at any time, he would be gelded immediately.

I arranged with an international shipping company to have Patrick picked up in Holland and transported to Frankfort, Germany, where he boarded a plane in a special stall-like crate for JFK airport. He arrived on July 12, 2001 and was held a couple of days before being transported in a designated quarantine van to Rigbie Farm in Maryland. The total cost of this transportation from Holland to the Maryland was $5,200.00. This farm is set up for stallion quarantine and was recommended to me by a large breeding farm nearby, Hilltop Farm. Rigbie Farm is a beautiful farm where the stallions are bred and very well cared for during their confinement. I visited Patrick there the day after he arrived so I could see how he looked after the trip. The owner showed me all around the farm and explained everything about the stallion quarantine process. I arranged for him to be exercised on a hot walker every day as they cannot be turned out or exercised any other way. He underwent the testing, bred the mares, and on August 17 he was bathed and put on a horse van bound for Michigan.
This picture is the one the owner of the farm took just after he was bathed and waiting for the van to arrive. The cost at Rigbie Farm was $2,677.00 and the testing and mares were another $2,178.70. The trip from Maryland to Michigan was $550.00.


Twelve hours later Patrick calmly walked off the van at the training facility in Michigan that was to be his home for the next several years. I quickly learned that he was more than I expected of him, all in good ways. I was very happy with my new white stallion!

If you ask me if I think he was worth it, you know I will say "Yes!", but the proof is still a few years away. This year is the first that we have some offspring that are old enough to show and prove what they are made of. We sold the oldest and are eagerly waiting to see how he performs with his new owner in the Dressage ring. Each year there will be more offspring to show and sell. The sale of just one of them would more than cover the costs to import Patrick. We have been learning as we go along and so we are a little behind where a more experienced breeder would be after seven years, but we are catching up!