I hope this is the right place, couldn't find one more relevent, so here goes.

I know Bulgaria have a strong tie with horses, and I expect there are plenty needing homes, but I am wondering if anyone has taken their horses out there from the UK? And if so, are there stables around, or, as we are hoping to buy a rural property, will we be able to buy or rent a paddock easily, locally? We are looking at houses in several rural areas, but generally, though there is plenty of ground for growing food and chickens, there are few with a paddock of any size. (Over half an acre)

We really don't want to sell our lad, and are prepared to loan him out until we have somewhere to keep him.

Has anyone else done this? Is it feasable?

Also, If you have, how did you transport it?

Thanks for reading.

Hi Eq

Yes, there are many people who have taken their horses to BG Beautifulangle is one of them and no doubt she will be along shortly to tell you about it. There is a lady in Vidin who also did the same but she is on our facebook.

Hi Eq we brought five of ours over with us and yes it is fairly straight forward if somewhat costly to do. We have aquired four fields for growing hay since we arrived in october and the rent is very cheap. we also use a number of the neighbours gardens for grazing. In bulgaria most horses are tethered out on the common land around the village. there is no charge and you can pretty much put them where you want to. however as the new commers we try not to put ours in anyone elses way. WE have three that will tether and three that dont hence then need for gardens. we will be opening as a riding school next spring and there are several schools dotted around the country. let me know if you want any more info on transporting and i'll pm you the details. Feel free to visit us when you come over for your look around.

beautifulangel wrote:

Hi Eq we brought five of ours over with us and yes it is fairly straight forward if somewhat costly to do. We have aquired four fields for growing hay since we arrived in october and the rent is very cheap. we also use a number of the neighbours gardens for grazing. In bulgaria most horses are tethered out on the common land around the village. there is no charge and you can pretty much put them where you want to. however as the new commers we try not to put ours in anyone elses way. WE have three that will tether and three that dont hence then need for gardens. we will be opening as a riding school next spring and there are several schools dotted around the country. let me know if you want any more info on transporting and i'll pm you the details. Feel free to visit us when you come over for your look around.

Thank you so much, you are very kind.

It is by no means certain that we will bring Murphy with us. At the moment he is being backed (at 11!) as we have recently found out that this has never been done, and he had a habit of bucking hugely and effectively when asked to do anything he was unsure about. (sent him for "
re-schooling"
before we knew he had been a pet for ten years) At the moment it's going ok and he is a real sweetheart with a lovely nature. If it works out that his calm and accepting temperament wins, we would consider bringing him out, maybe getting him broken to harness first. He's quite chunky and could be useful. If he turns out to be untrustworthy he will be retired to grass in the UK.

I am glad to read that renting land is cheap though, don't know if I could rest tethering. Will keep you updated.

To add, if you`re looking for 3rd party services, there are plenty of sables in Bulgaria that can take care of your horse. The one I visit is close to Sofia, some 20km away, they breed Trakehner horses only. I have asked the guy what would be the cost, its around 15 leva / day incl. food, training, cell, walks, veterinary services, horse shoes and so on. Most of these would also allow you to use their parkour grounds. I have seen even cheaper offers down to 200 leva / month.
Most widely spread breeds in Bulgaria are the East-bulgarian horse, pretty and an excellent jumper, the Pleven, which is mostly a work horse, and in the last 10 years Trakehners and Holsteiners have started to appear. What breeds are you bringing?

Still not sure if our lad would be coming out. He is a (possible) shire/TB, 11yo 16.1. He has a complicated history which I will not bore anyone with, but in short we have recently found out he has never been backed, resulting in dangerous behaviour when ridden (several dealers have had a go) and he has now been taken to the beginning and started again, and has just started to be ridden by our yard owner, but he is scared, the only thing, besides whips, which scares him. He is generally accepting and has a lovely nature. It will break our hearts if we can't do anything with him. Our other option is to break him to drive, as no-one has tried and failed with this. But it is looking more likely that we will have to put him into a retirement home. very sad.

Don't know if this will work.

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Looks like a very powefull work horse, If I remember correctly - the biggest recorded horse in history was a Shire! The Pleven breed looks similar, but I would guess will be much smaller in appearance. Very nice horse, what`s his name?
Are warm-bloods popular in the UK in present days? I know of a few clubs that used to breed Hanoverians and Trakehners, not sure if they`re still on.

I think he would make a very good all-round workhorse, his issues seem to be with being ridden only, he has had a bad scare, but anything else he takes very little time to accept.

Continental warmbloods are still popular with the Dressage and showjumping types, but everyone wants a label on their horse for some reason, and the most popular at the moment is 'Irish sports horse', which basically seems to be anything, large or small, which may have been bred in Ireland or have Irish ancestry!

Our lad is called Murphy, but as far as we know he was bred in Yorkshire, not Ireland. He was certainly bought as a yearling from a horse sale in Yorkshire, and registered on the database from then. A lot can happen between now and any move to Bulgaria, and decisions will be made later. We are extremely fond of the big soft lump, but would not drag him out without having a use for him. Trying not to think of alternatives yet.

I hope you won`t need to think of alternatves. Never heard of the "
Irish sports horse"
, better know the small pony-like horses that were bred in there ( and used by the Hobilars in the mid-ages ).

John Parker is often mentioned as a reliable and top class horse transporter across Europe. I have a friend who used him and was very happy with the service and level of care.

Unfortunately I can't recommend him personally as we didn't bring our horses with us to BG :( Bought here instead as ours did not travel well at all.

Suzee wrote:

John Parker is often mentioned as a reliable and top class horse transporter across Europe. I have a friend who used him and was very happy with the service and level of care.

Unfortunately I can't recommend him personally as we didn't bring our horses with us to BG :( Bought here instead as ours did not travel well at all.

Yes, John Parker have a good name, we wouldn't bring him ourselves as there would need to be several stops which a professional would know about. But he travels well, one of his many good points.

We have a new lady riding hm at the moment and are starting to hope that things will turn out ok. I am sure he will be a lot happier when we can trust him to hack out. Kate is very positive about him. We are very attached to him and it would be a real wrench to leave him behind, but we cannot afford it to be a deal breaker.

Mrs Eq