Shipping Your Horse To (or From, or Within) Hawaii

Maybe you are planning to move your family, horses included, to Hawaii from the mainland.

Or, your daughter’s horse has qualified for the nationals in barrel racing or western pleasure, and that means a trip to the mainland…for the horse as well as the daughter.

Or, maybe you just want to take your nice Kauai-bred Quarter Horse over to the Big Island and show those folks how a really good cutting horse works a cow.

Regardless of whether you’re going off island or out of state, you’re going to have to do more than just load old Blaze into a trailer and head off down the road.  Readers often call to see if we have information on horse transportation … so, here it is.

To/From Hawaii:  Sail or Fly?

The joys of living in paradise include the headaches of transporting horses over the ocean.  If you’re moving a horse into or out of the state, he’ll have to go by plane or boat.

The boat option means Matson Navigation, which has regularly scheduled livestock transportation between Honolulu and Oakland, and Honolulu and Long Beach, CA.  The trip usually takes six days on the water.

To book passage on a Matson livestock ship, you’ll need to work with a shipping agent.  Matson’s customer service folks can provide you with a list of shippers.  (Contact Matson customer service 866-662-4826 x5046.)

Matson provides trained livestock handlers who accompany each shipment of animals; owners aren’t allowed to travel with their horses.  The cost will vary depending on where, who, when and how many horses you are shipping, but you can expect to pay between $1,000 and $1,400 per horse.

To fly your horse to or from Hawaii, you can use either Pacific Airlift or a livestock shipping agent such as Air Equine.  Pacific Airlift flies horses twice each month–once westbound and once eastbound–between Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Air Equine works as a shipping agent, arranging passage between Los Angeles and two destinations in Hawaii, Honolulu and Hilo, on scheduled FedEx cargo flights.  They also use KLM and CargoLux for international flights.

Pacific Airlift employs a veterinarian to fly with the horses; Air Equine sends two professional grooms with each shipment of horses.  Both companies ship horses in specially made shipping stalls that accommodate three average-sized horses or two large horses.

Flying a horse from LA to Honolulu costs about $3,500.  That’s considerably more than ocean transport, but for many owners the lowered stress for the horses and the time savings are worth it.

“For a horse, flying to Hawaii is just like traveling in a three-horse trailer for six or seven hours,” says AirEquine’s customer service agent Maelani Worboys.

Hawaii Department of Agriculture requirements must be met regardless of how a horse arrives in Hawaii.  Shipping agents will make sure the arriving horses are presented for DOA inspection upon arrival in Hawaii, but it’s the owner’s responsibility to ensure the horses have the proper vaccinations, treatment for parasites, a negative equine infectious anemia certificate (Coggins test) and veterinary health certificate before transport.

Contact the Hawaii Department of Agriculture or visit the DOA website for more information.  The Pacific Airlift website also has a summary of these requirements.

From Island to Island

Young Brothers ships horses to all islands, but not to all ports. (Horses can’t be barged into Hilo, for example.)  Ports for livestock delivery include Nawiliwili on Kauai, Kahului on Maui, Kaunakakai on Molakai and Kaumalapau on Lanai, Kawaihae on the Big Island and Honolulu on Oahu.  You must provide your own shipping container (a van, trailer-and-truck rig, or trailer that can be lashed down; or a specially built, palletized horse stall that can be moved around the docks by forklift.)  The container has to keep manure and urine from escaping, and has to include some method of providing drinking water.

Prices vary depending on the length, weight and height of the load.  On the Young Brothers website, look for page 56 in the Tariffs document, which contains information about shipping and cargo restrictions.

Paperwork for inter-island transport. Transporting horses by barge or ferry requires a Certificate of Livestock Ownership/Movement (form DC-44), obtained from the Department of Agriculture, and a bill of lading obtained from Young Brothers.

The Young Brothers website explains how to ship goods and crate a bill of lading, but there’s not much there about livestock.  Call their customer service number, 808-543-9311, for more information.

You can manage this all by yourself, but unless you move horses from island to island frequently, you’ll probably want to hire someone to do it for you.

Interisland shippers will handle the transport details, pick up horses from the DOA quarantine station if they’re coming from out of state, provide feed and the trailer or shipping stall, and make sure your horse loads safely and has water for the journey.  Two well-known interisland shippers are Kea Among (808-221-5449) and Ralph Fukishima (808-372-9633), both based on Oahu.

Charters and Special Deals

If several people who want to transport horses to a major event on another island, they may be able to charter a barge.  Rodeo competitors on Maui and the Big Island occasionally do this.

And, Rope Maui offers rebates on inter-island shipping for Rope Maui competitions and U.S. Team Roping Championship (USTRC) events in Hawaii.  Off-island ropers receive a $100 per horse rebate towards inter-island shipping to Maui for Rope Maui URP events and Rope Maui USTRC events.  Maui ropers traveling to other islands also receive a $100 per horse rebate towards inter-island shipping to any state-wide USTRC events.  Check the Rope Maui website for more information.

Use a Checklist

Regardless of how and where you’re transporting your horses, you’ll need to do your homework to ensure a smooth, trouble-free experience.

• What kind of insurance do you need?  Does the carrier provide insurance, or are you required to purchase mortality or some other type of insurance?
• What paperwork do you need? Health certificate and recent Coggins, Certificate of Ownership/Movement, bill of lading, anything else?
• Plan any scheduled health checks, tests or treatments well in advance, and be sure to follow the timetable.
• If you’re not accompanying your horse on the same flight or boat trip, ask about care.  Who feeds, and how often?  How is water provided?  When is the stall cleaned?  What happens if the horse colics or goes down or there’s some other emergency?
• Who handles the paperwork and the inspection destination?  When can you pick up your horse?
• If weather conditions aren’t safe, what happens?
• What should your horse wear? A light sheet, protective boots, head protector, sturdy halter with unbreakable lead-rope?
• Will your horse need an over-sized stall or special handling?

And, most important:

• Have you taught your horse to load easily and travel well, before you hand him over to a shipper?

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Learn more about Sarah Blanchard at www.tactfultraining.com

The entire newsletter in which this article first appeared can be downloaded as a PDF.

Lora Ayers, R(S), ABR

In a previous post, we took a look at the history of ranching in Hawaii and shared photos of our tour of Anna Ranch Heritage Center.  Today, we are “talking” with Lora Ayers, one of our Hilo agents, who lives on a working ranch in East Hawaii.  Here are some excerpts from our conversation with Lora:

Will you describe your Mountain View ranch for us?

We’ve owned Kahealani Ranch in Mountain View since 2000.  The ranch is family-owned and operated–my daughter, who is a nurse, and my son-in-law, a general contractor, live here and help with the day-to-day operations.  We have about 48 acres of land, two homes, one horse barn, one covered riding arena, stock pens, and one shop.  Before we purchased the ranch, we had horses, but boarded them.

Right now, we have 6 horses.  We breed two of the mares and raise and train reining horses and cutting cow horses. We also run cattle.  We have 16 head of Angus/Hereford cows, 14 wean-offs (all ready for sale) and 2 steers for our own consumption when they get old enough.  We also have 3 working dogs (two are Australian Shepherds and one is a Border Collie) used to work the cattle.

Our cows graze in 8 different paddocks, which we alternate as needed.  Our horses graze in 4 different paddocks and are stalled at night.

Tell us about a “typical” day on the Ranch.

A typical day on the ranch begins with letting our horses out to pasture for the day.  Then, I clean their stalls and get the feed ready for the evening.  I check the water for the cattle and make sure everyone is good to go for the day.  After that, I head into Hilo to begin my other job in real estate.

During the show season, we ride from January to November.  In January, we start training any new colts and also ride the other horses.  Training takes place daily, 5 times per week.  Usually, we spend about 30 to 40 minutes per horse, depending on what needs to be done.

There are days when we take the dogs and go out and move our cattle to a new paddock.  Or, just check the cows (near calving time) to see who might need assistance.  The first year they calved, we had to pull 4 calves.  Last year, they were all good without help.  But I still take my horse and one of the dogs to go out and find the calves to make sure they’re ok.  (One of my Aussie dogs is great about “finding the babies.”)

There are times when we bring the cows in to the stock pens to fly spray, worm, and inoculate.  Or, to castrate any bull calves.  We don’t brand – we have ear tags (because we’re a small operation).   At the end of a typical day, we clean the horses we’ve ridden and bring all the horses back into the barn for the night to be fed.  Of course, we also then feed the dogs.  After that, I go into the house (usually no earlier than 7:00 in the summer) and cook dinner.

What do you feed the horses and cows?

I feed the horses alfalfa cubes (because it’s much more affordable then alfalfa hay) and supplement with a complete grain which has all their necessary vitamins.  They also have unlimited access to a mineral/salt block.  I give them a daily wormer and a tube wormer every 60 days.  This is necessary because, in our climate, the temperature never drops to freezing like on the mainland, so the larvae don’t go dormant as they would in colder climates during the winter months.

The feed costs are considerably lower on the mainland than here because Hawaii has to ship all of the feed in.  The grass that grows on this side of the island is not nutritious enough to support a horse, but is sufficient for cattle.  (The grass is nutritious enough in Waiamea, so one would have to feed much less in Waimea than from Hilo-side up to Honokaa.)  The cattle graze and are supplemented with salt/mineral blocks and molasses.  We worm the cows every 3 months.

Can you tell us about shipping larger animals to and from the Big Island?

We purchased 3 of our horses from the mainland and shipped them over.  Shipping can be difficult on the animals.  Between California and Oahu, they travel on an actual cargo ship with stock tenders feeding and watering them daily.  Shipping inter-island is by barge.  The animals go in a box stall, which is very limited in space.  There is just enough room for the animals to stand and for whatever food and water you can hang in the stall (usually one bucket of water and a few flakes of alfalfa).  That leg of the trip is difficult – 24 hours on the barge.

Before shipping, one has to contact the state regarding certain requirements to bring animals in.  For horses, a Coggins test has to be done by their local vet as well as certain inoculations. Once they get to Oahu, they go to the state quarantine station for inspection from the state veterinarian.  Then, they are approved to be shipped on the barge inter-island.  They’re also required to be quarantined once they get to the destination and the state vet will visit and take another Coggins test after so many days.

If one had the money to spend, you could fly a horse from California to Oahu (approx. $2500 one way) and then barge inter-island.  When my daughter represented the Hawaii Quarter Horse Association for the reining/cow horse competition at the American Quarter Horse World Show (this was about 12 years ago), we flew her horse to California and then trucked her to Texas from there.  Flying is much better than the ship, but very expensive.

What are special challenges ranchers face in Hawaii?

I would say that one of the biggest challenges for the ranch is maintaining the horses in such wet weather, especially on the Hamakua coast.  It’s hard on their hooves and they can get rain rot on their coats.  One solution is to keep them in the barn 24/7 when it’s very wet and rainy (which is what we have to do from time to time).

The other important thing to remember is that our climate is warmer, necessitating  a strict worming regime for horses and cattle.  A lot of people from the mainland think that the grass is great because it’s long and green, but it is very different from pasture lands on the mainland, so we need to supplement our horses and cattle to keep them in performance condition.  Hawaii does not grow the feed necessary for horses and thus all feed and supplies are shipped, bringing the cost of feed/supplies much higher than the mainland.  I order a lot of my supplies and wormers directly from the mainland.  It saves a little…

One last question…How did you get into ranching?

I grew up loving horses, but with limited access to them.  My husband grew up on the Bear Ranch in Northern California where his father was the foreman and his mother was the cook for the ranch.  So, he is the one with the most ranch experience.  I have always loved animals and had a dream of raising horses.  I got a horse when I first got married and have had them ever since.

If you are looking for ranch properties on the Big Island, Lora Ayers is one of our agents who really knows that territory. You can contact her directly by phone at 808-987-7945 or by email at loraayers (at) hibr (dot) net.

Mahalo, Lora, for taking the time to share this information with us!