The America's Young Horse
Championships
Monterrey,
Mexico
October 26 - 29, 2000
Report by Carol
Dean-Porter |
GUIDE TO SHIPPING
HORSES IN MEXICO
In order to get horses from the US to Mexico, a Mexican Customs Broker is required, along with a
myriad of paperwork. International Health Certificates, including Spanish translation addendums, must be certified by the USDA and include Coggins test certificate information and the name of the lab reporting the negative test result.
We arrived at the Texas Department of Agriculture inspection station at 9 am on Tuesday morning the 24th of October. Our broker's agent met us and collected the health certificate, but declined to take with him the Coggins papers or the addendum. The horses were inspected by a Mexican veterinarian and we drove to the customs broker's warehouse. After about a 3 hour wait, we were told that the addendum was in fact needed, so the agent collected that paper and disappeared again. About 3 hours later we were informed that the Mexican officials did not approve our paperwork since the health certificate said "page one of two", exactly as the USDA had instructed us (the addendum is page two). I telephoned my vet in California, who faxed a letter saying that he had included the addendum as page two. Two hours later the Mexican officials still did not like the paperwork since my vet is not a certified federal vet, but approximately an hour later they relented.
We had to unload all our tack from the trailer and put it onto another truck. We were allowed to bring no feed or shavings across the border. Dan drove the horses across Bridge 3, the commercial bridge, with one broker's agent. I went in another agent's truck with all our equipment, luggage and our two dogs across Bridge 2. At the Mexican customs check, we were pulled in and the inspectors went through all our equipment, closely questioning the purpose and value of all the tack. I paid a customs fee of about $40.00 after declaring a total value of $3,000 and was given a receipt. This process took about an hour and a half. The two trucks met at the car permit and immigration headquarters, about 1/2 mile from the border. There we were issued temporary car import papers and tourist visas. All the equipment was loaded back onto the trailer and we were finally on our way to Monterrey, about 150 miles south.
At the 26 kilometer marker there is a checkpoint with another customs check. US vehicles are allowed to drive freely within 26 kilometers of the border area without car permits, but if you intend to go further south you must pass this checkpoint. The back-up was nearly a mile long and took another hour. The customs inspector there told me I should have paid much more, and only relented when I insisted that none of the equipment would be staying in Mexico and was only for use with the horses at the horse show.
When we finally cleared that checkpoint, it was about midnight on Tuesday night. The road to Monterrey splits into a free road and a toll road. We chose to pay the 200 peso fee and took the better quality, straighter route. The road was quite good and we made good time. Unfortunately our directions to the horse show were not too clear, and the highway markers are
unlit and confusing, so we passed the turnoff for the airport. We located a friendly taxi cab driver at 2 am to lead us the proper direction and he took us most of the way to Club La Silla before he got lost! He found a group of Policia who thought they knew the way and led us down a narrow, bumpy dirt road in the dark. We finally did reach a gate to the grounds, but were told that we needed to go around the corner to the proper exhibitor's gate. We were met there by armed guards, who were very friendly and helpful. One drove a golf cart up the winding 1/2 mile long road to the International Stable area. This was guarded by another smiling armed security guard. By the time we got the horses settled into their stalls it was 4 am.
Our friendly taxi driver then took us downtown to the Radisson Grand Ancira hotel, the official lodging for the horse show. Once there, we were told that they did not accept pets, but made an exception for us. By the time we got to bed it was nearly 5 am on Wednesday morning.
The horse show provides transportation to and from the show in Suburban and van type vehicles, which run every 15 minutes. This is fortunate, as the roads are very difficult to navigate (and understand!). The shuttles drive the exhibitors all the way up the hill to the barn area, which is much appreciated.
Going home is another adventure in paper work. The horse show vet issues an export certificate, including another health certificate. Caution must be taken that every detail is correct. The customs broker writes up additional paperwork and arranges for quarantine and blood testing.
We left the show at 3:30 am on Monday morning the 30th of October. We drove back north to the official quarantine station, located just north of the 26 kilometer checkpoint. The stable facility there is quite small, with cement block barns inside a chain link fence and many cattle pens. The water is from a very slow-running faucet. It is none too clean, although our horses did not seem to mind it. We brought our own feed and shavings. We cleaned out the stalls, fed and bedded the horses and waited for the USDA officials to arrive. This facility deals mostly with exports of cattle, so they are the priority. Our broker's agent arrived about 8:30 and the USDA inspectors arrived at 9 am. We turned in our paper work, but the agent was missing some forms, much to our horror. Fortunately, another broker had the proper forms to loan him and all was completed rapidly. The inspectors then drew blood for testing, and the horses were marked with a paint stick for identification. We finished caring for the horses and headed north across the border to Laredo, Texas. We got a motel room there for the three day quarantine wait. We drove back and forth across the border twice a day to feed and care for the horses, who did not seem to mind the cattle pens located directly behind them.
If all goes according to plan the horses will be released from quarantine on Thursday for the trip back across the border and then on to California!
