The horses have to stand resident for 60 days in the country of origin before departure. Included in those 60 days is a 30-day pre-export isolation which is completed at a variety of state approved private quarantine facilities. During this time the horses are blood tested and swabbed for various diseases including Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA), Dourine, Equine Infectious Anemia, Equine Influenza and Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM), depending on the origin of the horse.
If the results are within acceptable pre-determined parameters, they are shipped by scheduled or chartered flight to South Africa – Johannesburg Kempton Park, or Cape Town Montague Gardens. These are government quarantine facilities where the horses stand an additional 30 days, and the above blood tests and swabs are repeated.
As post arrival quarantine is an all-in all-out system, there are only shipments of horses into Johannesburg approximately every 6 weeks. Cape Town is charter based and flights are occasional. The limited number of shipments are due to these imports being restricted to chartered aircraft (there are no scheduled flights to Cape Town that can accommodate horses) which means there is a dependency on the number of horses imported to keep the cost economical.
Hobday Equestrian Enterprises provides a door-to-door service. All documentation, permits and logistics are arranged on your behalf.
