Table of Contents
USDA information ...................................................................................................................................... 2
Regulations on exporting horses ........................................................................................................... 2
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs-tx/ ...................................................................................... 2
There are a limited number of border crossings that will accept horses. .............................................. 3
Overnight Horse Lodging between Laredo and Guadalajara ....................................................................... 3
Laredo – overnight before crossing the border ......................................................................................... 3
Asmussen’s Horse Center ..................................................................................................................... 3
Matehuala – 6 drive hours drive south from Nuevo Laredo ...................................................................... 3
Equine Veterinary Clinic “El Sauce” ....................................................................................................... 3
Another overnight possibility .................................................................................................................. 4
After you get here ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Branding your horse............................................................................................................................... 5
Guia and factura .................................................................................................................................... 5
Contact information ................................................................................................................................... 5
Equine Vet in Guad, well known and well respected: ............................................................................ 5
In Matehuala, we stayed at the Las Plamas hotel ................................................................................. 5
and put our horses up with this vet, he is happy to come to Las Plamas and guide you in .................. 5
Customs broker that we used – also will deliver your horse to Lakeside .............................................. 6
Other horse transporter – no personal experience with him.................................................................. 6
Overnight stabling in Laredo .................................................................................................................. 6
Hotel in Laredo that we stayed in, near Asmussen’s stable .................................................................. 7
How we did it ............................................................................................................................................. 7
Tales from our trip – early August of 2011 ............................................................................................ 8
Bringing your horse into Mexico
USDA information
Regulations on exporting horses
( www.aphis.usda.gov)...go to Import and Export .....go to International Animal Export Regulations..... go
to list of countries and hit "M" for Mexico and the regulations come out....go all the way down to horses
and check depending the state that you live.......if you have any questions on this call me. Also look out
for the following on this same page.
Sanitary Permit
A sanitary permit is issued by the Division of Animal Health, Ave Mexico No.190, Colonia Del Carmen
Coyocan, CP 04700, Mexico DF. This permit must be obtained in advance of the importation by the
importer. The permit shall be submitted to the official veterinarian of The Department of Port and Border
Animal Health Inspection at the port of entry.
Please note: The exporter must obtain a Sanitary Permit from Mexico for ruminants, swine, and horses.
The name of the person that is listed on the permit must match the name of the person listed on the
Health Certificate. The Health Certificate must contain the following statement for animals exported to
Mexico: "The animals must be transported in cleaned and disinfected vehicles, and not contact any other
animals during their transport. Los vehículos utilizados para el transport de los animales a la frontera
fueron sometidos a limpieza y desinfección antes del embarque y no estar en contacto con otros
animales durante el traslado." I really, really strongly recommend that you have your customs
broker prepare this for you. The broker will provide a Mexican vet’s name to put on the permit.
If you are able to get the permit let the broker know that you have a sanitary permit if not the Broker will
provide you with a name that must appear on the Health Certificate
Select a Broker and he will provide you with the name of the person that appears on their permit so you
can take it to your veterinarian.
Local vet
Once you check the regulations you take the horses to your local area Veterinarian and do what the
certificate tells you to do. The name that the broker gives you must appear on item #2 of the certificate( If
you got the permit your name will appear on Item 2 of the certificate)
The certificate has to be endorsed by the Federal Office from the state that you live in. Once your
certificate is ready call the broker for the best time to come to Laredo with your horses (you can fax the
broker a copy to make sure that everything is correct before you come to Laredo)
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/vs/iregs/animals/
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs-tx/
Veterinary Services in Texas is a federal agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture working in
cooperation with the state agency, the Texas Animal Health Commission. The Texas Area office for
USDA, APHIS, VS is located in Austin, Texas at 903 San Jacinto Boulevard, Room 220. Office hours are
8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Monday through Friday, and the telephone number is (512) 383-2400.
For sending animals and animal products out of the U. S. through Texas, contact the VS-Texas Area
office's export desk in Austin at (512) 383-2409, -2410, -2411, or 2412. Office hours are 8:00 A.M. to 4:30
P.M., Monday through Friday.
We used a vet in Texas to do the export paperwork – make sure they have done such paperwork
before. They will know who to contact in Austen, and how to do the paperwork. Your Mexican
customs broker should double-check the export paperwork to make sure it will be acceptable in
Mexico.
There are a limited number of border crossings that will accept horses.
Customs entries through which live animals can be imported into Mexico:
http://www.aphis.usd...borderports.pdf
Texas vets http://www.aphis.usd...v/vs-tx/#VSINFO
When you are crossing from the U.S. into Mexico, there is no quarantine required. Don’t let anyone
tell you there is – some people get confused because there is a minimum 3 day quarantine necessary
when bringing horses from Mexico, back in to the U.S. And quarantine is very expensive – on the order
of $500/ day, per horse.
Overnight Horse Lodging between Laredo
and Guadalajara
(as of August 2011)
13 hours drive from Nuevo Laredo to Lake Chapala (we overnight halfway down) – with a 2-horse bumper
pull trailer it cost us about $275 gas and $150 in tolls to make the drive with our horses.
93 octane gas at Pemex was about $3.42/gallon at that point, or 10.38 pesos per liter.
Laredo – overnight before crossing the border
Asmussen’s Horse Center
They provide hay, water and a choice of either a nice large stall, or a long private paddock with sunshade.
Automatic waterers in both. $25/horse/night. Call if you’re going to arrive after 5 pm to make sure
someone will be there.
Hotel: plenty of hotels in Laredo – pick one that is on one of the service roads on either side of I-35,
between exits 1 and 3.
Matehuala – 6 drive hours drive south from Nuevo Laredo
Equine Veterinary Clinic “El Sauce”
Dr. Amulfo Castillo Guerrero
Flores Magon #125
Col. Ferrocarrilera
Matehuala, San Luis Potosi
Tel: 882-02-58
Cell: 044-488-100-28-75
Emergencies: 882-54-71
Email: acg_7@hotmail.com
Other numbers that he wrote on his card when he gave it to us:
62*151413*2
4881054910
Very nice young vet, lives on premises, was a student of Dr. Anguiano’s in Guadalajara.
100 pesos per horse for the night.
No feed provided.
Big stalls with water and bedding provided.
DIRECTIONS
(Miles shown are from Nuevo Laredo south)
Heading south on highway 57 towards Matehuala
312
You’ll see a billboard advertising “La Noria” restaurant, 13 km – this restaurant is right across
from the hotel that we recommend, and it is known for its roast goat.
You’ll see another billboard for La Noria, and pass under a sign stretched across the highway
saying “Bienvenidos a Matehuala”
Get in the right hand lane.
315.3
Instead of continuing down the toll road, you’re going to take the old, free highway.
Exit, bearing right, towards Matehuala / San Luis Potosi “Libre”
316.2
You’ll pass a large walled “no tell motel” on your right, wall is currently painted apricot. We’ve
stayed at this motel, it’s good if you have pets traveling with you. About $40/night, not as
convenient as Las Palmas.
317.2
Turn right off the highway here. It’s just after a Michelin dealer. Drive down the concretecovered embankment and take the road straight back towards the mountains. Topes!
318.1
Turn left onto a one-lane gravel road – there will be a big concrete block wall on your right
after you turn. Turn in to the first gateway to your right after that concrete wall ends, and
you’re there. It’s a pretty small narrow gate. Pull on around to the back and you’ll see the
stable block on your right, the doctor’s house on your left.
Recommended Hotel: Las Palmas – old 50s style once-posh motel with nice restaurant, pool,
bicycle rental, miniature golf, free wifi in rooms. Really easy to pull your tow vehicle & trailer up next to
your motel unit and parallel park it there – or, they have a trailer park if you want to sleep in your trailer.
2 ½ miles from the vet’s. They generally have plenty of rooms available.
DIRECTIONS coming back from leaving your horses at the vet
(Miles shown are from Nuevo Laredo south)
Leave the vet’s, turn left out of his gate and right on the one lane gravel road; turn right when
you get back to the “libre” highway.
319.2
Pemex and Oxxo on your right shortly after pulling out on to the highway – you can see the
BIG Las Palmas sign from that Pemex, it’s on the other side of the highway.
320.6
Pull into left turn lane, wait for a break in the traffic, and drive across the road down into the
Las Palmas courtyard. Pull up to the building with blue awnings, that’s the office as well as
the restaurant.
Watch the sharp corners on the curb around the fountain in the middle of the courtyard, we
blew out a trailer tire on one of those.
If you see a white arch – you’ve gone too far, you’re past the hotel.
If you need to do some shopping – continue on the libre highway past Las Palmas, very soon you’ll see a
Walmart on your right; followed by a Soriana’s on the right.
Another overnight possibility
There is also another place to overnight in Mexico -- I emailed with them, haven't been there, but we were
thinking of spending a couple of days there to trail ride
•
Lagos Moreno – luxury hotel with stables; second day we could ride to another Hda
http://www.haciendasepulveda.com.mx/web_esp/index_info.php?seccion=300&submenu=30&header=10
After you get here
Branding your horse
I don't think branding is needed immediately. You will have papers for your trip south, and little tin strips
to close up your trailer with, to show that the trip is legit (the strips can be removed/replaced easily;, just
make sure they are in place while you are driving). The brand is only needed if you plan to trailer your
horse around places, after you get him down here, to prove your ownership of the horse. So you could
wait forever to do it.... Could also do a miicrochip (but they can't read them here) or a lip tattoo (but have
heard awful tales of lips being cut off stolen horses) -- and both of those are harder for the police to see
when they stop you.
Guia and factura
When you trailer somewhere down here - you also have to go to Chapala and get a guia, a piece of paper
that says where you are taking the horse. They are very serious about horse theft down here.
You will need a facture to get the guia – you get the facture from a Mexican horse vet, it describes your
horses.
Contact information
Equine Vet in Guad, well known and well respected:
Name: Ruben Anguiano
Phone: 3336677803 (M) (01 33) 3684 0629 (W) 33 3199 9956
Email: anguianoestrellaruben@gmail.com
Address:
Guadalupe Gallo #150 Zapopan, Jalisco 45235 Mexico (W)
In Matehuala, we stayed at the Las Plamas hotel
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g499417-d153678-Reviews-Las_Palmas_Midway_InnMatehuala_Central_Mexico_and_Gulf_Coast.html
and put our horses up with this vet, he is happy to come to Las Plamas and guide
you in
Name: Amulfo Castillo
Phone: 4881054916 (M)
Email: acg_7@hotmail.com
Address:
Flores Magon #125 Col. Ferrorcarrilera Matehuala, SLP
Notes: Vet in Matehuala who overnights horses
Customs broker that we used – also will deliver your horse to Lakeside
Name: Ricardo Sandoval
Phone: 956 251 8252 (H) 01086701090169 from Mexico
Dialing his Mexican cell phone from the U.S: 01152-867-109-0169
Email: rmr_0603@hotmail.com
Other horse transporter – no personal experience with him
I emailed a friend of mine who has had 2 horses brought down from the states, here's who she used and
her recommendation:
"Señor Pimienta is a really nice guy who has a quiet, calm, gentle soul. I think you will really like him. He
is a licensed horse vet in México, and is based in Tuscon, Arizona, but he has an office also in
Guadalajara. He personally drove my horse down from Texas for me and he arrived in beautiful condition.
He mainly services the area from California, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma, to México, I believe. His
service is one of the best to this area, I think. Lots of people I know have used him and have been very
satisfied. The only problem is that he tends not to contact his clients as often as the clients would like him
to during the trip, but other than that I can highly recommend him
Here are the phone numbers for MVZ Salvador Pimienta:
Tucson, Arizona # 's - US Mobile - (520) 241-1454
Office - (520) 682-3694
Fax - (520) 682-3694 ¨(E-mail: pimientasal@aol.com)
Nextel # - (520) 841-3888
Guad., Jalisco, #'s - Méx Office - (333) 620-3800
Overnight stabling in Laredo
DEE MARTINEZ
Asmussen Horse Center
P.O. Box 1861
Laredo, TX 78044
(956) 723-5436/Office
(956) 723-5845/Fax
http://asmussens.com/locations.html
Asmussen Horse Center is located on 4707 E. Saunders, Laredo TX. 956-723-5436
I-35 south to Laredo - take exit 2, continue south on the service road next to the highway, get in the left
lane after you exit, pretty immediate turn left at the first light, onto Highway 59 east, also known as
Lafayette St./Lloyd Bentsen Highway.
Go east on Lloyd Bentsen for 3.1 miles. You'll pass a big hospital, then the small Laredo airport on your
left. In the distance you'll see a raised highway (the Bob Bullock loop) -- the turn into Asmussen's is on
your right just before that highway (and before a small sign for Chacon Creek). Look for a tall sign on a
blue pole, the sign is blue printing on a white background, says the entrance to Asmussen Horse Center.
It's a one lane dirt road, head on back. Road curves right by the "Asmussen Equipment" store, then
curves left and you'll go through a white gate into Asmussen's. Pull on up into the courtyard and the
stable hands should come out to meet you. If not -- there's a one level home with arches, when facing it
you'll see an open garage on your left, in the back of that garage there's a little sign that says "Office".
Hotel in Laredo that we stayed in, near Asmussen’s stable
FAIRFIELD INN & SUITES LAREDO
700 W. Hillside Road, Laredo, Texas 78041 USA
Phone: 1-956-722-4533 Fax: 1-956-722-5133
TO HOTEL FROM ASMUSSENS:
You can follow the Mapquest directions below but here's the way we went, I think it's simpler:
Turn left out of Asmussen's and go back west on Lloyd Bentsen, to I-35. Turn right at I-35 on to the
service road, don't bother getting on to the highway. Head north up the service road, until you see a big
KMart on your right, the hotel is back behind that. You can see the hotel from the service road but you
have to turn right on Hillside to get to the entrance for it (we turned into the KMart parking lot, drove all the
way to the end of it, and then just looped left into the back entrance of the Fairfield Inn parking lot).
How we did it
We had a vet in Texas prepare the import papers (Coggins and a health certificate), hired a customs
broker to get the horses across the border while we crossed with our empty & sanitized trailer, and
trailered them down ourselves. In Laredo, we overnighted the horses at Asmussen’s; the customs broker
picked them up there, and on the other side of the border we met at a feed and hay store where we
bought supplies and transferred the horses to our trailer. On the way down, we overnighted in
Matehuala, the horses stayed with an equine vet in Matehuala. We left them with a vet in Guadalajara for
a couple of days to be monitored, and freeze-branded, then brought them home to our place outside of
Chapala.
Here’s the prices that the customs broker (Ricardo Sandoval) quoted us in May of 2011:
If you horses are in Texas and your Vet does the health cert
It will only take one day to cross them to N Laredo Mex.
If you send me the coggins for your horses a week in advace, I will do
The health cert. And
Like I have told you the price Is;
$250 with health cert. Per horse
$500 without health cert.per horse
And $1200 per horse from Texas to Chapala all included
At my convenience of time and date in a split trip
“Description Addendum” filled out by Texas vet, coordinated with APHIS in Austin and
reviewed/approved by our Mexican Customs broker
Email me if you want to see a copy of it – it’s several pages long. Jane_holdren@msn.com
Bill from the Texas equine vet for our 4 horses’ international health certificates and
Coggins
Tales from our trip – early August of 2011
Friday August 5, report on trip with first two horses: ok, we are here in Chapala (well, La Floresta)
and we have gotten 2 of our 4 horses down here! We left Pam's place on Wed morning (Pam is our
trainer, just north of Dallas), trailered to Laredo, overnighted the horses there at Asmussen’s. They settled
in well altho they had to be trained in how to use the automatic waterer -- Pildorin figured it out pretty
quick but Adorno got scared to death by the sound of the water re-filling. Silly boy!
BTW - it was 111 degrees in Laredo that afternoon -- we wimped out and got one of the stable hands to
clean out our trailer so it could pass through Mexican customs ok.
The horses were picked up at 8:30 the next morning and Ricardo took them in his trailer to pass through
Mexican customs, while we cleared Customs and Immigration and got the permit papers for bringing in
our SUV and horse trailer. We got a green light for customs, they took a quick look in our empty horse
trailer then waved us on. It took a while for Ricardo to get the horses through Customs (4 hours), as there
was a big herd of cattle to be inspected. Ricardo led us to a feed store in Nuevo Laredo and we loaded up
with hay for the trip (can't bring anything organic across the border), and got the horses loaded and hit the
road by 1:30 pm. The horses weren't even sweaty! in that awful heat. And once we were on the road and
moving, they stayed cool with the air coming through the trailer.
Many, many people had warned us of the narco gangs and gunfights and prison breaks etc up by the
border, but we had clear sailing. LOTS of armed troops around the border and on the road between
Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey (always traveling in groups, never alone, often with an armored personnel
carrier in the convoy, and jeeps with a gunner on duty) but we felt very safe.
3 hours south of Laredo, we started reaching a cooler climate. The temperature fell 40 degrees in 2
hours, as we drove up into the mountains.
We were following some directions written a couple of years ago -- and it turned out that the gas station
we were counting on, was on the other side of the road which was now a divided highway, and we
couldn't reach it. We drove for another hour and a half, watching the "miles left" dropping and dropping.
We were in a hurry to reach Matehuala, our midpoint stopover, before the sun set (dangerous to be on
the road after dark...). We drove behind a semi-tractor trailer for the wind effects, to save gas; and drove
slow. Still we were averaging only 9.3 mpg, because of hauling the trailer loaded with horses, and the car
stuffed with all our shopping. We thought we were toast! But, we covered the last 5 miles on "0 gallons of
gas left" and made it to a Pemex station. Whew!
We got to our hotel in Matehuala at 7:30 pm, in a torrential downpour (now, Matehuala is in a desert
climate. Go figure!). We were beat. Frank turned a corner in the parking lot and ran over a curb, which
blew a tire out on the trailer. Horses still on the trailer and we had to find out from the hotel, where we
were stabling them for the night - we didn't have the address but knew that the place closed at 8 pm.
AARRRGGH! Well, Frank changed that tire in 10 minutes flat (with help from a bell boy) and the front
desk called the vet who was providing an overnight stop for our horses, and he came over in his truck to
lead us to his barn. Turned out, this vet (Amulfo Castillo Guerrero) had been a student of our vet in
Guadalajara, Dr. Anguiano. Small world!
We picked up the horses this morning, drove 8 hours down to Dr. Anguiano's in Guad, and off-loaded the
horses at his stables. We'll leave them there for the 4 days we'll spend traveling back north for our other 2
horses, and bringing them down to Guad. Dr. Anguiano will freeze-brand them for us with his pretty 5point star brand, as we must have an identifying mark on the horses if we are to trailer them within
Mexico. Dr. Anguiano wasn't there when we arrived; it was a pretty chaotic scene, with a horse stretched
out flat on the cobblestones being attended by several students, plasma drip bag etc; and a number of
horses in the stalls were screaming and banging around. We held Pildie and Adorno by their lead ropes in
the shade -- all of a sudden I saw one of Dr. Anguiano's students leading an Andalusian stallion straight
towards our horses. I yelled to Frank to run but it wasn't in time, the stallion attacked both Pildorin and
Adorno and the student couldn't hold him. Frank wheeled Pildorin around and got him away from the
stallion, who then went for Adorno who went on the attack himself, type A horse that he is. Someone
hauled the Andalusian aside, as I was turning Adorno in a circle (and yelling at the student, in Spanish,
"What do you think you're doing???!!?"), and we got out of the mess with only a few bruises and a big
adrenalin rush. Got our horses settled in their stalls and calmed down, then headed on down to the
rancho and offloaded the SUV and trailer.
Our adventures continue tomorrow. We'll try to buy a new spare tire first thing, then head back north to
Laredo to pick up Gracie and Hermoso. We saved the easier horses for the second part of the trip, when
we figure we'll be whacked. Pam is bringing the horses to Laredo for us, and it will be two days drive up,
then two days drive back down for us. Ricardo will clear them through customs again for us.
August 13 report: well, we made our second trip down from Laredo, with Gracie and Hermoso. A little
tougher trip this time -- we had tire trouble with the trailer (one blown tire when we ran over a sharp curb,
and one tire with a slow leak) so we got new tires in Laredo on Monday morning before heading for the
border crossing. Ricardo's driver had picked our horses up at 7:30 am but it took 10 hours for him to get
the horses across the border at Laredo on Monday, so Ricardo over-nighted them in Nuevo Laredo and
Frank and I found a secure well-guarded hotel to stay in. We also got hit up by the customs guys this time
when we crossed the border and had to pay duty on things like my muchly-used saddle, and the lamps
and electric fence we were bringing down with us, etc. But, only about $100 duty in all, not so bad except
for the extra 2 - 3 hours in line, waiting to be inspected. It was HOT - but the horses came thru in fine
shape, and we stayed near the air conditioning.
The next day Ricardo brought the horses to our hotel and we drove to Matehuala, over-nighted there - we
were stopped at 5 different federale checkpoints and had to show our horse papers each time. The first
trip, we never ever had to show the papers. Good thing we had them! We got to Matehuala in time to find
a VW dealer and have the oil changed on the Touareg; and had a quiet night. Drove to Dr. Anguiano in
Guad the next day, left Gracie and Hermoso with him, and picked up Butthead (ummm, "Adorno") and
Pildorin. So sad to see the 5-point stars that were freeze-branded into their left flanks -- but, need to have
that down here.
We got to the rancho in early evening, and turned Adorno and Pildorin into their stalls (with attached 22'
paddocks) because the pasture fence is still being worked on. Then settled into our temp rental in La
Floresta - hopefully only for a couple of weeks! Went back to Guad the next day for Gracie and Hermoso arrived in a tearing rainstorm with hail, took a couple of hours to get the horses and their paperwork
because Dr. Anguiano was teaching a seminar on injections into the lower leg joints - he had students
from all over Mexico attending. The horsies were well taken care of at his place, they got vitamins and
antibiotics, and Adorno got antibiotic eyedrops for his eye infection.