CSI competition horse transport — a logistics playbook
Planning transport to CSI, CDI and CCI competitions across Europe — how far in advance to book, what paperwork competition vets need, arrival timing for show-fitness.
Get your price in 60 seconds
Tell us the pickup, the destination and roughly when. You get a fixed, all-in price, door to door, with live tracking on the day. No account, no hidden fees.
Booking windows
CSI transport falls into three booking windows by distance. Short — under 400 km, same region: book 5-7 days ahead. Medium — 400 to 1,200 km, cross-border: book 10-14 days ahead. Long — over 1,200 km, multi-day routes: book 21-30 days ahead to lock in driver availability and ensure the paperwork cycle completes.
Spring CSI season (March-June) is the busiest booking window of the year. Germany, Belgium and France dominate the calendar. If you're shipping to a 5* or World Cup Qualifier, add a week to the booking lead time — carriers with clean records at big venues fill up early.
What FEI venues verify at arrival
Every CSI/CDI/CCI venue runs a standardised horse-arrival check: FEI passport + microchip scan, vaccination record (equine influenza within 6 months, rabies as required), food chain status, and on competitions 3* and above — a visual soundness check by the vet before stabling assignment. The FEI stewards also verify the transporter insurance and driver documentation, which your carrier provides.
Our drivers bring a laminated FEI-approved document pack at every delivery. Passport, TRACES printout, health certificate, insurance proof, driver identification — everything the venue vet needs in one folder.
Arrival timing for show fitness
The common mistake is shipping too close to the first class. A horse that arrives Monday for a Wednesday class has three days to rehydrate, settle, and recover muscle tone — that's the sweet spot for 3* classes. For 5* and championship level, professionals ship 5-7 days ahead and use the venue's training arenas to gradually reintroduce intensity.
Return transport is usually easier to plan than outbound — most riders know their class slot hours in advance. Book the return as a separate leg rather than a round-trip if your departure time is genuinely uncertain; waiting fees at competition venues rack up fast.
Multi-horse stable transport to a circuit
Stables running a 3-4 horse circuit through Italy, Spain or the Netherlands typically commit to one transporter for the full loop instead of rebooking at each venue. The economics work out — you get a flat rate for the loop plus stabling at overnight stops, and the horses stay in the same cabin with the same driver, which reduces load/unload stress.
We run these circuit-mode bookings as a single invoice with the full itinerary locked at booking time. Last-minute venue changes are billable only for the added km, not the whole trip.
Door to door in every European country
We move horses to and from all of these, with full paperwork help and live updates the whole way.
Still comparing prices? Just ask us.
One message and we send a fixed, all-in quote for your exact route. No obligation, no pushy follow-ups.