Interstate Health Certificates:
If you are planning to travel out of state with your horse, you are required to have an Equine Certificate of Veterinary Inspection. A veterinary examination is required before a health certificate will be issued. Some states have more rigid requirements such as examinations to be within 10 days of entry or coggins certificates to be negative within a 6 month time period prior to entering that state. You can access this information by checking the web at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/sregs/ where you can click on the state you are going to and then find the regulations for equines.
In order to get a health certificate from the Massachusetts Equine Clinic, please call WELL IN ADVANCE to schedule an appointment and have the following information: date of departure, who will be shipping the horse(s), reason for movement (showing, training, sale, or permanent move) and complete address and phone number of your destination. Also, your horse must have a negative coggins within one year. If we did not do the coggins, please e-mail or fax a legible copy to our office prior to your appointment. After your appointment, the health certificate will be created and e-mailed to you. Please print this certificate in color and be sure a copy travels with your horse. Once the certificate has been created, changes cannot be made and it will be valid for 30 days.
Canadian Health Certificates:
Health certificates to Canada are more complicated and require extra time for completion. Please call WELL IN ADVANCE to schedule an appointment and have the following information: date of departure, who will be shipping the horse(s), reason for movement, and complete address and phone number of your destination in Canada. A negative coggins within 6 months is required for admittance into Canada. After we have completed our examination and our sections of the health certificate, it has to be endorsed by the Federal Veterinarian, and this is done by appointment only at the USDA Veterinary Services office in Sutton, Massachusetts. If time permits, this can be done by mail, and they will forward the endorsed copies to you.