Gypsy Cobs

Moving House (And then some)

You often hear of people relocating to another country for professional reasons, better job offers, career opportunities, that kind of thing. People even take their pets. But what about three generations of one family, the contents of two houses, and all their animals – including two jumbo plane loads of horses?

In the midst of the Equine Influenza crisis in October 2007 that’s exactly what Gina and husband Kevin Feakins did, landing in Sydney’s Purple Zone with two plane loads of Traditional Gypsy Cob horses and the Fell ponies – the best stock from their two English stud farms.

Originally based in Herefordshire, England, Gina and Kevin began their search for a new home in 2000. They had always liked the idea of farming in Australia and in late 2001 Gina and Kevin took a trip out here to look around for a suitable place to call home.

“We travelled from right down south in Victoria to all the way North into Queensland,” Gina says. “We had a map, and everywhere we went, if we liked a place we put a big circle around it, if we didn’t, a big cross through it.”

Back and forth they travelled, narrowing down the list of places they liked until they got down to one area in particular – The Northern Tablelands – Glen Innes region of NSW.

With business matters back home taking an upper hand it would be another 6 years before they made the huge move to our southern shores. In February 2007 they returned to the Glencoe – Glen Innes region and quickly found a number of suitable properties to relocate everyone to.

The Feakins are farmers and Gina says the main reason they chose to relocate is because “agricultural legislation in the UK is making it harder and harder for farmers to make a living”. They have always farmed sheep and cattle but, with a desire to help protect an endangered native animal species back home in the UK, they decided some thirty odd years ago to take up breeding Fell ponies, a British Native Bred pony of which, Gina says, “there are fewer than 6,000 remaining in the world today”. The pony is on the rare breeds register and has just been removed from endangered.

Gina also breeds Traditional Gypsy Cobs, a coloured heavy horse/pony bred by the UK Gypsies to pull their colourful wagons. Gina had a skewbald Gypsy Cob as a child and grew up with the ponies so it was almost second nature for her to breed them as an adult.

Both Traditional Gypsy Cobs and Fell Ponies are new breeds to Australia and the Feakins essentially doubled local populations of the breeds in a single move. In fact, Gina’s Fell Ponies are the first Fell Ponies to be imported into the southern hemisphere making them unique to our shores.

Back home in Herefordshire the Feakins set about making arrangements. With years of experience exporting horses Internationally from the UK behind her, Gina says the worst part was actually packing up the houses, the contents of which filled four 40ft, full size shipping containers!

The arrangements for shipping the horses were relatively easy to organise by comparison.

Deciding it would be better to Quarantine the horses on their Hill Farm property in Herefordshire Gina found a major hurdle was implementing all the quarantine measures on the farm to meet with Australian Quarantine & Inspection Service (AQIS) approval and she likened the experience to “jumping through all sorts of hoops but worth the experience!”

At the end of the day though, approval for farm quarantine was in place and it was just a matter of organising regular veterinary inspections and health tests [required by AQIS] until the horses could fly.

Kevin went ahead in July 2007 to prepare the farm and house while Gina stayed behind to tend to the horses. She says it was “very strange” being in her big, empty and very old property – a three storey-plus-wine cellar, seventeeth century English manor house – by herself and, at night, she would base herself in one room with her dogs for company.

From Hill Farm, the horses would travel with IRT all the way to Sydney and the entire shipment flew out on the 25^th of October 2007, landing in Sydney on the 27^th October.

Hours of meetings with transporter IRT paid off.

Talking about the day they departed the UK Gina says, “The transporters had arrived the night before, IRT staff and the veterinary arrived in the early hours, the day of departure, so it was just a matter of bringing the horses and ponies in for breakfast, a veterinary health inspection, final disinfections and the correct named and tagged head collars fitted.”

She says the entire process took about five hours then they left their UK home of Hill Farm for the very last time.

The trip and flight went like clockwork and the horses – including an in foal Trakehner mare – travelled exceptionally well.

Throughout the flight, the horses and ponies would be checked every hour by one or more staff. Hay would be topped up, water buckets offered. IRT had commented that this was “the easiest flight of horses they have transported”. Even with a full time vet on hand should anything go wrong, not a single animal showed distress or discomfort throughout the journey.

Gina’s grey Fell Pony Stallion 'Llancloudy Dorian' a seasoned show pony, however, seemed to have worked out that the noise of the engines indicated an imminent change and she says he “would call out to the crew” during takeoff and landing.

After three week’s quarantine at Eastern Creek the Feakins found they had something of a predicament on their hands as the AQIS facility was smack bang in the middle of the purple zone and travelling horse statements were not yet being issued for interzone movement. “All of a sudden and on the last day of quarantine”, Gina says, “we had to find agistment for around at least two dozen horses, which included stallions, mares and foals within the purple zone!”

Finally in January the horses were allowed to be moved to their new home at Camlea Station in Glencoe.

Everyone has settled in well. The horses have also been joined by (locally bought) cross-bred ewes and pure bred Charolais ewes (as well as Charolais rams being bred to both groups); Blonde D'Aquitaine cows with calves at foot and five bulls. Add to those an assortment of extra cows of different types – Shorthorns and Black Baldies - and crops of Lucerne, Oats, Rye and other grasses, as well as root crops for fodder and the Feakins well and truly have their new farms underway.

Gina says they have felt really welcomed by the local community and are making good friends.

A year down the road how does she feel about the move and their new life?

“I love Australia, I love the people, we have been made so welcome!” she exclaims.

Do you miss England?

“Only the sounds of the Blackbirds, Song Thrush and the Robin Red Breast first thing in the morning!”

By Geraldine Chapman

Editor Horseyard.com.au