Import and Export

Click the images below to view a PDF version of the USEF & AHC Import and Export information and High Health High Performance Horses.

Agency Staffing

Since the new administration came into office in 2025, there has been a large push to limit redundancies, resolve budget issues, and reduce “inefficiencies”. These goals are being achieved through overall reductions in force across all agencies.

As a result of new policies, there has been a loss of thousands of employees across all Federal agencies. National Parks and Forest Services are forced to leave campgrounds unattended and change park hours, impacting our recreation sector just as one example.

Most notably the impact has been felt by AHC and the horse industry at large when working with USDA-APHIS.

Budget freezes, staff buy outs, and lay offs have seen USDA lose over 15,000 employees in 2025, with over 1,300 alone leaving USDA-APHIS.

This drastic reduction in force has limited APHIS’s ability to enforce regulations and communicate with stakeholders. The horse industry is seeing impacts at import/export quarantine centers and on the regulatory enforcement side.

In July 2025 AHC sent a letter to Secretary Rollins requesting USDA-APHIS remain adequately staffed to better facilitate trade and protect the health and welfare of the National Herd.

As of November 2025 there are rumored to be further staffing reductions but the full scope is unknown.

Proposed Amendments to Import Regulations

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) sought public comments on proposed amendments to its import regulations for horses.  These proposed amendments would better align their regulations with international standards and allow both APHIS and the equine industry more flexibility for permitted imports, while continuing to mitigate the risk of bringing equine diseases, such as contagious equine metritis (CEM), into the United States.  The proposed regulations also provide APHIS with more regulatory authority to enforce standards for transporting horses. The official announcement and links to comment are found at:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/11/29/2021-25613/import-regulations-for-horses

These amendments touch on USDA documentation, CEM, VEE, Screwworm, shipping container transport, castration, and several country-specific import changes.

The regulations contain special provisions for the importation of horses that have been temporarily exported to a region where CEM exists. Currently, horses exported from the United States or another region not known to be CEM-affected are allowed to spend up to 60 days in a CEM-affected region and be re-imported into the United States without having to undergo CEM testing, provided certain conditions are met. They are proposing to amend the regulations to extend the temporary export period to 90 days, while maintaining the same separation and documentation requirements. Other changes can be read in the full document.

The proposed rule changes include several issues which have been at the forefront of our industry’s outreach for more than 10 years. The U.S. horse industry strongly supports the USDA’s efforts in modernizing their regulatory language, particularly where it concerns our continually evolving international equine transportation sector. However, there are several points where we highlighted suggested changes that may create unnecessary burdens or insufficiently address known areas of concern including items relating to Contagious Equine Metritis, the impacts of proposed changes on business continuity, requirements for castration documentation, and definitions of terms such as “animals in transit”.  

Further, AHC and horse industry stakeholders encourage USDA in the adoption of the World Organization for Animal Health “High Health High Performance (HHHP)” protocols for import and export of international performance horses.

Adoption of HHHP would modernize and align the United States with global import policies, reduce barriers associated with current USDA-APHIS import policies, and improve the user experience for international competitors entering the United States.

Currently AHC is seeking both regulatory and legislative solutions to continue to improve the import/export experience.

Accuracy of Reported Exports to Mexico by USDA APHIS and

It has come to the attention of the AHC that USDA APHIS does not record the number of horses listed on health certificates for horses being exported to Mexico, particular those listed as exported for slaughter, in the APHIS electronic database. This means that APHIS is unable to provide data upon request for the number of horses exported to Mexico, only the number of health certificates written.

Further, the number of health certificate written does not necessary equate to horses exported, as some loads of horses receive a health certificate but ultimately stay within the United States.

Additionally, the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) reports the number of horses exported to Mexico, including for slaughter. However, it has also recently come to the attention of AHC that the AMS report is an estimate, and not an exact count.

Currently, the most accurate data comes through the United States International Trade Commission that tracks U.S. international trade statistics and U.S. Tariff data. However, this data is not able to be separated by horses being exported for slaughter and those being exported for other purposes. Further, errors have also been identified in this data for countries other than Mexico and puts into question it’s validity.

AHC sent a letter to both APHIS and AMS expressing our concern. Many programs and initiatives in the equine industry rely on accurate data being reported by USDA on exports both for slaughter and other purposes. Discrepancies such as this put into question any data validity attempting to track trends in horse exports, particularly comparing time periods pre and post-COVID border crossings. Having an inaccurate count puts program budgeting at risk for organizations across the country, and has potential to impact long term planning and the overall knowledge of the economic impact of equine exports in the US. Miscounts of exports also put at risk industry initiatives to combat illegal imports and exports, as well as the international spread of contagious disease.

In discussion with USDA APHIS, is has been suggested that requiring the number of horses listed on a health certificate be recorded in the Vet Services database. This would allow for more accurate information to be exported and shared from the current system. Further, AHC implores AMS to work directly with USDA APHIS before reporting the number of horses exported to Mexico to prevent inaccurate data being released to the public.

AMS has confirmed with AHC that their count is “gathered by AMS employees from private contacts involved in the trade, most on the Mexico side of the border”. Some data is also provided from the Texas Department of Agriculture through a cooperative agreement with AMS. Still concerningly, some ports report data in load units that “AMS converts to a head count based off the typical industry standard of 29/30 per load”.

AMS has agreed to add explanatory information to clarify their reports. There is still concern about accurate reporting, particularly as estimating based on perceived trailer headcount could create variations of several thousand animals over the course of a year. AHC is working to understand potential next steps in facilitating an accurate account of exports.