More drama, like I need any

So, the good news is that I was able to resolve the transportation issue.  The German guy said he had a truck going up on the 30th, which is next Thursday, and Little Love could hop on that one.  Wow.  In a week.  He said she would be up in nothern Germany either evening of the 1st or morning of the 2nd, depending when they stopped for a break.  Sounded good to me.  I even confirmed with the Finnish transporter guy and he said he would be up in northern Germany waiting for Little Love at that point.  Since our own boat from Germany to Finland doesn't leave until the 4th, that would mean that most likely Little Love would arrive in Finland before me.  Not ideal, but since I have some horse savvy friends in Finland whom I trust 100%, I know she will be alright.  I still need to finalize the details of the actual trailering over the Swiss border, but I have someone lined up for that job, he just hasn't confirmed.

So, all was well for a moment. Until the next bomb exploded.

Last night I get an email from my vet, telling me that the veterinary office she has refered me to for the papers said they can't make the papers for Little Love all the way to Finland.  Instead, they would give her papers to go to France, but then I would have to get another vet to look at her again and redo the papers for her to enter Germany.  So what this means is that when I trailer her to France to meet the German truck, we would be having a vet appointment in the middle of all this.  Right.  I just about split a vein in my head thinking about that.  I'm pretty sure the vet is not right, as I have researched this whole paper thing a million times and know exactly what papers need to be done.  And the papers I'm talking about would let Little Love depart Switzerland and travel through Europe for ten days.

I lost some sleep over this (naturally I got the email right when I was going to bed...) and in the morning called a Swiss friend of mine and asked her to call the vet office.  My French is alright, but it was crucial that I understood every word they were saying to get this right.  My friend called them, but she was left just as confused as I was.  She said they really didn't make a lot of sense.  I'm starting to think I can't trust that vet office.  They seem to think that the problem is the France bit.  If I were to go straight to Germany, it would be easy as pie (but both countries are in the EU, which has an agreement between countries...)  The bottom line is that they still don't think they can make the papers all the way to Finland because of the several transportation vehicles, but that someone going straight to German would be better than going to France.

All this makes no sense.  I can't begin to tell you how frustrated I am at this point.  I went back to the Finnish customs pages and they clearly tell you that horses can travel in the European Union (including Switzerland, even though it's not EU) ten days with these papers called TRACES.  So what the heck is the problem??

  AAaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.  This can't be happening. 

So, at the moment I'm trying not to hyperventilate.  Tomorrow I'll call the Finnish authorities and ask them a gazillion questions about having several transportation vehicles, passing through several countries etc etc.  Maybe I can get answers there.  I also need to talk to another vet here in Switzerland.  From my German speaking friend I heard that her vet apparently made the papers for a mutual friend of ours when she left a while back to go to Sweden with her horses.  Perhaps I need to call this vet instead and see what his story is.  I don't have much time, as she is sipposed to leave on Thursday.  Will she make it?  At this point it's a crap shoot.

PS. My vet has known for over a month about my travel plans.  Don't you just find it wonderful that she decided to tell me NOW, less than a week before Little Love and I are leaving, that she can't help me with the papers?  Unreal.