OK, I was watching the Olympics this morning over breakfast.... and the Equistrian events were on. Got me to thinking... how do the riders get their horses to competitions? I am gussing it is NOT under their seats as carryons.... :D

I would guess they fly the horses over.I was on a 747 Kombi a few years ago that was carrying people in the front horses in the back to Japan .The grooms went back from time to time to check on them

Lufthansa sent a cargo only for horses of german team.
now that's alot of space for some horses :)

In coach?:D

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080809162212AAAuMXF

If I flash back to "International Velvet", it's a cargo plane.

Funny you asked that - I was wondering, also, but I read this (http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/story.html?id=cd7d104f-7a19-41e7-acc2-5c8f81424b37) a little while back.


Pigs may not have wings, but horses fly. And some Canadian horses are already winging their way on the first leg of a month-long journey to the Beijing Olympics.

Dressage competitor Leslie Reid of Langley, B.C., and her horse, Orion, will leave by truck for Calgary early tomorrow morning. After the 11 1/2-hour drive to Calgary, they'll fly on July 8 -- exactly a month prior to the Summer Games' opening ceremonies -- to Amsterdam.

From there, they'll go by road to Frankfurt. A week later, they'll go into pre-export quarantine in Aachen, Germany, and finally, on July 28, they'll board a flight to Hong Kong, where the Olympic equestrian events will take place.

"Most of these horses have been on more flights than you and I have," says Mike Gallagher, Canada's equestrian team leader.


[.... ]

There's a whole science to flying horses, which, like humans, get jet lag.

Some trainers prepare their horses by tricking them. They'll turn the lights on in the stable an hour earlier or an hour later in the morning, depending on which way the horses are flying. Then, gradually, they'll move the clock forward (or back) to at least mitigate the big time changes such as the 15-hour time difference between Vancouver and Hong Kong.

There's a complicated set of logistics for flying horses. Their shipping containers only fit in Boeing 747s, which limits the airports that they can fly in and out of.

Funny, we were just talking about something similar this afternoon while watching the Olympics. My cousin Liz was on the 2004 US Olympic sailing team and it took great expense and effort for her and her team to haul their boat (actually 2 boats) all around the world for 2 years for time trials and, ultimately, the Olympic games.

We were trying to think of a sport where you'd have more to haul than a 3 person boat; we couldn't.

I recall Liz's boats getting hung up in France in 2002 or 2003 when there was a dockworkers strike and they had to wait 2 weeks until they could get it out of cargo to practice.

Certain sports like swimming and gymnastics really require little or no equipment at all. Others, like cycling and, as you mention, equestrian, obviously require a whole heck of a lot more.

I guess that is one reason why a lot of athletes, especially Americans, come from rather well-to-do backgrounds. In sports where there is not a lot of sponsorship, the athletes are often on their own to raise funds. It can be tough in a less 'glamorous' sport.

We were trying to think of a sport where you'd have more to haul than a 3 person boat; we couldn't.


Not sure how big these boats are you're referring to, but how about an 8-man rowing shell? Those are 60-some feet long...Plus oars, outriggers, etc.

I suspect the boats go by ship. The reason is that a few weeks ago I passed a convoy of trucks hauling trailers loaded with the 8 person rowing boats used in the Olympics. They were headed South on I-35 in the general direction of Houston.

Here's a great article I read on it:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/equestrian/news/newsid=177686.html?_source=newsletter&cid=newsletter_dailyupdaterecapdailyrecapbysport_e questrian

They fly in a specially prepared area of the plane. It will actually look a lot like a stable. KLM actually specializes in transporting horses, and did (and does) a lot of the transportation of the horses we see at the Olympics.

FRA airport has a special Animal transport and transit building which can handle almost every kind of animal. You won't believe how many animals are daily transported by plane. All the zoos worldwide exchange animals on a regular basis.

I'm also not surprised that KLM specialized in transporting horses since they have one of the best equistrian teams.

Lufthansa sent a cargo only for horses of german team.
now that's alot of space for some horses :)

Not quite - the German horses flew KLM because the horse-transport boxes only fit into 747 freighters. They don't fit into the MD-11s Lufthansa Cargo operates, so LH was out of the running from the beginning.

I remember standing in the checkin queue at Brussels a few years ago, the day after the Van Damme Golden League Athletics Meeting. In the adjacent queue were some pole vaulters with their extra long baggage. Should have seen the look on the agents faces ! :D

My daughter was an equestrian before her leukemia sidetracked her Olympic dreams. Domestically, the horses are shipped by truck (accompanied by grooms). Given that a fair number of the grooms in the lower rungs of the horse world are illegal aliens who couldn't get onto a plane because they lack any Real I.D., trucking is the way to go.

Across the pond, they go by plane. Special stalls are loaded on pallets. The horses are led into these special stalls blindfolded. They also give them horsie-tranks so they won't get too upset with turbulence.

Some grooms remain with the horses.

Given the prevelance of Jack Russells/corgies in the horse world, I would not be suprised if some of these pets also made it into the plane.

Plane is usually a specially equipped Cargo 747.

The way things are going, I wouldn't be suprised if the airlines started tranking us and loading us in crates too.:(

Sometime they don't travel -- in the 1956(?) Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia, Australian quarantine rules would not permit the entry of horses, so the equestrian events were held in Stockholm instead. There was even a 2nd "Olympic flame" lit in Stockholm, and a second Olympic torch relay to Stockholm from Olympia (Greece) entirely by horseback riders.

I am a rider although nowhere near Olympic level. :) Your specific question was addressed in this article from the New York Times:

First-Class Treatment for U.S. Team’s Horses (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/sports/olympics/24horses.html?ex=1374638400&en=4662dcd59849c9e5&ei=5124)
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: July 24, 2008

The horses fly with an entourage — team grooms, veterinarians and at least one “flying groom,” an equine flight attendant whose job is to make the horse as comfortable as possible. Tim Rolfe, the senior flying groom for Peden Bloodstock, said his job was as much about calming nervous handlers as about taking care of the horses. “Basically, this is really like a giant baby-sitting job,” he said.

You might also be interested in another related article: Horses need passports, too? (http://www.nbcolympics.com/equestrian/photos/galleryid=119487.html)

Plane is usually a specially equipped Cargo 747.


Not really, just about any wide body cargo jet will do and they are not specially equipped. I know of one company that used to to horse transport with a 727. The only thing special is the containers they travel in and it mainly looks like the corral that horses travel in behind pick-up trucks (minus the wheels of course). I have transported a number of horses and livestock across the Atlantic and the Pacific and I find that horses usually stink up the aircraft pretty well.



The horses are led into these special stalls blindfolded.


No they are not, they do have blinkers on though.



They also give them horsie-tranks so they won't get too upset with turbulence


The handlers to have tranqs with them incase the horses start to act up and I usually take it from the handlers and keep it in the cockpit should they get any strange ideas.

I'm a bit late to the party but thought I'd add a few comments. (Great question, btw.)

They fly in a specially prepared area of the plane. It will actually look a lot like a stable. KLM actually specializes in transporting horses, and did (and does) a lot of the transportation of the horses we see at the Olympics.

I'm not sure what you mean by a specially prepared area of the plane. :confused:

When traveling by air, horses are transported in containers that greatly resemble horse trailers without the wheels. The containers are partitioned so that 3 horses can stand side by side. Horses are led into the container much as they are into a horse trailer, then the entire container is forklifted onto the plane. There is space at the front of the container to store feed, blankets, etc.

Fwiw ... Shipping is generally priced per container, so it's more cost effective to fill the container rather than to ship only 1 or 2 horses in it.


The horses are led into these special stalls blindfolded.
No they are not, they do have blinkers on though.

It completely depends on the horse. Some of them need neither blindfolds nor blinders during transport.

They also give them horsie-tranks so they won't get too upset with turbulence.

Again, this totally depends on the horse. Some do not need tranqulizers during transport.

The handlers to have tranqs with them incase the horses start to act up and I usually take it from the handlers and keep it in the cockpit should they get any strange ideas.

So you are claiming that you keep the tranqulizers in the cockpit to keep the handlers from taking them? Talk about a strange idea.

Tranqulizers do not work well on horses that are already stressed out. If the handler had to go to the cockpit (is that even possible?) to get the medication after noting that the horse is becoming upset, it could very easily be too late to give the tranquilizer by the time the handler returned. If you really do as you claim (which I doubt), you are putting the horses at risk.

You might also be interested in another related article: Horses need passports, too? (http://www.nbcolympics.com/equestrian/photos/galleryid=119487.html)

Yep, horses that compete in international level competitions need passports. These passports not only have a complete description of the horse and where he's traveled, the passports also list a detailed vaccination history.

Not quite - the German horses flew KLM because the horse-transport boxes only fit into 747 freighters. They don't fit into the MD-11s Lufthansa Cargo operates, so LH was out of the running from the beginning.

I have no idea which airline actually transported the German equine team, but I do know there are containers with contoured roofs that fit onto MD-11s.

Additionally, there are collapsible containers (that load onto pallets) that can be used on aircraft other than the 747/MD11/DC 10.


Charter Stall - collapsible (narrow-bodied) – ‘walk on / walk off – without canopy – for aircraft – DC-8 / 707 / 727 / AN-12 / TU-204, generally used on full charters (http://www.instoneair.com/pages/coll_narrow.html)

We've never shipped horses in these collapsible containers, but as I understand it they are used fairly frequently.