Around €150 million worth of elite equines boarded a plane this week, heading to the FEI World Cup 2015 Finals in the USA (15-19 April).
We gives horses wings
A total of 40of the world’s bestdressage and showjumping horses made the 11-hour flight from Schiphol in the Netherlands to Las Vegas – including defending champion Valegro.
They were accompanied by a team of 10 grooms, Dutch vet Jan-Hein Swagemakers, who works with the German Jumping team, plus 11 pallets of equipment.
The whole trip has been organise by Tim Dutta, whose horse transportation business Dutta Corporation goes by the banner: ‘We give horses wings’.
“Jan-Hein is very experienced,” said Tim. “He’s been to Hong Kong, Kentucky and many of the Global Champions Tour events and he supervises the health and well-being of all the equine passengers with the help of the grooms.”
Business-class service
Each horse is allocated a stall-and-a-half to travel, with each section weighed to get the balance right for the flight. According to Tim, dressage horses can weigh up to 100 kilos more than the jumpers.
Throughout the flight with Qatar Airways they receive “business-class service”, with120 pre-packed haynets onboard as well as some tasty treats.
“We pay attention to each horse’s little idiosyncrasies and requirements – do they like wet hay, or not? Do we use sea salt to encourage them to drink?
“I like them all to have a haynet so they can at least pick at it during the flight and have something in their belly. Some grooms like to feed them a bran mash mid-flight, but others don’t eat much at all.
Snooze and relax
Tim also likes to give his passengers carrots and apples, which he says they associate with feeling good and being rewarded, which helps them settle.
Despite the entourage ready to attend to their every need, Tim likes the horses to have some quiet time too.
“When the aircraft is at cruise then they are left alone for a while, to have a snooze and relax, without being bothered by anyone,” he said. “If the weather disimproves, the grooms go back to them right away.”
Frequent flyers
According to Tim, equine flyers are just like humans: “Some fall asleep before departure and snooze most of the way, and others start praying from the minute they take off and don’t stop until they’ve landed!” he said.
“But the majority of them are like seasoned CEOs, they’ve flown so many times that they just take it all in their stride.”
On landing, the horses’ passports are checked and blood samples are taken and sent off to a laboratory in Iowa to test for diseases.
The equine athletes are then taken to the stabling area at the Thomas & Mack Arena in Las Vegas, where they will go into quarantine until the test results come back from the lab 42 hours later.