Summary FEI governs all horses at the Paris 2024 Olympics for transport regulations and welfare maintenance. Horses traveling internationally require passports, with microchips and vaccination records. Horses tend to sleep during flights, acclimate to local stables, and are housed in biosecure areas before competitions.
Now that the Equestrian events at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics have come to a close, we thought it would be interesting to see how those taking part were able to transport their horses. The backdrop to this summer's equestrian events was the stunning Palace of Versailles, a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV. Now overseen by the French Ministry of Culture, the Palace and its gardens are one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, welcoming around 15 million visitors annually.
Interestingly, dressage, eventing, and jumping are Olympic events where men and women compete on equal terms. The international rules for transporting horses to the Olympics All horses competing in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics are governed by the Fédération Equestre (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sports. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, the FEI, in addition to drafting the rules, is responsible for animal welfare and well-being.
The code of conduct for transporting horses taking part in Olympic events states that vehicles must be maintained to a high standard, well-ventilated, and regularly disinfected by competent staff. The code adds that all horses must have access to food and water at all times and that grooms must be available at all times to take care of a horse's needs. While many grooms will have experience traveling with horses on the road, transporting them by air is another matter entirely and better left to grooms who are experienced at traveling with horses in an aircraft.
Olympic horses need a passport Paris is well-connected to most European capitals and is a road and ferry ride from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Those arriving from further afield will have to get to Paris by air. When traveling internationally, horses need a passport, just like humans.
The FEI issues passports for horses competing in the Olympics. Unlike humans, horses do not have their photo in the passport but instead, a silhouette showing any unusual markings that might identify them. The FEI passport also shows where the horse has traveled and that it is up-to-date with all of its vaccinations.
Like most animals these days, horses are microchipped to be easily identified. Air Cargo handled by the top 20 airports has been decreasing by 3.2% year on year.
The flight to Paris As the departure time nears, specialty horse transport personnel load the horses into two horse units, each with its own stable. The stalls are around four feet wide and have rubber flooring and whatever their groom wants to use. Each stall has a water bucket and a hay net attached to the wall that the grooms constantly top up during the flight.
In line with the equine thermal comfort zone, the cabin temperature is kept at a constant 60F (15.5C). Because of the limited space aboard the aircraft, every groom can't travel with the horse for which they are responsible.
Instead, they select a limited number of grooms to look after all the horses on the plane. Together with the groom, there is also a veterinarian in case of a medical emergency. When traveling by air, horses tend to sleep for most of the journey When speaking about transporting horses by air with equine healthcare website The Horse , French professional groom Charlotte Vanommeslaeghe said: "For most horses, flying is very peaceful.
"It's a relatively easy mode of transportation for them," she said. "They handle it really well. They get a lot less shaken up than they do when riding in a truck, for example.
The horses on my flights have pretty much slept most of the way." Saumur, France-based Vanommeslaeghe knows what she is talking about after accompanying horses from Belgium that competed in the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. While most horses tend to sleep during the flight, a few get agitated when taking off and landing.
Despite sleeping for most of the journey, nearly every horse appears tired and is less responsive towards the end of the flight. For this reason, the horses arrive in Paris five days before they are due to compete. Express cargo is expected to grow at a rate nearly twice that of general cargo.
While in France, the horses are housed in local private stables in biosecure areas to acclimate to the climate and adapt to their surroundings. On the days they are scheduled to compete, the horses are trucked from their stables to the unloading zone at Versailles and inspected by a veterinarian who will decide if they are well enough to compete. Germany was the team to beat For the equestrian events at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games, Germany was the team everyone feared, and they did not disappoint, winning an impressive four gold medals and one silver medal.
Show jumper Christian Kukuk and his horse had a flawless round in the jump-offs, completing the course in 38.34 seconds. In individual eventing, Michael Jung was the first Olympian to win three individual eventing titles.
A favorite to successfully defend her Tokyo gold, 38-year-old Jessica von Bredow-Werndl did not disappoint, winning both the individual and team gold medals in the dressage competition. Veteran Olympian Isabell Werth took her equestrian-record Olympic medal total to 14 after winning the team's gold and finishing behind Jessica von Bredow-Werndl in the individual dressage for a silver place finish. Sadly, show jumping world champion and Olympic gold medal favorite Sweden's Henrik von Eckermann got eliminated after being thrown off his horse "King Edward.
" Eckermann appeared unharmed but disappointed as he walked off the showground. Equestrian medal tally Country Gold Silver Bronze Total Germany 4 1 5 Great Britain 2 3 5 France 1 1 2 Australia 1 1 Denmark 1 Switzerland 1 1 United States 1 1 Japan 1 1 Netherlands 1 1.
