Eventing Nation featured these claustrophobic photos of horses in transit on a plane. Frankly I'm horrifed, but then if you've read my post about trailering you know my sentiments about horses in transit. I assume the horses are sedated? I know that Harv would take a dim view of flying this way (which is why he flies first class).
clipped from www.eventingnation.comHere are pictures from earlier this morning of Last Call, Five O'clock Somewhere. and Sea Lion heading to Jersey Fresh from the west coast. Many thanks to Hawley Bennett for sending us the photos:
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Transit by air looks incredibly claustrophobic, for everyone. I have always thought how stressful it would to have a horse travel that way! I always get a little nervous during trailering anyway..couldn't imagine up in the sky!
ReplyDeleteI also don't think it's any less roomy for the horses compared to many trailers. I don't know what your trailer looks like, but mine's a cute 1960s small one with a rounded top like the plane, only a little space in the front to stand, no tack room etc. Ramp to load. The only difference is mine has 'windows' in the front and open sections down the top side and back for air flow.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little baffled why you're 'horrified' because the photos seem to depict all your requirements for trailering, per your trailering post. And flying sure is faster for those long distances. :)
Nope, they don't usually sedate them. Got to have dinner with the guy who flew all the horses in for WEG and runs an equestrian air transport. He said they don't sedate them because then the pee a lot - and we can just imagine why that would be undesirable on a plane.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of it all makes me nervous.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed my visit to your blog! Wow - that does look claustrophobic!
ReplyDeleteJulie
www.ridingaside.blogspot.com
Not sedated. Since they were heading to an FEI event, the restrictions are so tight that almost nothing is legal that close to a competition, let alone sedatives.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that the horses are sedated for the trip, they pretty much drowse the whole way. It may be claustrophobic, but when I think of a few hours on a plane, sedated, vs. days on a trailer competing with other drivers? No contest. (not that I could ever afford air travel)
ReplyDeleteAh, I missed that these horses were going to be entered into a show, that would make a difference as to what they're allowed to have.
ReplyDeleteIt does look a little bit squished in there (at least as far as the "ceiling" goes). I would think that the change in pressure would bother them. I imagine their ears may pop like ours, but I'm thinking that chewing gum to alleviate it probably wouldn't work too well ;o)
ReplyDeleteI flew my horse from Singapore to the UK and got to load him onto the pallet myself. It is intentionally a "tight fit" so that the horses cannot move around too much and injure themselves. For the same reason, they are not sedated as, if they went down, there is no way the groom can get at them to get them up again - would be very dangerous. Can't say I'd choose to fly a horse anywhere really but all those international racehorses are zipping around the globe on a regular basis so I guess they get used to it.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised they do not have head bumpers on as close as that ceiling is.
ReplyDeleteI knew horses must be transported by air routinely, but was curious about how it's actually managed. My horses won't likely be racking up any air miles- but it is interesting!
ReplyDeleteI think it's way more stressful for the people than the horses. These horses are used to travelling, whether it's safe or not. They don't understand that they're thousands of feet off the ground, or that planes can crash, or that this is any different than a really cramped barn.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand... I would be freaking out with my horse way up in the air... out of sheer worry, not anything logical.
It is funny how different horse people are...it looks a tiny bit cramped but not that bad to me. ;-D Then again, I have trucked my horses all over the place, mostly by myself, including to KY and NJ from where I am in Maine. I'm pretty certain my horses will NEVER fly, but if they did, I wouldn't be any more worried than when I fly.
ReplyDeleteNo they are not sedated. My two warmbloods were imported from Poland. For that they had a special cargo plane specifically for horses. They have a "carton" of horses, or a group of three stalls. In the pictures I have seen the stalls are bigger (slightly) than what is shown with much, much more headroom. My horses are both 17.2 HH and had plenty of space. They made the journey without incident. However my younger horse (he was 4 when we bought him) sustained a nasty cut in quarantine that left him with a scar on his fetlock (but no permanent damage, thank goodness!).
ReplyDeleteHere is a link with videos on how horses have been imported by a trainer I know in Michigan: http://detroitequestrianclub.com/DEC/horsesonplanes.htm
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of that scene in International Velvet when they are flying the horses to the Olympics... only in that scene, one horse panics and has to be put down. That's the only representation I've seen of horses flying and t's always made me freaked out about horse air travel, even though it was probably just to up the dramatic tension in the movie.
ReplyDeleteWhen a family friend imported a horse from Brazil (did not want to trailer through several unstable countries with a horse that screams "Look at me I have money!") then she said the quarters were packed like that so horses couldn't move around, because if that much weight really started to pitch a fit then it could really mess up flying the plane! And no sedatives for all the stated reasons, so to keep the horses calm they loaded the hay in front of them to keep them occupied the entire way around, and had several people in the plane to ensure there was a constant flow. And there was also lots of carrots and attention to keep the horses' blood pressure low as well! This was back in the 60s, so I suppose horse-transport planes are built so a horse could pitch a fit and not crash the plane nowadays!
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