Loose horse…at 31,000 feet

[MHM]

These articles give a little behind the scenes look at the different plane set ups for flying horses. In some of them, the horses do not look anywhere near as enclosed as the ones I’ve seen.

I have also traveled on planes where the horses were in the crates in the back of the plane, and the front of the plane was full of passengers who had no idea there were horses on board. So when I went back and checked the horses during the flight and came back to my seat covered in loose hay, the people sitting next to me gave me a little bit of a funny look. Lol.

Air Horse One: The wonderful world of equine air travel | CNN

A Look Inside Air Horse One

https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/air-horse-one-on-board-the-custom-aircraft-that-transports-million-dollar-racehorses/slidelist/21057124.cms#slideid=21057129

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2016/10/26/tex-sutton-air-horse-one/92782198/

This is a video the FEI put out five years ago for WEG. It gives a pretty good look at the general process when the horses fly internationally.

It’s hard to imagine how a horse could have gotten out of one of those boxes inside the plane, but again… horses.

How the horses travel to the FEI World Equestrian Games™ | Tryon 2018

[MHM]

@MunchingonHay

I knew a driving horse that slipped and fell, and somehow ended up on his back and cast himself in a 2 horse abreast container. It took a lot to get the horse back on its feet. They pushed the other horse over as far as he would go, and moved the divider over.

Holy cow. That sounds very scary.

[MHM]

@McGurk

Recreated in the film “International Velvet” and also in a Dick Francis novel (it wasn’t an event horse in the Dick Francis novel), but Francis interviewed a lot of the people who worked for Pegasus Air Transport as research for the novel.

I totally remember reading that Dick Francis book and being horrified at that part of the plot line.

Although come to think of it, that was not the first or the last time I could say that about something that happened in a Dick Francis book.

[NaturallyHappy]

Air Horse One looks much better than a cargo plane to me!

[MunchingonHay]

My friends that were on the flight did not hear a thing. They walked down the ladder into cargo and saw the back hoof hanging over the back ramp. It was super scary. Everyone got beat up and bruised trying to right the horse again.

I was sitting in my chair waiting to taxi and take off one time with Air El Al and the pilot said to me, “gun” and pointed to a cabinet and making a gun gesture with his hand by the stairs to the cargo hold.

I was flying by myself that time with 3 horses and a dog. The flight was uneventful thank goodness.

[Chall]

There are horses (and donkeys)flown, en masse, no box stalls, for the meat market from North America to Europe☹️

[McGurk]

1964

"CHICAGO, Sept. 30—Markham, an 11‐year‐old brown gelding and one of the top horses on the United States three‐day Olympic Equestrian Team, was destroyed on an airplane en route to the Tokyo games today when he suddenly went berserk.

Markham, a jumper who had been in the 1960 Olympics and two Pan‐American Games, was loaded on a chartered plane in Newark with 10 other Olympic horses shortly after noon.

About an hour out of Newark Airport, and with the plane at about 12,000 feet, Markham began to stomp in his stall.

“He broke the stall apart,” said Dr. Joseph O’Dea, of Avon, N. Y., the team veterinarian, when the plane landed in Chicago. “He took part of the ceiling of the plane apart and was almost out of the stall.

“We destroyed him mercifully with drugs. He had what we call a ‘van fit.’ Seven men on the plane, all attached to the team, tried to hold him down but could not. No one was injured and all the other horses remained calm.

Coaches Bert de Nemethy and Stefan von Visy and Markham’s rider, Mike Plumb of Syosset, L. I., along with several grooms, also were on the plane.

“We took every precaution we could with the horse,” said Whitney Stone, the president of the United States Equestrian Team. “We knew he had been a problem lately when he was being shipped, so we even had 'him in a stall removed from the other horses.”

A spare horse, Royal Beaver, was on the plane, which will stop in Seattle, Anchorage and Adak in the Aleutian Islands en route to Tokyo.

Markham, under Plumb, finished 15th in the 1960 Olympics in Rome and was a member of the Pan‐American Games gold medal winning teams of 1959 and 1963."

[MHM]

@McGurk

“He broke the stall apart,” said Dr. Joseph O’Dea, of Avon, N. Y., the team veterinarian, when the plane landed in Chicago.

Omg. There’s a blast from the past. Doc O’Dea was a legend in his day. I believe someone named a very successful junior jumper after him at one point. (Scott Novick from Florida, I think?)

It’s weird that it sounds like the horse had already traveled by plane in the past to Rome. But again… horses.

It’s interesting to ponder how much the flight experience probably changed for the horses between the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and the return visit two years ago.

[OverandOnward]

Wow, 85 horses on one airplane. If it were so configured and at capacity.

I remember a lot of behind-the-curtain stories about shipping so many horses to Rio for the Olympic games.

Questions for those who know …

Turbulence – Notes on the website that pilots try to fly around turbulence. But what if they are unable to avoid it? I have been on flights where seat-belted passengers were almost coming out of their seats, feeling quite slammed around, in very rough air. Obviously the pilot wasn’t able to avoid that. I can’t imagine how that would work with a standing horse, even in their boxes.

Poop & pee – The video said the horses are on ‘special floors’. How does the poop and pee not accumulate to unhealthy levels, for both horses & humans? Also, can I assume there is enough room in the boxes for males to stretch into their pee position?

Thank you!

[MHM]

@OverandOnward

Poop & pee – The video said the horses are on ‘special floors’. How does the poop and pee not accumulate to unhealthy levels, for both horses & humans? Also, can I assume there is enough room in the boxes for males to stretch into their pee position?

I would think the special floor they are referring to is just what horse people would think of as the rubber nonslip mats. And then there were probably shavings spread on top of them for the trip.

I would imagine that for the horses, the turbulence in the air would probably feel pretty similar to the bumps on the road when they are traveling in a trailer. They don’t know any different.

I remember being told that the hardest part for the horses is the take off, because they would not really understand the floor being at that much of an angle or the feeling that a human would get if you feel like you’re stuck in the back of your seat during takeoff. But maybe the horses think of it as similar to going up a steep hill in a truck.

I just grabbed a few photos from a quick search that shows how packed some of the planes are with horses.

Shavings on the floor before they build the stalls around the horses.

Shavings in an empty stall.

Lots of horses in different configurations. Six across, four across, three across.

Some of them appear to have a thing over their necks that I have to think is to prevent them from going up while they’re in the stalls. But I would be pretty concerned about injury to the horse’s neck if one really wigged out.

Triple Crown winners Justify and American Pharoah with their respective travel buddies.

[trubandloki]

Thank you.

[trubandloki]

Those last two photos are too cute.

[OverandOnward]

@MHM

I would imagine that for the horses, the turbulence in the air would probably feel pretty similar to the bumps on the road when they are traveling in a trailer. They don’t know any different.

This is your guess, right? From your phrasing it doesn’t sound like personal knowledge.

I get the ‘bumpy road’ analogy because that’s what I relate to on a bumpy flight.

But I’m speaking of flights that had a rough patch that was far beyond any bumpy road. My flight attendant friend has also spoken of these. I’m talking about being flung to the ceiling if you aren’t belted into your seat - not an exaggeration. Giant drops in altitude like going off a cliff. My flight attendant friend said that every year there are a few passenger injuries from events like.

Not that common, but it does happen in air travel. Over the years I’ve had that experience a few times. If they knew ahead of time, and can’t fly around a very large weather system, with horses it might be better to fly another day. Although can mess things up for humans, of course.

[skydy]

Nothing ever phased American Pharoah.

He was, and apparently still is, as a breeding stallion a trooper.

The photos are great. I love the goofy travel companion. There’s always one that has to make faces for the camera.

[MHM]

@OverandOnward

This is your guess, right? From your phrasing it doesn’t sound like personal knowledge.

I’ve been on flights with horses, and I’ve been on bumpy flights. I have never experienced the extreme turbulence that you described.

Since I’m not a mind reader, I can only guess what the horses would think in either case.

[MHM]

@skydy

Nothing ever phased American Pharoah.

He was, and apparently still is as a breeding stallion, a trooper.

I have visited him a couple of times at Coolmore in Kentucky, and he has always seemed to be cool as a cucumber. I keep hoping that one day I might be able to get one of his slower offspring to turn it into a show horse. Lol.

[sophie]

Wow, how scary! That pilot was cool as a cucumber lol
Do we know what happened to the horse? Did they have to euth him/her? I hope not!!!

[OverandOnward]

@skydy

Nothing ever phased American Pharoah.

During his Triple Crown campaign, I remember well from news clips that Pharoah was the perfect celebrity.

Calm and warmly affectionate. There was at least one fan-meet where I think every adult and child got a chance to pet him. He was a perfect gentleman to all. Even the reporters broke out in silly grins when it was their turn to rub his neck.

Fate chose well.

[RMJacobs]

That was very interesting! Thanks for posting the pics.

Rebecca

[mommy_peanut]

@MHM

I keep hoping that one day I might be able to get one of his slower offspring to turn it into a show horse. Lol.

New Vocations had 2 AP progeny go through their program that I know of for sure, they may have had more.
Try checking there or the other programs.