Horses really can fly, even if they're not called Pegasus
AsiaNet 90661
TOKYO, July 15, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --
Can horses fly? Well yes, they can if they're Olympic athletes!
And in a piece of history-making, 36 of them flew into Japan last night – the
first full cargo load of horses ever to land in Haneda, the waterfront airport
that serves the greater Tokyo area and which is now welcoming a very different
group of Olympic athletes.
"To see these horses arriving at Haneda airport is a truly historic occasion,
and what makes it even more special is that these are not simply horses, they
are Olympic horses," Administrator of Tokyo International Airport Takahashi
Koji said. "It's a really big night for the airport, and particularly for the
cargo team, and we see it as one of the major milestones of the final countdown
to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games."
The four-legged time travellers are all Equestrian Dressage horses and include
some Olympic superstars, among them Bella Rose, the mare ridden by Germany's
Isabell Werth, the most decorated Olympic equestrian athlete of all time.
Also landing at Haneda en route to the stunning equestrian venue at Baji Koen,
owned by the Japan Racing Association, is Gio, the ride of double Olympic
champion Charlotte Dujardin (GBR), who will be bidding for a three-in-a-row
title in Tokyo.
The 36 equine passengers will be flying the flag for teams from Austria,
Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Portugal and host nation
Japan, as well as individuals from Brazil, Estonia, Finland, Ireland and
Morocco. And they will be joined by a further group of Equestrian Dressage
stars flying into Tokyo tomorrow.
The first Olympic flight out of Europe saw the horses travelling from Liege in
Belgium, where there's even a special airport horse hotel, flying on an
Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777-F to Dubai, a 90-minute refuel and crew change and
then on to Tokyo.
From a sustainability perspective, Emirates has implemented a number of
initiatives to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions where operationally
feasible, including its long-standing operation of flexible routings in
partnership with air navigation service providers to create the most efficient
flight plan for each flight. The airline, which operates one of the world's
youngest aircraft fleets, also uses advanced data analytics, machine learning
and AI in its fuel monitoring and aircraft weight management programmes.
Business class travel
The horses fly two per pallet, or flying stable, which is the equivalent of
business class. Their comfort and safety is ensured by flying grooms and an
on-board veterinarian. And, unlike two-legged passengers, the horses not only
get their in-flight meals (including special meal requests of course), but are
able to snack throughout the trip, on hay or haylage, except when they are
taking a nap.
So as they are flying business class, does that mean the horses get flat beds
to sleep in? Although horses might occasionally indulge in a spot of lying down
to snooze in the sun at home, they actually sleep standing up. They have
something called the "stay apparatus", which allows tendons and ligaments to
effectively lock the knees and hocks (in the hind legs) so that they don't fall
over while they're dozing off. So there's no need for flat beds on the flight.
A total of 328 horses will be flown into Tokyo across the two Games and the
complex logistics for this massive airlift have been coordinated by transport
agents, Peden Bloodstock, which has been in charge of Olympic and Paralympic
horse transport since Rome 1960 and is the Official Equine Logistics Partner of
the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), global governing body for
equestrian sport. Peden Bloodstock became title partner of the FEI Best Athlete
Award in 2019.
A convoy of 11 state-of-the-art air-conditioned horse trucks, owned by the
Japanese Racing Association, transported today's precious equine cargo – and
13,500 kilograms of equipment – on the final transfer from Haneda to Baji Koen
where the equine superstars had the chance to settle into their Olympic Athlete
Village, aka the stables.
"Like all the athletes arriving into Tokyo for the Olympic and Paralympic
Games, the horses are honed and ready to compete on the sporting world's
biggest stage", FEI President Ingmar De Vos said. "After all the challenges the
world has faced, finally we're almost there and now it's only a matter of days
before we hear those magical words, let the Games begin!"
Fast flight facts:
- 18 hours 15 minutes – flight time Liege to Tokyo, with a touchdown in Dubai
- Aircraft detail: Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 777-F (flight numbers EK9388
LGG-DXB, EK9442 DXB-HND)
- 19 flying stables on-board
- Dimensions of the flying stables: 317cms long, 244cms wide, 233cms high
- 14-17° Celsius – on-board temperature
- 36 Dressage horses – teams from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great
Britain, Netherlands, Portugal and host nation Japan, and individual horses
from Brazil, Estonia, Finland, Ireland and Morocco.
- 22,700kgs +/- total weight of horses flying from Liege
- 630kg is the average weight of a Dressage horse
- 13,500kgs of horse equipment
- 12,000 kgs of feed (not including in-flight meals & snacks)
- 40 litres of water per horse
Total transport trivia across both Games
- 247 - total number of horses travelling to Tokyo for the Olympic Games
- 78 – total number of horses travelling to Tokyo for the Paralympic Games
- 630kg – average weight of a Dressage horse; 515kg – average weight of an
Eventing horse; 610kg – average weight of a Jumping horse
- 14 – total number of horse flights for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
- 5 – total number of horse flights for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
- 100,000kgs - total weight of the horse equipment (including saddles, bridles,
boots, bandages, rugs, lunging equipment, headcollars, grooming kits, shoes &
studs, wheelbarrows & pitch forks)
- 60,000kgs – total feed weight (feed/haylage)
- 185 – total number of truck journeys between Haneda airport and the
equestrian park at Baji Koen
Haneda Airport (HND)
Haneda Airport handled over 87 million passengers in 2018, making it the third
busiest airport in Asia and the fourth busiest in the world, after Atlanta,
Beijing and Dubai. Following expansion in 2018, Haneda is able to handle 90
million passengers per year – not counting horses!
With Haneda and Narita combined, Tokyo has the third-busiest city airport
system in the world, after London and New York City.
Equestrian sport in Tokyo 2020
A record number of countries – 50 – will be competing in the equestrian events
at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games following the introduction of new formats that
limit teams to three members, meaning that more countries will have the
opportunity to compete on the Olympic stage than ever before.
A total of seven countries will be fielding full teams in all three Olympic
disciplines, including the host nation Japan. The others are Australia, France,
Germany, Great Britain, Sweden and United States of America.
Click here for more information on Equestrian at the Olympic Games.
Video content
Rights-Holding Broadcasters: VNR and b-roll footage of the departure from
Liege, the arrival in Tokyo and in the EQP venue are available for download on
Content+
Non-RHBs/digital media: VNR and b-roll footage (subject to the IOC's News
Access Rules) will be available for download here
[https://fei.broadcast-content.tv/login.php] at 16:00 JST.
Images
Images from the departure from Liege, the arrival in Tokyo and in the EQP venue
are available now on the FEI Flickr
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gallery_fei/] account for editorial use only.
Media contact:
Shannon Gibbons
FEI Media Relations & Media Operations Manager
Shannon.gibbons@fei.org
+41 78 750 61 46
Photo:
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1574778/Tokyo_Olympic_Equestrian_competitions.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1573262/FEI_Logo.jpg
Source: FEI
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