The equestrian event of the 2024 Paris Olympics will take place from July 27 to August 6, 2024 at the Palace of Versailles. Here’s how the horses will be transported.
They are often the stars of the equestrian events at the Olympic Games. Horses will once again be the center of attention on July 27 and August 6, 2024, at the Paris Olympics. Around 70 out of 350 will be flown to the French capital for three different events: dressage, show jumping and eventing. The government website unveiled the equine transport process for this huge event. Before the flight, it is above all a matter of administrative formalities. To travel, the horse must have a unique horse identification document and comply with the prescribed health conditions (veterinary examinations, health certificate, screening tests). Once these checks are completed, it is time for transport to an airport.
From their stables, the horses are taken to one of the main European airports (Roissy, Amsterdam, Liège, Frankfurt and Ostend). This is followed by a new battery of veterinary tests in a terminal specially designed for them. They are transferred to what is called a “flying stable”, in other words a box where two horses can be installed. The containers are then lifted and placed in the hold of the plane. After all these steps, when the plane reaches its cruising speed, the horses can eat, drink and constantly have something to chew to avoid the damage that can be caused by the pressure at altitude. At most, a cargo plane can carry 19 flying stables.
Upon arrival at their destination, the 350 horses that will be present for the Paris Olympics 2024 are welcomed at the border control post where new administrative checks take place including for those who did not travel by plane. If everything is in order, they head to the Games training center. This can take place well before the competition depending on the wishes of the teams who sometimes depend on a long acclimatization period for the horse. Finally, on the competition site, the stars of the equestrian events are subjected to new veterinary tests. This year, one in five horses will travel by plane.
During the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, 325 equines were transported to Japan. Liège welcomed the first horses heading to the competition site. With a stopover in Dubai, the journey lasted around twenty hours. The protocol should therefore be the same for this 2024 edition, even if the journey will therefore be much shorter for the few equines that will board the planes.