Horses really can fly, even if they’re not called Pegasus

Can horses fly? Well, yes, they can if they are Olympic athletes!

And in a piece of history-making, 36 of them flew into Japan last week—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 equine athlete travelers

The four-legged time travelers 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. 

They are joined by a further group of Equestrian Dressage stars that flew into Tokyo on July 16.

The first Olympic flight out of Europe saw the horses traveling 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 programs.

2020 Olympic horses on 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. 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 a 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 the 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, a.k.a. 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 Equestrian Games
• 5 – total number of horse flights for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Equestrian Games
• 100,000kgs – total weight of the horse equipment (including saddles, bridles, boots, bandages, rugs, lungeing 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 parkat Baji Koen

Loading of the Olympic horses flying to Tokyo (images: credit to FEI/Leanjo de Koster)

About 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.

2020 Olympic equestrian sport

A record number of countries – 50 – will be competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic equestrian events, following the introduction of new formats that limit teams to three members. This means 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.

For more information on equestrian at the 2020 Olympic Games, click here.

Featured image: FEI/Yusuke Nakanishi

Looking for travel ideas and inspiration? Click here.

When you purchase through our links, you are supporting Travel Asia Now (at no cost to you). And we thank you for that.