03/09/08 - Paralympics 2008 We are in Hong Kong

After a long journey, Victory Salute (Sam)
and I finally made it to Hong Kong.
We left quarantine in Aachen, Germany
via truck on the 27th of
August. We drove to Amsterdam where Sam
was loaded into an air stable. The
air stable is kind of like a horse float
without wheels that is on a large
pallet and can be moved with a forklift.


Sam arrives at Amsterdam Airport















I traveled in the airstable with
Sam as we were transfered to a
Boeing 747 Cargo flight with MartinAir
along with 17 other horses who were also
on their way to the Paralympics.
We stopped over in Dubai to refuel and
then we were off again on our way
to hong kong. Sam travelled really well,
he was a little worried on the
takeoff and landings, as it is really
noisy in the cargo plane and a
little bumpy. It is amazing how well
the horses cope with it.

When we arrived in Hong Kong the air stables
were taken out of the plane
and moved with forklifts to a secure fenced
area where they were unloaded
and then reloaded onto awaiting Hong Kong Jockey
Club Trucks. The first
thing I noticed is the heat....very humid..even
more so than Cairns.
The trucks were airconditioned which was great.
We then had a short wait
before we travelled 45mins to the Hong Kong
Jockey Club, which is the
                            
Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian Venue.


Sam is loaded into his air stable.














There are so many people here.
There are also heaps of volunteers and
staff here to help. They always have
about 5 people to do one persons job.
They are also extremely friendly and
there are people who's job seems to
be just saying hello and goodbye every
time you arrive or leave somewhere.
This is a very different experience
for me...being from Speewah!

So Sam arrived in Hong Kong safely.
Past all his vet checks and has
maintained a normal temperature the
whole time. He is a seasoned traveller
and it really seems to have helped. I think
it also helped that I was able
to get his head down on the ground eating hay
for the whole flight. Quite
a few of the horses from other countries have
gone down with travel
sickness. He was a little dehydrated when he
arrived but after 6 days here
is now looking and feeling fantastic. Infact
all five of the Australian
horses are doing well.

Sam's Air Stable.














Sam had two days off after he arrived.
Then a light ride on the third day,
just long and low, a bit of trot and
a very short canter to help him
loosen up after the trip. We were
allocated the indoor arena that day,
which is airconditioned which was great.

We were amazed to see the Germans,
Americans and quite a few other
countries lunging and even riding
their horses the day after they arrived!
They are also riding these horses
twice a day in the heat. It will be
interesting to see how the horses hold up
to this sort of work. We are
being much more careful and slow, looking
after the horses.

My next ride on Sam was also fairly short,
long and low, the I picked him
up for about 5 mins and just felt the trot
and canter... his hind legs
were not great.

How they Get the Air stable on  the Plane














Yesterday I rode him in the main
competition arena. What an amazing
experience. Beautiful arena, surrounded
by skyscrapers!

Sam was feeling heaps better, was much
more supple though still lacked
some of the expression in the paces we
had had in Aachen and was not
really wanting to sit on his hindlegs.
It was soooo hot and humid...I was
drenched. They have a bay with fans down
both sides as well as ice water
to help cool the horses after work.
They are also being sponged with ice
water during workouts to help keep them cool.

Australia was allocated the indoor arena
again today. Which was good
because it was raining and hot. Today he
was feeling more like he did in
Aachen, much lighter in the forehand and
more active behind. He is a big
horse and it is tricky to get him really
active in the hindlegs.


Sam Arrives in Hong Kong





















My two coaches were really pleased
today, both thought
Sam was looking great.

Mary Longden is the National Coach
for Australia and
Carolyn Lieutenant is
the owner of Sam. So they are both
coaching me
at once...so far it is
working quite well.

If Sam and I continue to improve
this much each day,
we will be on track
to do our best performance on Sunday...
which is the
start of the competition!

Anyway, thats all for now...
gotta go and have dinner
and feed the horse.

from Georgia




Out of His Air Stable and into
the awaiting Hong Kong Jockey Club Trucks






















Sam and I in Hong Kong, Grazing on
the Shatin Race Track.