Horse IQ

Transporting a horse via air was totally unheard of several years ago. But in today’s on-demand world of equestrian sports and horse sales, air travel is quite common for horses. Here’s what you can expect if you’re considering shipping your horse by air.

Nowadays, putting your horse on an airplane is almost as easy as putting yourself on one. Actually, it’s easier: your horse won’t have to take his shoes off or remove his laptop for TSA when going through security (don’t get me started!).

Why Horse Owners Fear Horse Air Travel

I have some friends who have owned horses for decades. They were terrified of shipping their animals by air. But the more I spoke with them, it was clear to me what they were really afraid of: the unknown.

They didn’t know what was going to happen to their babies once they handed them over to the shipping company. And because they didn’t know, they were very nervous about it.

How To Put A Horse On An Airplane

Putting a horse on an aircraft is kind of like getting brain surgery. You could do it yourself, but I wouldn’t recommend it. This is one of those tasks that is much better left to professionals who do it every day.



There are lots of services out there that offer “door-to-door” service. They’ll come to your barn, put your horse on a trailer, take him to the airport, file his papers, put him on the plane without your having to do much of anything. Except pay them.




They usually have a list of cargo airlines that accept horses or ponies for transportation. Be advised, though, most will accommodate it only on a non-stop flight between origin and destination cities. As a matter of fact, I don’t know of any airlines that will ship a horse to a destination that requires a layover.

During the flight, your horse must be accompanies by an attendant - what you and I would call a “groom.” Your horse will need a shipping stall constructed according to airline specifications. But some of the better horse shipping services will provide this as well. They’ll even include the loading and unloading ramps, like the one you see below…



These photos came from Overseas Horse Transport near Calgary, Alberta. Although I’ve never used their service, I’ve heard very good things about them. They offer complete horse air transportation services…

• Export and import formalities and documentation
• Veterinary inspection, blood tests, health certificates
• Pre-export and post import isolation facilties
• Vanning to/from airports
• Loading and unloading supervision
• In-flight care with dedicated, experienced grooms
• Stable-to-stable transit insurance available on request

This is the kind of service I’d use - one that totally takes all of the grunt work away from me so I can concentrate on selling or winning or whatever reason I might be shipping one of my horses.

As I mentioned, shipping a horse via aircraft used to be a big problem with a lot of worry on your part. Not anymore. There are shippers out there who only do air shipping and provide excellent service. You may have to look hard for one that can give you door-to-door service like this. But I’d rather pay for that than try to cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s myself.

Yours For Better Horse Care,

Sierra Lynch

Tags: Horse Transportation

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