Flying my horse to Germany 9.15.08

One year ago today I got on an airplane with my horse and flew around the world. What an adventure! I wanted to share some pics that I did not post last year when I blogged about this day.

6 long weeks Baasha lived in quarantine in Elma, Washington. The lady that owns that place made it rough for me to have my baby there. She was used to quarantining and shipping her own horses to foreign lands who would like American bred Arabians. She was not used to answering to the owner of a privately owned horse.

On the other hand my agent was wonderful, telling me everything I need to know, and this was like daily email for weeks! He was very patient and knew who was paying the bill for this (me).

I hate to be negative in my blog, but this lady would not answer my questions about what was up with Baasha, simple, important things like, "Which wormer did you just worm him with?" and "What is he eating now?" She was not used to answering to owners. She has 50 years in the business, and answers to nobody. NOBODY!

Life is not all cream colored ponies and warm Apfel strudel, as Aarene said.

Here is my sister having a special moment with Baasha before he leaves America forever.









He's her horse too, and she deserves that I post more pics of them together!











Here we both got into the picture. The lady said we had ONE HOUR to visit our horse, no more! (And then she made us spend most of the hour labelling my belongings and packaging them for air travel, sigh.)









I love how the quarantine facility had pea gravel everywhere, that is so good for a horse's feet. His feet were really tough when he arrived.











Our own feet had to be washed before visiting, to meet quarantine rules. Baasha and the mare travelling with him could not contact any other horse for 6 weeks, and they had to have their own special stall cleaners who went through foot washing every day, and could not work with other horses. Here is a pic of my sister saying goodbye. I hope not for the last time...


Transport Rules

The trailer that takes a horse from quarantine to the airport must be sterilized and approved by a USDA certified Veterinarian. That is a vet who works for the government. He was there the whole time, auditing the quarantine, making sure everyone was compliant. The trailer was sterile, the horses were in fact the horses who were to fly to Europe. Mine was easy to monitor cuz he's freezebranded.

I must have spent forever at SeaTac Airport's cargo section. The horses had been ushered into their tiny metal box, the box they would spend the next 17 hours in.


At least I got a picture of a funny sign in their office. How do deal with a bomb threat. I wanted to steal this sign but I guess a picture will suffice.










If you would like to know how horses are shipped, this is it. This poster in their office diagrams how they load stuff onto these 747s. The horses are just another box, another big box for them to navigate onboard.











The people at CargoLux are so awesome, these people love their jobs! They ship cargo and animals around the world, and they take such pride in their work. Here is a pic of the lady who is bedding the horse box, she was the boss of the operation, and she was so nice to me!




I got to hang out in their office for hours while I waited, and I hated to be separated from my horse but I had no choice.

Loading


Here is the evil quarantine lady (grey hair) standing ready to load the horses from trailer to box. You can see how they have backed the horse trailer directly up to the horse box in the cargo area. The horses go from trailer to box to airplane without touching feet to ground!










They load stuff thru the nose of the plane, and thru the side. The horses came thru the side, but I thought it was pretty interesting to see the nose open up like that, so I took a picture.











Here is a picture of Baasha, going into an airplane. They loaded the horse box on a scissors lift from the side, and I really wish I knew what was going thru my horse's mind at the time!










This shows the lift fully up and the horses about to be transfered to the plane.











I said to the cargo lady, can you take my picture before I go on the plane?












Here I got a picture of the nose of the plane, fully loaded.















Flying

Here is the stairwell I would go up to get to my seat on the plane, and the small cockpit area. There were only 6 seats up there, and I was the only one in them. I was in heaven! I could do whatever I wanted, but I only had the pilots to talk to. Which I did. When I was hungry, I went into their cockpit and told them. One of them showed me how to operate the oven to make myself a warm meal, and he showed me the water and coffee so I wouldn't bother him again, hehe. Although the airline is Luxemburg, the pilots were German so I could understand them. They let me sit up front for landing which was a once in a lifetime experience!!




Here is what I must walk past to visit my horse.











Here is another view of the aisleway, with the horse box and the water bucket I used enroute. That is the same bucket I use today, making Baasha's mashes.










Here is the box. If anyone had any difficulty understanding what LIVE ANIMALS means, I was there to tell him. We had a stopover in Calgary that was stressful for the horses. They unloaded a lot and loaded a lot,right in sight of the horses (they can see thru the opening in the back of their box.) I was worried too! The floor wheel movement system is rough and the horses were bumped into quite a bit as they used it. This was the only time in the flight that the horses were worried. The rest of the flight they ate and slept like good passengers. (And from what I have learned, most horses do not require tranquilizers to fly. Most horses sleep and eat.)


Here is a pic of Baasha's back from inside the box. Yah, I crawled in there with him to spend time with him every hour. He mostly slept, and I let him rest his head on my shoulder to sleep. The horses cannot really see anything except through this small hole behind them.









The cockpit. Most flights don't let you take a picture of it! I was thrilled to get to go up there and talk to them. Like I said before, at one point one pilot was reading a magazine and the other was sleeping. !!!




I also got to see how they land a plane, which is much easier than it seems!



Here are the horses, finally unloaded in Luxemburg. They have NO IDEA where they are. They are just incredibly sleepy. I was too, I didn't sleep at all on that flight. I was worried about what would happen next, and I had alfalfa in my underpants from every time I crawled into their box (cuz I had to crawl in thru a space under the hay nets, that sucked!).









Then, sad for me, I had to leave the horses and go thru customs. Customs in the middle of the night in LUX. That was strange. No one was there! It was like, this deserted airport, with no people. I doubted someone would be in the customs booth to take my passport, but there was one person there. I was the only other person! It was so freaky. I needed a cab to get back to the cargo area to get back to my baby, and I had no idea what language works in that land. (It turns out three work.)







Here I finally get a chance to hug my horse. He's so tired.















Poor Baasha, so, so tired.











We got them into the trailer in the morning and took off for Germany.











That airplane ride was smooth, but the ride in the car following the horses from Luxemburg to Germany was hell! That lady had no driving skills at all. I was scared for my life the entire time. I don't think she noticed the handprint I was leaving on her OhShit handle, either.






Finally home in Germany, Baasha meets his Arabian cousins. This would be the final chapter in my 20 years of boarding book. No cream colored ponies here. I have lots to say about this, how horrible it is to push water containers in a wheelbarrow up a slippery, ice covered street every day. How Baasha never got enough to eat, cuz the others didn't let him in to the hay feeder. How bad his scratches were, living in mud halfway to his knees. No more.




He's home now, and there is enough food for him, and no mud over his hooves.











He spends a lot of time lying down now, because no one harrasses him. He has absolutely no stress in his life.
I got my son home!