Olympic horses touchdown in Rio: take a look behind the scenes

On Friday evening (29 July), shortly before midnight local time, 34 event horses arrived at Rio’s Galeao airport.

This followed an 11-hour flight from London Stansted airport on a cargo Emirates Boeing 777. This was the first of nine flights in total which will carry around 200 horses from Leige in Belgium and Miami in Florida.

According to the FEI, New Zealand rider Tim Price’s horse Ringwood Sky Boy was the first to disembark the plane onto Brazilian ground.

This batch of horses, whose riders represent Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, Brazil and Zimbabwe, were then escorted by police on a bio-contained route to the Olympic equestrian venue at Deodoro.

See how the horses are settling into their championship digs:

The sole Zimbabwean eventing representative, British-based Camilla Kruger, grazes her horse Biarritz II in his travel suit at Stansted

Loading up the first batch of Olympic horses

US rider Clark Montgomery watches as his team’s horses depart Florida, including his mount Loughan Glen

The mighty German squad arrive in Brazil

Tina Cook’s Billy The Red and Pippa Funnell’s Billy The Biz enjoy a pick of grass

The British eventing team enjoy some sightseeing

British eventing team vet Liz Brown welcomes the horses as they arrive

Gemma Tattersall gives her horse Quicklook V (Pebbles) a warm welcome

The British eventing team check out the village where they will be staying

There is a graffiti wall for athletes to write a message to mark their stay

Quicklook V has a look at the main arena where much of the equestrian action will unfold

Brazilian event rider Ruy Fonseca gives us an insight into the Olympic village

And this is the home-side’s team camp

Kitty King’s ride Ceylor LAN (or Sprout as he is known at home) relaxes into his new digs

The Irish team arrive in Rio (l-r: Mark Kyle, Padraig McCarthy, Camilla Speirs, Clare Abbott and Jonty Evans)

Don Geniro, the mount of Chinese event rider Alex Hua Tian, poses with his team

Pippa Funnell’s groom Frankie Murrell gives us a look behind the scenes

New Zealander Jock Paget’s horse Clifton Lush takes in his surroundings

The full Horse & Hound Olympic preview is out now (28 July issue)

Gemma Redrup

H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor

Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.