The horses for the equestrian events of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) arrived safely in Singapore at 11.50 local time this morning. After an eight-hour flight from Brisbane, Australia all the horses are reported to be in good health and have now been transported to their new home, the YOG Equestrian venue at the Singapore Turf Club Riding Centre.
The horses’ journey started from their training centre at Glen Haven Park, two hours north of Brisbane. Transportation of the YOG horses was arranged by International Race Horse Transport and loading of the horses onto the plane took almost two hours. The horses were accompanied on the flight by the YOG Head Veterinarian, Dr Roshni Selvam, three grooms and two riders from Glen Haven Park. Two additional grooms and two more riders from Glen Haven Park arrived on a separate flight.
Post Arrival Quarantine for the horses starts tomorrow at 9.00 and continues until 12.00 noon on 30 July. During the quarantine period the horses will still be trained and looked after by their Glen Haven Park riders and grooms. The Glen Haven Park grooms, together with local grooms, will continue to look after the horses throughout the Games.
The horses are aged between five and 12 years old. There are no stallions in the group, just mares and geldings, and the majority of them are thoroughbred or quality warmbloods and warmblood crosses. The horses, which were sourced in Australia and New Zealand, were selected on their ability to jump a course of 1.20 metre fences and were subjected to a stringent pre-purchase veterinary check. They also had to be suitable for re-sale as the goal is that the horses will be sold into the developing Singapore market after the Games. The team at Glen Haven Park tried out over 100 horses before finding the perfect equine athletes for Singapore.
In the first Youth Olympic Games, equestrian sport will be represented by Jumping, with individual and team competitions.
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