Horses often join fruit and TVs to travel internationally
Most horse people will never have cause to board a treasured equine on a plane, let alone actually fly right along with it. But for a certain group of professionals, the ins and outs of getting thousands of pounds of horseflesh on and off a flying contraption are routine.
I thought it would be interesting to walk through the process of shipping a horse internationally via air. Procedures vary, depending on the requirements of the receiving country.
First, horses need to have a health certificate similar to the ones most horse owners who ship interstate are familiar with. Vaccinations and testing for international health certificates are contingent upon what the destination country requires, so horses may sometimes have innoculations before and after a flight.
International import and export points in the Eastern United States are John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Miami International Airport. I did a recent export for three horses traveling from Athens, Ga. through Miami to Grand Cayman Island. Here’s what happened.