Passports, an airport lounge and 'luxury' air stalls: How horses fly into the Spruce Meadows Masters

Nearly 100 horses were flown from Europe to Calgary via Boeing 747s to compete in the Spruce Meadows Masters – a record number of "equine athletes" for the prestigious tournament celebrating its 50th anniversary this week.

From Sept. 3-7, more than 100 horses from across the world are taking part in the yearly equestrian show jumping event in Calgary's Spruce Meadows. 

But the journey to bring those international horses to Canada began well in advance, involving all kinds of planning, paperwork and precision to make sure the horses arrived on time and in the best condition possible.

"As soon as we see the whites of their eyes landing on Canadian soil, we are all very, very relieved," said Martha Worts, sales and operations manager at Overseas Horse Services, a Calgary-based company that organizes horse travel by air.

Similar to a human's air travel process, Worts said every competing horse has to have a passport issued by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports.

"Within that passport is an ID page, which is the equivalent of a photo, which you would see in a normal human passport," she said.

"There's some details about the breeding and the age of the horse and everything. So those details need to match up with the import permit."

Every horse also needs that import permit to travel to Canada and a health certificate from the country they're leaving.

With all the paperwork sorted and passport in hoof (figuratively), the Spruce Meadows horse athletes then boarded a cargo Boeing 747 plane from a transportation centre in Liege, Belgium, bound for Calgary. The horses travel two to a stall, "which is sort of the luxury version of traveling," said Worts.

It's no coach experience, she stressed. Worts estimates many of