Ireland’s team of five Olympic Eventing horses landed in Brazil in the early hours of this morning and are settling into their ‘athletes’ village today – the new-build stables at the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Deodoro Park.

The Irish Equine stars were among 34 horses who boarded an Emirates Boeing SkyCargo 777-F at Stansted Airport in London on Friday afternoon, before embarking on a 12 hour flight to Rio.

Just like the human athletes, they had to go through passport control (and a health check) at London Stansted Airport before boarding with their carry-on luggage and check-in bags.

Sporting the equine equivalent of flight socks (leg bandages), they received the full business class treatment, with special meals delivered by flight attendants (actually grooms), a drinks trolley (buckets) offering water (not fizzy) with a choice of mixers. Apple or carrot sir?

Vets were also on board to ensure the precious equine cargo arrived in tip-top form. Which is important, as these four-legged athletes mean business!

Nathan Anthony, team vet for the Australian Eventing squad, was one of the six vets that flew with the horses. “Flying is actually easier on the horses than going by truck”, he said. “The only slightly difficult bit is the take-off, after that there are no bumps in the air! And we had a great captain on board who made the landing nice and smooth, and then the transfer to the Olympic stables with a police escort was really easy.”