Tropical Storm Kammuri News: Sheik Mohammed Takes in Stranded Olympic Horses When Flight is Grounded!

Australian dressage and eventing teams met in their stable aisle at the equestrian center in Hong Kong. Their show jumping teammates are stranded in Dubai during the tropical storm. (EFA photo by Russ Withers)

Australian newspapers are hot tonight with news that the flight carrying the Aussie and Saudi Arabian jumping team horses from Amsterdam was waylaid in Dubai. The papers tell us that ten horses are aboard the flight. A second flight, which contained the US team horses, was aborted in Amsterdam. We have no word yet how the delay was handled there.

A friendly barn for the night was provided by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, who also just happens to be the husband of International Equestrian Federation (FEI) president Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein.

But it was all in "Plan B" of the international equine airlift organizers at Peden Bloodstock, the flight managers. One reason the US horses flew to Hong Kong via European quarantine was that no horse-friendly stopover could be found in the North Pacific. (Alaska just wouldn't do. Dubai, on the other hand, halfway between Europe and Southeast Asia, and with lots of quarantine and equine transport experienceis ideal.)

Meanwhile, back in Hong Kong, storm force warnings of level 8 have been sounded.

Perhaps of more concern is that the eventers already in Hong Kong had to cancel training because of the high winds. The vet check is on Friday, so all the teams are following training regimens very carefully but the bad weather forced them to stay locked inside their stables.

Bad weather is common this time of year in Hong Kong and extra days have been blocked on the schedule to allow for makeup sessions.

The Spaniards, Germans and Dutch were the first to arrive in Hong Kong.