This Is What I Do

So, most everyone knows that I have a job. Most people look at me funny and perplexed when I tell them I ship horses in airplanes. You can see the gears grinding wondering how they get those big animals in the baggage compartment. Well, they don't ship in the baggage area, but instead on big 747's in large stalls designed for the air. My kids have grown up around it knowing that work meant heading to the airport or some random farm to check on horses.

Yesterday, I accomplished something I have not done in all the 13 years of doing this. I exported 15 horses from Los Angeles to Dubai. 15 lovely Arabians and mares heavy with babies in their bellies were loaded on an aircraft and headed to their new home in the desert. It has been stressful, but so worth it when yesterday I looked around while loading and realized this was all my doing.

It all started a month ago when the horses came from Scottsdale, AZ to a nearby farm to serve the export isolation (USDA approved quarantine). During this month I have dealt with cuts needing sutures, snotty noses, pregnancy checks and feet trimming. The health certificates we had to issue were like novels, consisting of 12 pages per horse.

Yesterday, we loaded the group up at the farm and headed to LAX for the outbound flight. There were three trailers, myself and the USDA in tow monitoring the shipment. Once at the airport, we prepped the containers and started transferring horses, until one stall after the other filled with horses. It is nerve wracking and yet satisfying to see this all happen. You get attached to the horses and worry about their well being and you don't sleep until they make it to their final destination.Once the loading was complete, they pull the stalls with the tugs to the aircraft, load them up and away they go. I finally got some sleep last night.