Arrival in rainy Florida!

Yesterday Victor and I flew from Ontario to Palm Beach, Florida.  The flight was relatively uneventful (once you've flown with horses, it becomes less of a "big deal"), although we did have some turbulence coming into Florida with all the storms here.  Once on the ground at the airport we took a horse transport van to the show grounds, which was only about a 30 minute drive from the airport.  We flew over with most of the rest of the west coast Grand Prix horses, Steffen's two horses Legolas and Rosamunde, Guenter and Zero Gravity, Charlotte Jorst and Nintendo, Kim McGrath and Winslow, and Tracey Lert and Udo.  Most of the riders had grooms that flew with their horses and they flew separately although both Kim and Tracey were on the flight with me.


It has been dumping rain pretty much since we arrived.  Today we even had wind gusts up to 30 or 40 mph.  However, unlike the Pacific NW, it is remarkably warm outside, about 75 degrees or so.  Naturally it is quite humid here and that has been an adjustment.  I'm glad we had that short time in California to at least acclimate to the heat (versus Boise in December, which was a high of 23 when we left).


Victor traveled well although I could tell he was a little worried when he first got on the plane.  All of the horses loaded very easily.  It is always surprising how well the horses handle such a strange situation (loading up a ramp onto a very noisy plane), but even the rookie horses loaded fine.  I suspect they ride better on the plane than they do on most horse trailers, once it gets to cruising altitude, as the ride is generally very smooth and quiet. 


Victor ate ok on the plane although not super well.  The horses always get off a long trip like that looking a little gaunt and drawn up, which typically goes away after they get rehydrated.  He immediately started eating and drinking when we put him in his stall. Today he looked much better although I only hand walked him since I thought he could use a rest day.