London 2012 calling!!!!

Vet Caterina Termine’s brief account of her time as

an assistant vet at the Beijing Olympic Games 2008.

After having been fortunate enough to work at the Olympic Test event in Hong Kong during summer 2007, I was asked by the Hong Kong Jockey Club to return the following year to be a member of the veterinary team at the 2008 Olympic Games.

It was some mean feat! The transport, housing, quarantine and overall care of 227 Olympic horses put all systems to the test, not to mention the construction of a cross country course amongst the towering sky scrapers. Hong Kong ’s limited land availability was to provide equine five star luxury as well as accommodating tonnes of accompanying equine luggage and an entourage of owners, grooms, riders, trainers, vet teams, families and supporters! How did they do it?

The purpose-built complex at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s site at Sha-Tin came to the rescue. The horses were stabled in five enormous air-conditioned stable blocks, alongside a veterinary clinic, numerous cooling tents, plentiful sand bays and training arenas; and if that wasn’t enough, an air-conditioned indoor arena. Penfold Park , a beautifully landscaped public park located in the centre of Sha-Tin racecourse, provided temporary sand arenas, cross country practice fences and a hacking and gallop track ….this was horsey heaven! Hong Kong ’s land limitation results in local horses being stabled, full time, in multilevel stable blocks and the lack of grazing highlighted how we take for granted the acres of fields on our farms at home.

Transporting the horses from their home countries to the Olympic site (and back home again) was a rather complicated and significant part of my job. Fifty return journeys between the airport and Sha-Tin were made, at all times of the day and night to transport horses between Hong Kong , Stanstead, Amsterdam , Sydney and New York . Rigorous police security screening, preceded convoys conducted under police escort. The convoys comprised of horse floats, a horse ambulance and an entourage of people including vets, shipping agents, a logistics company, and horse handlers!

Airport duty was an amazing process that ran like clockwork. As soon as the plane had been identified, it was a matter of all hands on deck….and the clock was ticking. Within eight minutes of the horses being lowered from the aeroplane in their air stables, they had been unloaded, examined for injury and disease; and loaded in to the air-conditioned floats. Simultaneously, the equine luggage was security checked and loaded onto lorries. The average time taken from equine touchdown to arrival at Sha-Tin was an impressive 90mins. Some airport trips were met with problems beyond our control. Typhoons resulted in a flight of show jumpers being stranded in Amsterdam , and several flights of dressage and show jumping horses were prevented from returning home. In addition rescheduled flights due to technical mishaps and sick pilots certainly kept us on our toes.

My work at Sha-Tin consisted of very social visits to the stables to monitor horse health and rubbing shoulders with legends such as Mark Todd, Mary King, Nick Skelton; and horses I recognised from magazine covers and TV snippets such as Headley Britannia, Lord Killinghurst, and Peppermill. The horses underwent two weeks of isolation and vet checks before their flight to Hong Kong and this was followed by a further 10 days of quarantine at the Olympic stables. Throughout the duration of their stay, the horses were examined and their body temperature was taken twice daily. This was to identify any early indicators of infectious disease to avoid potential outbreaks. Thankfully our concerns were put to rest and all of the horses remained healthy and infection-free.

The organisation required to stage the Olympic cross-country phase was unbelievable. The challenge of land availability resulted in a proportion of the course being constructed over an adjacent golf course and the length of the track was reduced to 4.5km – the shortest Olympic course ever to have been ridden. There were many vets’ briefings and even a rehearsal where golf carts were used as substitute horses to create disaster situations. This tested all of our systems to ensure that the big day ran smoothly. Equine welfare was paramount since the average air temperature was of 33 0 and humidity between 75 and 85%. The provision of rows of enormous cooling fans lined D box, and on course veterinary equipment included all drugs known to man, makeshift treatment stables, general anaesthesia provisions, splints, screens and more! A very large number of people were involved, including FEI representatives, vets, stewards, fence judges, and not forgetting television crew and the media. My specific job was to monitor fatigued horses and to give emergency treatment to any collapsed horses as they galloped over the hills towards the final few fences. Much to my relief, all horses passed me uneventfully and in good shape. The big day was over in a matter of only a few hours and the day was declared a success. The atmosphere at the vets’ debriefing was electric!

The competitions at Sha-Tin were equally as exciting to be a part of, and a perk to my job was the acquisition of a seat in the teams’ viewing stand. This provided me with not only a first class view, but also a wonderful chance to chat and hear comments and views about the competition, as well as sharing the joys and woes of their team mates and rivals! The competition arena was always beautifully decorated with pagoda-styled judges’ boxes, intricately decorated arena paraphernalia, shiny new fences sporting Chinese dragons, the Olympic rings and Fuwa mascots; all under the light of the Olympic flame. The competitions were nail biting and the vibrant crowd went wild as each horse finished its round.

My experience in Hong Kong was absolutely fantastic, unfortunately, my time there passed far too quickly! I met and worked alongside some wonderful people and it has provided me with some great stories and unforgettable memories and experiences. Given the chance, would I do it again? Definitely!