Loading up for Singapore!

It was an icy cold (for Queensland, anyway!), mid-winter evening last night, when five Sydney Livestock Transport trucks rolled into Glen Haven Park at 10.00pm. The Singapore horses knew something was up with so many humans around at that unexpected hour. Their hooves had been taped to prevent shoe pulling in-transit and they were restless with expectation. There was a very clear loading order and as it came time for each pair of horses to walk up the ramp, their rugs were taken off and they were loaded into the warm trucks. The operation ran very smoothly with all horses behaving impeccably and the Glen Haven Park and Sydney Livestock Transport teams running a slick operation. By 11.00pm the loading was completed and all trucks had trundled down the driveway, on their way to Brisbane International Airport, where the horses would begin the final leg of their journey to Singapore.

After the trucks and all the other staff had gone, the empty stable block - with still-warm rugs abandoned on the doors and wind whistling through the only sound - was more than this already emotionally fragile blogger could handle! Stay tuned for details on the horses' flight and their much anticipated arrival in Singapore!

(photos from top: Tom Sedger and David Hamood with Virtuous Flare after taping her hooves; Flash Top Hat loading up; Emmaville Persuasion eager to be on his way!)