Leslie Reid, along with 4 horses, left BC for Germany on October 18th. She has begun an extensive training program for competition in top level events, including the 2004 Olympics. Click here for more information, and check back often fpr updates on horsebc.com.

Feature by:
Lorill Youell

After a bit of a rocky start, the adventure has begun. The day of the flight found one of the horses a little under the weather and the aircraft with one sick engine. Fortunately the horse was his chipper self within hours. The aircraft, however, took a little longer to recover and the initial flight was downgauged to an aircraft with no capacity for the horses. As the only service from the West Coast to Europe that can handle horses, we were a captive audience, cooling our collective heels while the airline scrambled to change engines on their "Combi" aircraft.

"Telus" stock must have risen sharply on the Stock Exchange as we burned up the phone lines ensuring everything would simply be slipped one day. Air Canada's long suffering Cargo employees patiently responded to call after call checking on the progress of the aircraft until finally we got the word that it had rolled out of the hangar and was on its way to Vancouver.

Everyone geared up again and off we went in caravan to the airport, wending our way through the myriad parking lots and the maze that makes up the cargo facility. Thomas Li joined the other owners, Marie Andrews ("Mark"), Penny Pillow ("Azarro") and Leslie ("Largo") at the Cargo facility after having a long tour through the maze until someone was dispatched to rescue him. Struggling with the flu, he was still determined to see his "Diamond Adoro" safely off on his long journey. The others in the farewell group included Leslie's mother, Edie, Ann Fransblow, Marie's daughter, Lana, and Leslie's friends, Marilyn Mazzei, and Lorill Youell. (If I've forgotten anyone, my apologies - blame the bitter cold wind that came up as we were waiting and numbed everyone from their ears to their socks!)

Everyone hustled around loading what seemed like tons of equipment into the front of the very spiffy horse pallets until at last there was no more room and the balance was then loaded into a container to meet up with the horses in Frankfurt. The two grooms, Doug Wallgren and Bruce Waldron, were at last ready to load and the horses were quickly and quietly loaded into their stalls where they munched happily from their hay nets as they watched the goings on with great interest. There was a very visible collective sigh of relief from the shipping agent (Jim Mathieson of Sea Air International), the Agriculture Canada Vet (Dr. Lindsay), and all the Air Canada Cargo agents, to find the horses and handlers were such pros. The horses must have assumed they were just loading into another trailer for yet another horse show. The airport staff appeared somewhat braced for a bit of a struggle from past experiences with shipping other horses.

In spite of the fact that two of the party attempted unsuccessfully to stow away in the container with the tack - a fact duly recorded on film - the horses were soon whisked away to be weighed and onward to the aircraft. Leslie and Penny Pillow accompanied the horses to the aircraft while the grooms, Doug and Bruce, went to the main terminal to be checked in and clear security before being escorted back to airside to take up their positions with the horses.

The first leg of the trip took them to Toronto where the horses were barned overnight in a quarantine stable right on the airport and Doug and Bruce were taken to a hotel also on the airport and within walking distance to the horses.

A phone call from Sea Air International the next day confirmed all had survived the night and were safely loaded on the aircraft ready to take off for Frankfurt. Another phone call the following evening to say everyone was settled in. The trip was over. Now comes the hard work and intense training.

"Azarro" takes a last peek out from his bright container/home for the next several hours

Penny Pillow wishing her "Azarro" a bon voyage.