The horse whisperers.
The Wild West starts just an hour’s drive north of Houston, Texas. It is here in the land of cattle ranches and cowboys that real Western horses and the equestrian sport of reining originated. Corinna Schumacher, wife of the German Formula One racing driver Michael Schumacher, has a passion for both. “My involvement with reining began with the horses. I fell in love with Quarter Horses and then with the sport. They’re a very mild-tempered and friendly breed, as well as being very athletic and competitive, and that makes them ideal for reining.” The sport of reining takes its name from the fact that unlike traditional European riding styles horses are controlled with only one hand and a light touch on the reins.
Its roots lie in the workaday life of the cowboys. Herding cattle on the open range, riders and their horses needed to change direction quickly, stop on a dime or gallop off from a standing position to catch lost cattle. All this needed to be done with one hand, leaving the other free to swing a rope. The 2016 Reining World Championships will be held in August at the CS Ranch belonging to Corinna Schumacher in the Swiss village of Givrins in the canton Vaud.
This is hardly surprising, given that reining has become Europe’s most popular Western riding sport, although it nevertheless continues to be dominated by the US-Americans. If faced with the prospect of transporting your Quarter Horse from a Texan ranch to Switzerland in August, for example, then Lufthansa Cargo is definitely the right place to be.
Lufthansa Cargo is the “Mobility Partner” at this year’s World Reining Championships from August 11 to 13. The Texan horses begin their journey at the George Bush International Airport (IAH) in Houston, where they are loaded in special containers. These were developed by Lufthansa Cargo in cooperation with the container specialist VRR Aviation to make travel less stressful for the animals. The container is designed for up to three horses and the particularly wide ramp makes entering easier. The interior is lined with stable, non-slip flooring guaranteeing the horses’ optimal footing. The animals are flown directly to Frankfurt (FRA) in just under nine and a half hours. Lufthansa Cargo serves this almost 8,400-kilometer route three days a week with advanced Boeing 777F aircraft. Once they arrive in Frankfurt, the horses – like all other animals – are checked into the Lufthansa Cargo Animal Lounge, the most modern animal station in the world, where they are examined by a vet.
With a total of 42 horse stalls, there is ample space to move about while they wait for their onward journey. Specialized animal keepers and trained freight professionals ensure that the animals receive individual round-the-clock care. The horses spend just three hours in the Animal Lounge before the truck arrives to transport them to Corinna Schumacher’s ranch. “The CS Ranch is a professional training center for reining. It’s important that the conditions are perfect for the horses, and everything we do here is geared to their well-being. Our motto is: only the best is good enough for the horses. That starts with their feed and ends with the surface of the arena,” says the 2010 European Reining Champion.
www.worldreiningchampionships2016.com
Photos:
Loretta Hostettler/iStock, Thomas Hellmann/Lufthansa Cargo
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Lufthansa Cargo is the “Mobility Partner” at this year’s World Reining Championships from August 11 to 13. The Texan horses begin their journey at the George Bush International Airport (IAH) in Houston, where they are loaded in special containers. These were developed by Lufthansa Cargo in cooperation with the container specialist VRR Aviation to make travel less stressful for the animals. The container is designed for up to three horses and the particularly wide ramp makes entering easier. The interior is lined with stable, non-slip flooring guaranteeing the horses’ optimal footing. The animals are flown directly to Frankfurt (FRA) in just under nine and a half hours. Lufthansa Cargo serves this almost 8,400-kilometer route three days a week with advanced Boeing 777F aircraft. Once they arrive in Frankfurt, the horses – like all other animals – are checked into the Lufthansa Cargo Animal Lounge, the most modern animal station in the world, where they are examined by a vet. |
With a total of 42 horse stalls, there is ample space to move about while they wait for their onward journey. Specialized animal keepers and trained freight professionals ensure that the animals receive individual round-the-clock care. The horses spend just three hours in the Animal Lounge before the truck arrives to transport them to Corinna Schumacher’s ranch. “The CS Ranch is a professional training center for reining. It’s important that the conditions are perfect for the horses, and everything we do here is geared to their well-being. Our motto is: only the best is good enough for the horses. That starts with their feed and ends with the surface of the arena,” says the 2010 European Reining Champion.
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Photos:
Loretta Hostettler/iStock, Thomas Hellmann/Lufthansa Cargo
