How to Prepare a Horse for a Greek Olympic Summer

How to prepare a horse for a Greek Summer

Facing the heat of August in Greece has inspired the imagination of riders from more moderate climates.

Germany's Ulla Salzgeber put her hot favourite Dressage horse Rusty under a solarium, directly installed in the stables, for the 30 days preceding the Games.

During their preparation time, the British Eventers worked their horses under cover in a police horse outfit, which made them sweat like on a Greek Summer day.

The careful timing of arrival is another way to help horses adjust. Ulla Salzgeber came to Athens already two weeks ago, to move into the stables of the Markopoulo Equestrian Centre yesterday together with the other German horses. After her b ad experience at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez (South of Spain) where Rusty got sick during the travel to Andalusia, she decided to give him a much longer adaptation period and to arrive to Greece early.

Depending on the length of the travel and on the different weather conditions between the country of departure and the competition venue, the horse will need from a few days to several weeks to get acclimatised. For the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where the weather was as hot as in Athens but much more humid, the veterinary recommendation was one week for flight recovery and two more weeks for acclimatisation of the European horses.