Once the horse’s health certificate is secured and pretesting—if it’s being carried out—is complete, the horse is loaded on the plane and the journey begins. | Photo: Jon Stroud/FEI

Packing up and heading to a horse show often feels like a bigger production than all the riding, training, grooming, and tack cleaning require to get there in the first place.

Did we pack the grooming tote? Where are my lucky socks? We did load the horse, right?

Now imagine packing up and heading to a horse show taking place an ocean away. That’s exactly what many of the international riders entered at the 2018 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, taking place April 25-29 at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park are doing. And not only do these riders have to remember all their and their horses’ gear on the first trip, they also have to navigate a host of government regulations for importing a horse to the United States