Starting in late summer, the largest airlift of competition horses ever–more than 650 in all–will begin. The horses will compete in the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, and they will come from Australia, Europe, Central and South America, and the Middle East. Altogether, some 900 horses from 60 countries will travel to Lexington to compete in the first WEG held in the United States.

Getting the horses to the competition is a mini-industry with multiple players coordinating planes and horse-travel vans. The USDA in conjunction with the WEG Organizing Committee will set up a temporary import-quarantine facility at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where approximately 70% of the horses will arrive. The permanent facilities where horses usually enter the United States (New York, Miami, and Los Angeles) are too far away.

"The object was to get as conveniently close to Lexington as possible to keep transit times for horses to a minimum," says Martin Atock, managing director of Peden Bloodstock, the official transport agent for the Games