In all horse sports equine welfare is paramount. But the major international championships present the most horse-health challenges and also attract the most scrutiny. No other equestrian competition involves the transport of more horses, from all corners of the globe, to a single location than the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Equestrian Games (WEG).

An Olympic Games features three equestrian sports or "disciplines"; the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Sept. 25-Oct. 10 in Lexington, Ky., will, for the first time, feature eight. That's an estimated 800 to 900 horses traveling from nations with unique disease profiles and challenges to the United States, a nation with its own unique disease profile and challenges.

The objective, of course, is to make sure the horses are healthy when they leave their home countries and that they don't introduce any foreign diseases to American equines; to keep all of the horses healthy and sound during the competition; and to send the foreigners home without any unwelcome souvenirs in the form of U.S.-based diseases