The news media has already told us there are positive Covid cases among the athletes. And there is a state of Emergency due to Covid in Tokyo. I realize these are very real problems. But I have some good news. The horses have arrived safely and the competition stadium looks excellent.
The stables are also very nice with large stalls and air conditioning! The wash stalls are also well prepared for the heat. The big blue boxes have ice water in them for getting the horses cooled off fast. Overheating is a serious danger for horses as heat exhaustion and death can happen quickly. So having this ready to cool the horses down after exercise means the Japanese have thought ahead and prepared. Also FEI Dressage Team vet for Canada, Alan Manning, told me that no exercise is permitted for the horses between 12 pm and 3pm. With temperatures during the day in the 30s Celsius and, with humidity, the real feel up to 40C. With high humidity the horses can sweat but it does not evaporate and so there is no cooling effect from sweating .
All the Canadian horses have travelled well. Some were tired and had a good sleep in their large stalls on beds of nice fresh shavings.
Here is a photo of the Canadian stabling area. This was taken at night check when the riders were possibly also catching up on some sleep.
I would like to thank Team vet Alan Manning for allowing me to use his photos for this post. I am happy to be able to use them to illustrate some positive news about Tokyo.
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