First-class facilities for Olympic horses -- china.org.cn

High technology and well proven practical measures are being adopted to provide the best possible care of horses in the generally hot and humid conditions that prevail in Hong Kong in August, when the Equestrian Events of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be held.

Much time and effort has been devoted to ensuring that first-class facilities and services will be in place, ever since the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was named to host the events.

This work has followed on from the significant developments in equine health and welfare that contributed to the success of the Equestrian Events at recent Olympic Games, especially Atlanta in 1996 and Athens in 2004.

Since then strategies and protocols have been further developed to minimize the effects of warm weather on equestrian horses.

These refinements cover the arrangements for stabling, cooling facilities and veterinary services, which will be in place in August for the Olympic competitions in Dressage, Jumping and Eventing.

Equine care in Hong Kong is top-class, the territory having established a fine record in handling valuable racehorses, and the stabling and veterinary facilities of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) are rated among the world's best.

In consultation with the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) and internationally renowned experts, the HKJC took the climate into consideration when preparing the venues and has also taken a large number of other measures to minimize the effects of heat and humidity on the horses. These measures include:

• The provision of air-conditioning from the moment the horses land, with the horses being transported in the Club's air-conditioned lorries;

• Air-conditioned Olympic stabling complex;

• The first-ever air-conditioned Olympic indoor training arena;

• Four misting tents at both the core venue and at the Cross-Country venue;

• Troughs of chilled water and an ample supply of ice at each misting tent and at each holding point on the Cross-Country course;

• Chilled water sprays and mobile cooling units at both the core venue and the Cross-Country course.

In addition, there is a purpose-built Veterinary Clinic at the core venue adjacent to the stables compound, which will be staffed by a team of veterinary surgeons with considerable experience at Olympic level, including the Atlanta Olympics, where similar weather conditions prevailed.

Training and competition times have been arranged to take advantage of the cooler times of day. For example, competition will only take place in the early morning and evening.

Based on meteorological records over a 30-year period, the mean air temperature in Hong Kong during August ranges from 26.4 to 31.1 degrees Celsius (79 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit), with a mean relative humidity of 82 per cent. Localised thunderstorms can occur. The mean rainfall for the month is 444.6 millimetres (17.5 inches) but can range from only 44 millimetres to 1,090 millimetres (1.73 to 42.9 inches).

Comparison of August weather normals in selected Olympic cities

Hong Kong

   Beijing

     Atlanta

       Athens

Mean air temperature

   28.4^C

   83.1^F

     24.6^C

     76.2^F

      25.6^C

      78^F

        27.6^C

        81.6^F

Mean relative humidity (%)

   82

    79

      75

       48

The mean air temperature and the mean relative humidity are slightly lower in September, when the Equestrian competition of the Paralympic Games will be held.

Hong Kong lies within the subtropics and tropical cyclones are more likely to affect the territory between May and November. The Hong Kong Observatory has a well-tried and tested system for issuing warnings and advisory bulletins whenever a cyclone comes within 800 kilometres of the territory.

During the Olympic and Paralympic Equestrian Events, competition teams will be kept fully informed of weather conditions, such as the expected air temperature, humidity and wind speed on any given day, and the Observatory will regularly update the event organizers with its latest forecasts. The Observatory's special 24-hour monitoring service for the events will be both time and location specific.

Included in the state-of-the-art technology will be refined equipment for measuring equine heat stress using the well-established Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index, which takes into account solar radiation, humidity, air temperature and wind speed. This index will be used by the FEI to implement measures during training and competition to protect the horses' welfare, such as modification of individual events.

The organizing body, the Equestrian Events (Hong Kong) of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad Company Limited, is confident that these strategies will minimize the effects of the likely prevailing conditions on the health and welfare of horses, and both riders and horses will be able to compete to the best of their abilities.

The various protocols have been fully tested in two simulated events in 2006 and 2007, and again at the Good Luck Beijing – Hong Kong 10th Anniversary Cup in August 2007. The Cup competition was affected by adverse weather, but riders and horses coped with the conditions effectively.

The President of the International Olympic Committee, Mr Jacques Rogge, and the President of the FEI, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, both of whom attended the competition, expressed satisfaction with the two venues and the facilities, as did the riders.

Germany's Chef de Mission for the Equestrian Events, Mr Reinhardt Wendt, has said: "We know that Hong Kong has done a tremendous amount of work in preparing for the Games, including a lot of scientific research into how to minimize the effects of the climate on horses. The experience of The Hong Kong Jockey Club, with almost 2,000 horses, has been enormously beneficial. During the test event last August we used state-of-the-art facilities that have been put in place for the Equestrian Events. We collected a huge amount of data on how the horses coped with the climatic conditions and we learnt how to manage the horses."

What officials and riders said of the August 2007 event:

- "I am very happy with the preparations. I have spoken with the riders and they are very happy. Everything is progressing well and we will have absolutely fabulous Games here next year." – Mr Jacques Rogge

- "It has been an absolutely wonderful test event and Hong Kong will have a wonderful Olympic Games." – Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein

- "The facilities are perfect. They (the organizers) are trying to do a good job which is good." – Frank Ostholt, winner of the Cup competition and a member of Germany's World Championship winning team in 2006

- "It was amazing to be the first rider on the course for the Olympics (test event). It was a bit curvy. The going was very good even though there was heavy rain this morning." – Anna Junkmann, of Germany, the first competitor to start in the Cross-Country event

- "The rain doesn't matter. The weather was no problem, no different to Germany."– Andreas Ostholt, younger brother of Frank Ostholt

- Overall, the facilities are way ahead of previous test events." – Bruce Davidson Jnr., a member of the United States team

(China.org.cn April 16, 2008)