Thanks to Hyperion Farms’ owner Al Guden, some of the health-specific details of the horses competing at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are finding their way to the Internet. Al and Judy Guden own the dressage horse Sagacious HF, ridden by Lauren Sammis.

Things started off a little shakily for all the horses headed to Brazil when their chartered plane developed mechanical difficulties and the departure was delayed. All the dressage horses had gathered to complete their quarantine requirements in Wellington, Florida in preparation for the trip.

Al reported that veterinarian Rick Mitchell of Fairfield Equine Associates hydrated the horses with IV fluids an hour before they were vanned in the Florida heat from Wellington to Miami for the takeoff.

Speaking of veterinarians, apparently the veterinary hospital that was to be built at the showgrounds in Rio did not get finished or equipped on time, so the Americans carried every imaginable veterinary supply and piece of equipment on the plane with them. And when they arrived in Brazil, they were told that their cargo crates could not be cleared until Tuesday.

That meant, roughly, that there were grooms, horses, halters and leadlines…but little else because everything–literally everything–was packed in the crates.

It took a few hours, but apparently the crates are now on their way to the showgrounds.

Those are just a few of the rough details. Many thanks to Al Guden for his early report.