Tex Sutton cancellations

[Squeaky]

Does anyone know why the flights are cancelled after Sat? Read something about problem with company that runs “lifts” ? Nothing in their website or Facebook. Thanks-

[stark]

https://www.horseracingnation.com/news/ ... lights_123

[Squeaky]

https://www.horseracingnation.com/news/ ... lights_123

Thanks! Wonder when they will be up and flying again.

[peeptoad]

Seems like this has the potential screw horses shipping from a distance. Are there alts for the CA horses?

[Flanders]

Tex Sutton is the only one that offers charter flights for horses but other cargo airlines will ship horses. For example, from the article above:

"In the meantime we have made arrangements with Federal Express to provide lift on their scheduled service system and will continue to offer both charters and FedEx in the future.”

[Flanders]

They still haven't gotten a new contract and are trying to come up with alternatives for the amount of horses that will need to ship for the Breeders Cup. Right now they have an option of one Fedex Charter for about 30 horses but it would have to fly out of Tennessee or Indiana.

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing ... eeders-cup

[Squeaky]

Moving this up since some discussion on this recently

[CorridorZ75]

Honestly, that tiny airplane with the horses' heads mere inches from the ceiling terrified me. Think the longhaul 747s with stall containers much safer.

[Squeaky]

Honestly, that tiny airplane with the horses' heads mere inches from the ceiling terrified me. Think the longhaul 747s with stall containers much safer.

Ageee- horses are so claustrophobic anyway I don’t like to think of them in those containers. I hope Tex Sutton gets this situation sorted soon. With all the billionaires in the sport, you’d think there could be a way for TS to work with horse owners to buy their own planes custom made for shipping horses.

[Flanders]

Honestly, that tiny airplane with the horses' heads mere inches from the ceiling terrified me. Think the longhaul 747s with stall containers much safer.

Ageee- horses are so claustrophobic anyway I don’t like to think of them in those containers. I hope Tex Sutton gets this situation sorted soon. With all the billionaires in the sport, you’d think there could be a way for TS to work with horse owners to buy their own planes custom made for shipping horses.

The reason a lot of trainers don't like the 747s is because they can't send grooms that the horses are comfortable with along with the horses to keep them calm and feed them or give them water. The horses also aren't surrounded with cargo. Plus the 727 could land at smaller airports than a 747 can, which meant less van time for the horses. I think the horses feel more calm in the open plane where they can look around and see things as opposed to being trapped in a box surrounded by packages.

[CorridorZ75]

Honestly, that tiny airplane with the horses' heads mere inches from the ceiling terrified me. Think the longhaul 747s with stall containers much safer.

Ageee- horses are so claustrophobic anyway I don’t like to think of them in those containers. I hope Tex Sutton gets this situation sorted soon. With all the billionaires in the sport, you’d think there could be a way for TS to work with horse owners to buy their own planes custom made for shipping horses.

The reason a lot of trainers don't like the 747s is because they can't send grooms that the horses are comfortable with along with the horses to keep them calm and feed them or give them water. The horses also aren't surrounded with cargo. Plus the 727 could land at smaller airports than a 747 can, which meant less van time for the horses. I think the horses feel more calm in the open plane where they can look around and see things as opposed to being trapped in a box surrounded by packages.

The airport thing is a good point, but horses don 't care about the packages which are also well-bundled probably towards the rear of the hold anyway and the shipping stalls allow much more movement, and they have more freedom to move their head up and down. As for the grooms, I would much rather have trained and experienced travel grooms and vets there if the proverbial *#$@## hits the fan at 50000 ft because a familiar groom just isn't going to make that much of a difference in a truly panicked or a horse in a medical emergency. I've seen plenty of horses toss their life-long owners around like rag dolls in those situations.

[stark]

On a related note to aeroplane problems.....this impacts the upcoming Pegasus day!

https://www.drf.com/news/west-cost-hors ... da-flights

[Missbeholder]

Can somebody explain to me again what exactly is the problem with Tex Sutton?

I admit that I haven't read the related articles and other material in enough depth to really understand the causes of their issues. But it seems like it's been going on for a year or more now, and I'm wondering if it's ever going to be resolved, whatever it is.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Flanders]

Can somebody explain to me again what exactly is the problem with Tex Sutton?

I admit that I haven't read the related articles and other material in enough depth to really understand the causes of their issues. But it seems like it's been going on for a year or more now, and I'm wondering if it's ever going to be resolved, whatever it is.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tex Sutton does contracts with small cargo airlines to provide flight crews and lifts to put horses into planes owned by Tex Sutton. But their last cargo airline decided not to renew the contract and they have been unable to find another one to do so. There aren't many small cargo airlines operating in the US so when none of them want to take on the contract there isn't much Tex Sutton can do. I believe they mentioned at some point that when trying to negotiate some of the airlines said they do not have extra flight crews to take on additional flights. As with a lot of industries, lack of workforce is a problem here too.

They've been forced to try and work with Fedex. But Fedex only flies horses into and out of certain locations. Some trainers do not want to use the Fedex flights because the horses can not have handlers or grooms with them, where they could on Tex Sutton flights.

[Missbeholder]

Can somebody explain to me again what exactly is the problem with Tex Sutton?

I admit that I haven't read the related articles and other material in enough depth to really understand the causes of their issues. But it seems like it's been going on for a year or more now, and I'm wondering if it's ever going to be resolved, whatever it is.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tex Sutton does contracts with small cargo airlines to provide flight crews and lifts to put horses into planes owned by Tex Sutton. But their last cargo airline decided not to renew the contract and they have been unable to find another one to do so. There aren't many small cargo airlines operating in the US so when none of them want to take on the contract there isn't much Tex Sutton can do. I believe they mentioned at some point that when trying to negotiate some of the airlines said they do not have extra flight crews to take on additional flights. As with a lot of industries, lack of workforce is a problem here too.

They've been forced to try and work with Fedex. But Fedex only flies horses into and out of certain locations. Some trainers do not want to use the Fedex flights because the horses can not have handlers or grooms with them, where they could on Tex Sutton flights.

Thanks Flanders. You explained it perfectly. I knew it had something to do with contracts but was unsure if it was financial or logistical or both. Now I get it.

It truly does appear that it's not something that's going to get fixed any time soon. It's a shame.

[Squeaky]

Any updates on this? Read that Arabian Knight had to van 200 min from Memphis to Oaklawn because FedX only flies I to certain airports. I wonder if UPS would ever consider flying horses?

[thinair]

Any updates on this? Read that Arabian Knight had to van 200 min from Memphis to Oaklawn because FedX only flies I to certain airports. I wonder if UPS would ever consider flying horses?

Easiest way to go to Oaklawn unless you can fly private:-)

[Squeaky]

Cannot believe this has not been resolved after over 3 years . Bob saying that flying FedX is hard on horses and may have taken something out of National Treasure. Feels he should have shipped him in earlier. https://x.com/bloodhorse/status/1820191 ... 55451?s=46