"This is not the same beast once they're such fit elite athletes," notes Nancy Elliot, veterinarian. "It's like switching from a VW to a Porsche."

For horses competing in the World Endurance Championships, total travel time to Dubai was more than 20 hours in the air. Horses were fed no grain during shipping, but grass hay (brought from home when possible) was available to them throughout the flight, as was water with electrolytes.

The West Coast horses had it a bit easier than those who flew in from the East Coast, because the West Coast horses arrived in Amsterdam first and were able to be unloaded and walked to holding stalls. Because of flight cancellations, the East Coast competitors ended up confined in their shipping stalls for nearly 36 hours without the opportunity to unload in Amsterdam.

It was this additional travel stress that most likely contributed to the severe tie-up experienced by Patti Pizzo's gelding, Sam. Jedi, another East Coast shipper, had a milder case of tying-up.

Treatment for Sam's tie-up was aggressive and intense and included Ace and Banamine (given immediately on the trail), Dantrolene, oral electrolytes, IV fluids, DMSO given intravenously, massage, electroacupuncture, cold laser and a Bio Scan machine. Remarkably, Sam was able to compete; he and Pizzo finished 34th. "It was a feat to start," says Pizzo, "and an even greater feat to finish."

Eventual winner Valerie Kanavy notes that she'd never had any indication Jedi might tie-up. Now, on a long trip she will put him on Dantrolene, which prevents muscles from cramping. "If I have a horse I know is prone to tying-up, this drug is the thing to do," says Kanavy, who starts the Dantrolene three to four days prior to travel and gives it once during the trip. "It's a very safe drug, but you have to be careful because it doesn't immediately leave the system, so it will show up on a test. If you can get them back into work without them cramping up again, the work itself will flush out the system."

Kanavy has also found acupuncture treatment helpful when horses ship long distances.

Coming on the heels of a long flight, putting horses back to work requires careful planning.

"Long distance transport requires more time to loosen up the muscles," says Mike Foss, U.S. team veterinarian. "The thing that really helped us out was that we could come over three weeks early. I wouldn't want to go back to that country with any shorter time (before competition). It really took this full time to get acclimatized. I have to credit the organizing committee with allowing us this time. Just two weeks wouldn't have been adequate for the good of the horse."

In hopes of avoiding any tie-ups, horses were put back to work gradually. The horses were given plenty of hand-walking and only ridden at the walk for the first few days.

"The formula we came up with was to integrate the trot very slowly," says Foss. In the future, Foss said he would even recommend a less rigorous, more slow, methodical progression back into work. Trotting without collection during the first days is essential, adds Elliot.

Daily blood testing allowed team veterinarians to keep a vigilant eye on the horses and make changes whenever indicated. Initially, horses were using up more electrolytes than expected, because of the heat and humidity. "We needed to adapt the electrolyte program accordingly," says Elliot. "This was an important part of the acclimating process."