By plane generally I think. They have HUGE planes that have stalls in them that the horses stay in. I’m not really sure who pays for them to be transported… they’re probably sponsered.

For the most part, I’ve only heard of horses (currently) being transported by plane. It IS very expensive – but the horse owners/sponsors/etc., normally cover those costs. It does not come out of the pay of the rider, unless the rider is the owner and has no sponsors. =) They fly them in a cargo plane – much like they do zoo animals, but they are not kept in fully enclosed boxes. They are kept in horse stalls – I believe 12×12, sometimes larger.

by plane. Shipping would take waaay to long. normally horses would be in crates in the cargo hold of a plane, but for something like the Olympics they probably will have a special cargo plane just specially for that purpose.

Planes with stalls is how horses are transported or boats with stalls. But the horses arent in China because yes theey could go there but they can’t leave because of diseases so they are actually somewhere else.

well depends what country, and i dont think the rider pays for everything, maybe most of everything but your country may pick up some of the tab (if they’re nice and want to have the best on their teams) they also at that level have companys and such to sponser them so they can compete with the high priece of everything.

comming from the us they’d fly them, now japan or the aussie they might ship them. depends what they think is best for the horse. but each horse will get there weeks (maybe even 2 months or more) before hand because you figure they’ll have to spend at least 2-3 weeks in quartinee(depending on china’s rules, and you know china isnt going to be that flexable even for the olympics) and then you have to check and make sure the horse is still fit and able to compete. so alot of them have their horses over there for a while and that cost is sure to add up as well.

anyway it is a mildly intersting question. and not all of them come from wealthy families, most worked their way up from the bottom and give it their all to ride in the olympics.

I know I like short answers with no extra stuff so here is your answer!
PLANE
hope I helped!

To my understanding most horses going on trans-oceanic travel go by plane, ie US to Europe or US to Asia.

Japan might have shipped horses by boat, but I am not sure how common shipping by boat is?

I know that air shipping is the way its normally done for truely long distances. Inside the US they would normally just have them trailered there.

The travel by airplane. After a seven-day quarantine in Europe, the US horses flew to the equestrian site in Hong Kong ‘as part of a global migration that will ultimately include 297 horses from 47 nations travelling on 57 airplanes.’

planes they put them in like this stall/box thingy

THEY DO HAVE SPECIAL CARGO PLANES AND IT IS EXPENSIVE. THEY HAVE TO BE QUARANTINED AND HAVE ALL VACCINATIONS AND HEALTH EXAMS FROM THE VETS BEFORE BOARDING AND AFTER ITS RATHER A PROCESS FOR THE PROFESSIONALS
ITS NOT A DECISION THATS MADE TODAY AND YOUR THERE TOMARROW, IT DOES TAKE A LENTHY TIME TO COMPLETE. THERE ARE CAREFUL AN SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS TAKEN DURING THE OLYMPICS TO ENSURE EVERY ONES SECURITY AND SAFTEY