That's correct, we sometimes fly between Ireland and France if we are moving a lot of horses or for runners for the big races - think Irish Guineas and Prix De L'Arc du Triomphe. I was really lucky and got to fly with the stallions when we brought them over from Ireland for the big Stallion parade in December. We have two planes dedicated for horses, with special air crates that we designed but other companies hire the air crates which cost around 25k for a crate. On your average Ryanair sized plane you can get 5 crates taking upto 15 horses. Our big plane holds upto 60 odd horses. They cope really well, walk up the ramp into the plane as we do on the small plane but on the big one they put in their crates at the boarder inspection point and then get lifted in.
But mostly for Europe, we go via road. The Eurotunnel is great for getting to France quickly.
Irish racing is still going ahead but without foreign runners, we are just trying to establish if UK is foreign!