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All WEC shows to be run under NSBA

All WEC Ohio and Ocala shows will now be run under NSBA, not USEF. Interesting turn of events…

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Right on, it is a breath of fresh air to feel like people are actually thinking about the future of the sport and the riders instead of the money.

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Wow this will be interesting to follow.

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Sounds good to me. NSBA folks know what a great show looks like and how to run one. Not a bunch of country bumpkins as USEF seems to think. Of course there is a difference, NSBA (and NRCHA) give away an awful lot of prize money and attract more butts in the seats, even in midweek prelims.

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Quite the middle finger to USEF.

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Nope. If you read their rule book it says that the NSBA requires members to be of good reputation. I doubt being suspended for horse abuse by the FEI for 10 years qualifies.

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sounds like they are going to establish year end finals for H/J and awards. So really, why does one need USEF? The competition in Ocala was as good as it was at HITS and even attracted some from the Wellington crowd. It will be interesting to see what happens. I had a fun winter circuit at WEC and the footing was safe everywhere, including the longing and even on the rainiest of days it held up. That matters so much imho. I tried a horse at HITS, and I had forgotten how you have to dodge sink holes in the warm up rings. And that was in the stadium warm up which is their most important ring. I don’t think I could go back, and I just bought myself an A/O hunter.

ETA Saratoga added an NSBA affiliation to their spring/summer shows. So lots of opportunity to participate between them and WEC this summer

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I’ll need time to digest the ramifications of this fully, but if the rumors are true that Mr. Roberts purchased the Ocala dates from HITS, this announcement begs the question, “Why buy the dates?”.

I wonder if this announcement is simply posturing in an ongoing negotiation between WEC and USEF/HITS.

Of course, the concern for some will be point chasing for Maclay, WIHS, USHJA Derby, etc… This year, those that needed points could stay at WEC and trailer to HITS. If HITS Ocala is indeed shutting down, then what?

Is this the inflection point our sport has desperately needed: the billionaires will finally have their own sandbox (USEF) without the benefit of us “poor” saps subsidizing their pursuits with our dues and show fees and the slumdogs (NSBA) will not have to face an endless parade of $200,000+ horses?

Will we now have a parallel track for juniors who do not have 10 horses in their string and endless weeks at WEF?

So many questions!

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Very interesting. It was just on April 9th when they announced that they would have a series of USEF shows in Ocala this year, as well as a series of NSBA shows. But now when you click on the link for that press release, it says page not found.

I wonder what happened? It seems as if it would be in USEFs best interest to work it out, whatever the issue is.

One would think.

I wonder if it’s related to the fact that WEC wanted to host a substitute event in Ohio for the cancelled Devon horse show, but they did not get enough cooperation from USEF, according to their press release on the subject.

If the venue continues to have an equitation series that pays a huge chunk of prize money to trainers and a car to the winner, the big EQ kids will be showing up. No USEF points, but they’ll show up…

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Oh. I didn’t know that. I heard about the offer but have heard nothing since.

I’m not a business person so I may easily be missing something, but it seems that USEF may be so used to being the “only game in town” that it’s clouding their judgement.

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I’m a little puzzled by this statement. I feel like there is this sentiment going around that NSBA shows are a lot less expensive then USEF, but I haven’t seen any proof of that so far. My friend showed in Ocala this winter and did both HITS and WEC.

Apples to apples comparison (I saw her show bills), her class fees were much cheaper at HITS for the adult amateur hunter division and classic. Of course the argument could be made that there was more prize money offered at WEC, but there were 40 in her division and they didn’t do a Cali split, so very few people saw that prize money.

In addition, the horses were just as pricey and competitive at WEC, so if that’s how the competition stays I am not sure how it’s any different then USEF shows.

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I agree. The show bills I paid for my daughters this winter at WEC Ocala were not significantly different from any other AA show bills in my experience. However, I have not been to PBIEC or GLEF, where I hear from acquaintances with first-hand experience that the bills there can be eye-watering.

I agree that the horses at HITS and WEC would likely be roughly equivalent. However, neither, en masse, are uniformly as competitive as the field at WEF, Devon, indoors, GLEF, etc.

I think the wealthiest 15% in this sport will likely gravitate to USEF shows, and the remainder of the equestrians, especially those who may not care about qualifying for anything USEF related, will gravitate to NSBA all else being equal. It already is kind of like that now if you think about it. MOST competitors at WEF are interested in doing indoors and Devon. MOST people at WEC did not care one iota about either, which is indirectly communicated in WEC’s press release and likely a justification for WEC’s decision.

Time will tell.

I think there are significant numbers of equestrians who want a AA show experience and would rather compete with people at/near their same level of resources. I do not begrudge others their opportunities and capabilities, and if I had their resources, I’d likely be exhibiting similar levels of investment. But the best bantam-weight boxer in history could never beat even a mediocre heavyweight champion. It would be fun to have “weight classes” in our sport, too; the USEF/NSBA schism may be a reasonable and necessary first step.

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Maybe so no one else can have them?

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WEC Ocala was built with every intention of eventually obtaining USEF dates. Up until, it seems, they tried to work with USEF for the Devon alternative horse show. That sounds like it was the last straw.

If the rumors are true Tom (HITS) admitted defeat for next year way back before the winter circuits really started. This was before WEC had any idea NSBA would be a huge success and they wouldn’t need USEF after all. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tom gets his dates back.

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Which would be highly ironic considering that HITS ran the Tucson shows as a loss leader for years, keeping the dates so no one else could run shows in AZ that could compete with HITS Thermal.

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That’s not exactly accurate. There are plenty of people who show at WEF in both hunters and jumpers in divisions that don’t occur at Devon and Indoors.

Sorry that my writing was not sufficiently precise. I should have written:

MOST competitors at WEF in divisions contested at indoors and Devon are interested…