I have to put in a major plug for this event because it seems like nobody knows about it! I attended over the weekend at HITS Saugerties and it was SO MUCH FUN. It was so affordable - classes were anywhere from $25-50 and they offered FREE stabling. I took three horses and my show bill was $465 for three full days of competition.
They offered multiple disciplines. Hunters from xrail to 3’6. Jumpers from xrail to 1.20. Equitation. Dressage. E-cross, a mix of show jumping and cross country jumps (very very similar to arena eventing). They even had young horse/breeding classes, but I’m not sure any of those classes had entries.
The show took such good care of us. They put us up in the permanent barns, which are normally $500/week for the rated shows. They ran all of the jumper classes in the Grand Prix stadium, which was a friggin’ blast and such good experience for all of the horses and riders. They had free snacks and drinks all three days and a free omelet station on Saturday morning. I mean, c’mon!
My only knock on it is that it wasn’t very well advertised and felt a little bit disorganized at times. But it was only their second time running it and their first time at this venue. They had one in Ocala back in March that I heard only had about 40 horses. This past weekend had 150, give or take. There is talk of doing another one this fall - possibly in September? I will do anything to talk this show up because it needs to stick around!
So huge kudos to HITS for this concept and execution. I hope this show becomes a mainstay and expands to all of their venues. It is EXACTLY what this sport needs more of.
Pic of my baby rocking the e-cross. Her first time over real solid jumps and my first time dipping a toe into eventer land.