Good luck to him “improving” Ocala… there’s no way it’ll compete with WEC even with HITS having the dates. All day any day I’d rather go to an unrated show at a better facility… and there’s 0 chance of hits ever being half of what WEC will be. I have a feeling he’s doing this to try to end up with more money from Roberts to buy his dates.
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Agreed. I showed there in May and June and I think there were 3 or 4 in the COMBINED age groups for Amateur Adult Hunters. Lamplight had 13 in the >50’s.
The rings and jumps are great, but after your 2 minutes in the ring, you’re still in them middle of nowhere with no amenities.
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Can they sell Culpeper to someone else too now?
I always thought people were a little over dramatic on the footing there. But then I went and they managed to both turn the warm up into a swamp and the jumper ring into a desert.
For real! I stopped going there back in 2010, because even then, it was becoming the Walmart of rated shows.
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I went to Culpeper once, despite its reputation, just to try a new venue. Luckily, we had great weather so the rings were perfect. It was a beautiful venue.
However, the cost for me to trailer in was almost twice what it costs me for most other ‘A’ rated shows. My division had THREE in it including myself.
Thank you, next.
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Yeah, ended up paying about 250$ To trailer in to do one class.
I find it fascinating that everyone is more interested in what Tom is going to do next, rather than what this new group is doing out in CA.
Does anyone in that group have experience running a horse show? It’s interesting USEF allows the selling of dates to an unproven management group (I’m assuming unproven, as I’ve never heard of this group before). CA is a massive industry, and I hope they end up with a better event than they had and the place doesn’t go bankrupt in a few years.
Here’s some information about the team they put together.
https://deserthorsepark.com/announcing-the-leadership-team-for-the-desert-international-horse-park/
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good team! best of luck to them.
We need to save our pennies for WEC. I heard the weekly cost of a non showing horse to be over $700!
My sale horse was a non showing horse at our local AA show this past Feb. My bill was in the $650 range each week. That’s just the show bill.
Class fees for a hunter division are always a small part of my show bill. It’s the stall fees, shavings, office fee, tack room split, “ringside amenities fee” (yes, that’s a thing), USEF fees, etc that add up to around $500-550 before you even enter a class!!!
