WEC Ocala is magnificent so I would assume the Ohio facility is just as nice?
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The Ohio facility is very nice, although the one in Ocala is designed to be more of a showplace, I would say.
As far as the actual showing experience, the facility in Ohio has huge rings, excellent footing, beautiful jumps, permanent stalls, etc., etc.
Plus shops and restaurants right there on the property, as well as cabin rentals.
And welcome to the BB! 
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Funny how we managed to host the World Cup on the west coast several times, then.
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Does World Cup = multi-ring National championships show?
For sure, WC is prestigious and comes with its own logistical challenges, but the two events have quite different needs.
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This has been the issue for shows. The number of horses, and number of rings that need to be going at the same time (and their warm up rings) limit the facilities. Then you have to look at bid prices (or even getting a bid price in the first place), ability of the facility staff to drag rings, empty manure bins, footing quality, stabling, access to hotels airports and restaurants. THEN you have to look at the fact that most facilities only sign multi year contracts. Finally take a look at entries based on where the show is located. This is why shows that tried to rotate no longer rotate. This is a big country, and someone is going to be driving long distances (there isnāt a show thatās in the āmiddleā of the country).
USDF Finals moving from KY to OH is not a huge change, and the ability to hold most of it inside (as well as stabling inside and not in shedrows) is a huge bonus in November.
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I would say DIHP could do this. And throw in nice weatherā¦
Look, I said above that the west coast riders have a definite complaint about this all.
BUT - how many facilities/management companies have even submitted a bid for Finals?? Itās easy to complain that it has not come to the west coast, but unless you KNOW that a reasonable, financially viable bid with the infrastructure needed to run a show of this size by a facility has been denied, then complaining about it staying on the eastern side of the country is not reasonable.
Use your energy by talking to the management companies and facilities that can host a 7 ring show with acceptable footing for all those rings and warm up areas and see what the hesitation is over submitting a bid. I donāt know the various CDS sub-GMOs and the volunteer base. One thing that KHP has had as a real selling point is KDA has a member base that fills out the necessary volunteer base to run this show. Is that really going to be easy to attain in CA?
Iām not privy to all the costs involved, but it is a VERY expensive show to run.
Iām NOT saying it should not be held west of the Rockies, but I am pointing out some reasons that it MAY not have moved to the west as promised.
As others have said, yes, there has been WC and Olympic Games run out west, and they have their own logistical challenges, but they are not the same as running as many as a 500 horse dressage show.
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The World Cup in Burbank did. That facility can host 5-6 rings. And Showpark in San Diego can do similar. As can some of the NorCal venues.
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Did what?
Sounds like they arenāt submitting competitive bids (if they are submitting anything) to run the Finals from comments above.
But unless they bid on the show, it isnāt going to move there. My understanding from several years ago is that the only bids submitted from any west coast facilities were not sufficient.
Disclaimer - I am not part of the bid review, so I am hearing this secondhand. It might not have been repeated to me 100% accurately.
Did the WC use 6-7 rings for full day competition over multiple days? I was at Finals in 2021 where it was 9 rings. And it is schooling rings and lunging areas and stabling and parking. Itās not just having the space for the competition rings. I actually think if there are dates available, Thermal or Del Mar would be a good option. But they have to want to host it, not just have it be a reasonable option.
Also, lets not pretend that SoCal or anywhere is going to have perfect weather all the time. It is not going to be sleeting in SoCal, but Iāve been in Cali (my sis lives in San Juan Capistrano) where it rained all week long. And NorCal/Oregon/Washington can get cold. People think that Vegas is in a desert so of course it is always warm. Not true. It snowed there last week, Substantially snowed.
I do truly want the west coast members to have their fair share of time hosting/more easily able to attend this show, but it is not as simple as āthey just wonāt more the show westā.
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I think that the main reason is financial. Itās no secret that property is expensive in the West, certainly in California. I also think that complaining about something that was promised to rotate not rotating isnāt unreasonable. If the problem is financial, that should not have been a surprise to USDF. Just donāt pretend itās a ānationalā finals when it isnāt.
Yes. For a national level show, I believe the volunteers would show up. I know I would.
CDS has over 2300 members; KDA has 226 members per the USDF website.
Well, then USDF could be more transparent in why itās not rotating, thatās what galls me the most.
Just as an aside; Iāve volunteered at the Region 7 Championships which runs concurrent with the CDS Annual Show (canāt use the āCā word) when there have been 6 rings running for 5 days. All this at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. Iām pretty confident we have several venues that could handle this so-called National Championships; LAEC, Del Mar Horse Park, and the Horse Park in Thermal.
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All valid points, but youāre skipping over the part where I have said over and over again that at the end of the day, if none of the facilities out west are not willing to even bid, let alone actually host, the event, this is all a theoretical discussion.
Spend your energy encouraging western locations to bid for it going forward. While it would suck for many of my friends to have to travel that far, I would completely support it moving west for a 3 year cycle.
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Putting aside the fact that West Coast facilities may or may not have ever submitted a bid.
Facilities in Southern California that I can think of that have the infrastructure are Del Mar (no go in November because they are racing there), Showpark AKA Del Mar Horsepark (I think the number of horses is limited there, but not sure if the limit is more or less than the number of horses that typically go to USDF finals), Temecula (no covered ring though rain is not super likely there in November), Oaks-Blenheim (no covered rings and ongoing issues with an environmental group), LA Equestrian Center (has hosted CDS finals and a World Cup), Thermal AKA Desert International Horse Park (no covered ring, but rain even less likely than in Temecula, though the winds can be brutal; also, they run a hunter jumper series there in November that may overlap).
Las Vegas is not southern California, but I donāt think that Southpoint has enough rings anyway.
Sacramento is also not SoCal, but I think that facility probably has several covered rings.
There is likely going to be a new show facility in the Moorpark/Thousand Oaks area, but not for a few years.
Iām currently at a lovely jumper show (complete with a 5* CSI-W and competitors from around the world) at Santa Anita. Rumor is that the rings in the infield will stay, but there are only two rings.
I suppose that there probably isnāt a facility that is truly in the middle of the country and, anyway, it seems that organizations typically decide that they will maximally inconvenience one side of the country by putting it on the other side as opposed to putting it somewhere in the middle where theyād annoy people from both sides of the country. Itās not just dressage: for HJ stuff, pony finals, hunter derby finals, and all of the big indoor shows with national-level medal finals are on the east coast or in KY. They threw the west coast a bone with the USHJA National finals in Vegas.
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I have heard that Temecula is not necessarily a done deal, but not using it would probably mean removing the eventing competition or asking for an exemption to the rule (FEI??? IOC???) that all three disciplines be held at a single facility (*), though maybe they could do something with Showpark. Del Mar definitely has better weather and they probably could convince them to run the summer race meet a bit later than usual. The traffic would be pretty awful but likely not as bad as Temecula is going to be.
(*) at least I canāt think of another facility in SoCal that already has a cross-country course and is capable of holding all three disciplines at an Olympics. As it is, Temecula would need to build a new ring since the required size for the competition ring is 110 m by 70 m (source - https://inside.fei.org/system/files/Olympic%20Paralympic_Venue%20Operational%20Requirements_2024.pdf)
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Since nobody here has definitively confirmed no West coast venue has bid, your point is also theoretical.
Trust me though, Iām not spending energy on this other than posting here. Just pointing out the USDF bait and switch.
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Isnāt there a covered ring there? Or is it part of the adjacent property?
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Part of the adjacent property. Used to get used for medal finals but not for the last four years or so.
I truly hope theyāve satisfied the city and Coast Keepers.
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The weather in the desert can be dicey and there are no indoor facilities at DIHP. If the wind blows, which it does, it is a dusty nightmare. It is hotter than hades from April to October.
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I would hope and expect that the USDF would do the leg work to partner with west coast facilities to see who they could work with to get a facility and bid together to make it a viable option, rather than just wait and see, or expect members to do that.
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