I think the WEC and NSBA is the change this sport needed. WEC is sold out, and everyone I’ve talk to is excited to show there. They aren’t chasing points, some have sale horses that need exposure and some just want to have a fun show experience. The people that are at the top collecting points are upset they have to stay in the run down sandbox at HITS with USEF.
I know a bunch of people that are super excited just to go to WEC to watch classes, shop and enjoy the restaurants & plan on doing this very frequently. These are the same people that would only go spectate at HITS for the million.
If NSBA runs smoothly, perhaps they will offer the association to other show facilities, such as fox Lea in Venice , Tampa and Jacksonville on dates that they wouldn’t have been able to put on a usef show due to the mileage run. Then riders that now are NSBA members would have other facilities to get points at for NSBA finals and year end awards.
This is the beginning of 2 separate sandboxes.
To shop? Eat at the restaurants? Seriously how desperate are you?
I truly have tried to stay away from this topic.
I am an old goat who remembers growing up in Florida when there were Three rated shows and one was “C”. My Dad was one of the first investors in Stadium Jumping , Inc. No, not Butler.
WEF was literally held at a Brooksville showgrounds in Nowhere ville, Hernando County… Driving to hotel took 30 minutes. Then, it moved to the Tampa Yacht Club. Gene built an organization which, for better or worse made showing accessible up and down the geographic spectrum.
We survived literally carrying water from cisterns at the first Lake Placid.
We didn’t demand permanent stabling… HELL, we shipped, installed and hung stall gates, and actually had to hang buckets with screw eyes> HORRORS!
Busting the mileage rule has to be set in context! Now, contrast the monopoly created by the sale of SJ to Belissimo. There was the option to show “next door” at the Burton shows. That went away… Then, when Mark couldn’t win against deep pockets he took his marbles and built Tryon.
Let’s talk vertical integration! Both Struzziere and Bellissimo embrace this . I don’t gamble, but anyone who doesn’t recognize the Casino/Disney model here is deluded. This is price fixing and lack of competition at its very finest.
Ever heard of Loss Leaders in retail? You have a perfect example of this in the new McManionized Ocala facility. Once the new facility is on footing( no pun) the prices will skyrocket. They will have the monpoly they sought. Free stalls? … nothing is Free. If we believe that, we truly are embracing the Disney model.
Bring back the system of local shows and the original rating tiers. Limit the number of entries. Take some of the incremental steps in divisions out of A shows… a 3’3" Junior hunter should be able to make the move up… or stay in Children’s.
The American system? Too much mollycoddling. Can’t ride on a slight incline, in rain, heat, cold, are cloudy days next? Will the new facility provide guaranteed “sun”.?
Not sorry for the rant. There Certainly is room for improvement within the USHJA. Personally, I will watch where the ISWG group and the drug cheats go.
Previously owned by the Castro family and home to their school for girls…
Found an article, in COTH no less, which describes the origin of the milege rule, almost a decade before Ted Stevens.
Key sentences
Plus sa change…
USEF publishes guidelines, but it’s not true that drugs are prohibited by name. They’re prohibited by action so USEF rules already cover new formulations of drugs that affect behavior or soundness.
USEF has also spent a fair amount of resources in creating teeth for their drug rules, and a hearing infrastructure. When push comes to shove, will NSBA be willing (or even able) to spend six figures or more litigating a case when a rich person is caught?
From the sidelines this is kind of an interesting drama but there are IMHO only a few paths where everyone ends up better off, and they mostly involve everyone negotiating a settlement where shows end up back under USEF, with the NSBA people enjoying a temporary influx of money and interest but then able to go back to their core interests.
I really hope people won’t be spectating, shopping, and dining this year at a horse show they are not competing in. What are the NSBA rules about Covid?
Florida is open for business as long as you wear a mask. Malls are open, movies, restaurants, theme parks, schools. WEC is more then just a horse show grounds. I would hope it would be open to visitors for shopping, eating & watching the classes. There are numerous restaurants, a 5 star hotel & spa, lots of shopping. It’s not just a horse show facility.
As long as you follow the 6 foot rule and wear a mask, it seems like it would be as safe as normal day to day activities in COVID times.
The USEF Covid protocol prohibits spectators and other non-essential personnel. See https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/XhKGVYiiwTA/usef-covid-19-action-plan-for-operating then third bullet point under H. Though that’s no longer relevant. I don’t know if NSBA has a Covid protocol or what it is.
I wonder how that would apply to people who are on the property to stay in the hotel if they are not exhibitors. Other family members, for example, or friends. Or even people who are suspended by USEF.
As you say, it’s a moot point at the moment. But it would be interesting to see how that would work.
I actually added a week when the USEF weeks I was attending became NSBA. There is less prize money but it’s my baby jumper’s first show in the us, so it’s not like we’re going to win in the puddle jumpers, and my classics are suddenly $200ish cheaper to enter. I’ll only do a few classes so at that point when you throw in the free stall my three week show bill is about the same as my two week show bill.
I am trekking from Michigan for an unrated show because:
- I know it will be a great experience for my horse. Big stalls with mattresses like home, great footing and lots of schooling area options. He has a nice ride down there, and it’s at a time of year we’d be stuck inside.
- It will be fun. WEC Ohio is unlike showing anywhere else, I feel this will be the same. I can’t be the only ammy whose favorite part of the horse show is being done riding & cheering on friends & hanging out. Which is why I just bought a 3yo… low expectations
.
I’m rolling with the triple quote.
Anyhow, a USEF show kind of near me recently ran at a facility that has other functions, both horse and non. Other horses boarded at the facility stayed during the show and people came to ride them. There was also some sort of a soccer tournament. So that might serve as a model for having people in a hotel on a show grounds. Might not be the best example bc there was nothing in the premium for the show that talked about restricted spectators.
…but does USEF use those “teeth”? How many “rich people” do we know of that are known to have drug infractions and continue to horse show (and drug their horses…) with no suspensions, bans, or repercussions. There are a number of high profile incidents in the last few years, and even more that remain under the table…
Do we know how much USEF spent going up against Larry, Kelley & Bonnie? Because I just don’t see NSBA doing that… I don’t even think they could. It would absolutely drain their coffers and I’d venture that the rest of their membership, i.e. those that have been paying NSBA dues for years if not decades, would be hopping mad. I sure would be.
Maybe the legal fees wouldn’t have been so bad if the lab had been run appropriately. I’m not sure the USEF spending a ton of money to lose a case due to mis-management at their lab is a good example of USEF’s ability to enforce drugs rules.
Totally agree. But if not that it will be some other excuse. These people go down swinging.
With the exception of local shows coming back, which I think is happening, the ship has sailed for the rest of this.
The bulk of business, in H/J land, is amateur riders jumping 3’ or less. Not all those people have the time, skill, horseflesh, or desire to do the 3’6. I know people who are perfectly capable of showing in the A/Os, but stay in the 3’3 to preserve their horses’ legs. They have a good day, their trainer makes money, the show makes money - what’s the harm? I went to a C show recently with 4 entries in the A/O hunters and two dozen in the 1m jumpers. The days where you showed 3’6 or not at all are long gone and are never coming back.
The people who are happy to gallop around in mud and rain are self-selecting out as the hunter/jumper industry changes and are eventing, or foxhunting, or hunter pacing. H/J land, at the A shows, is a luxury hobby. Why wouldn’t a luxury outdoor hobby gravitate toward areas with nice weather, or shows with nice facilities, or both? No one golfs in Chicago in the winter.
Don’t they use the same lab? I know they do now, but was USEF using a different one during the Glefke debacle?
Yes… Their own. 
Raise your hand if you’re surprised. Anyone?..Anyone?
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article224568945.html
Here’s an article about the review of USEF’s lab in 2018. https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/changes-made-and-more-to-come-for-usefs-drugs-and-medications-program
I believe University of Kentucky started handling USEF drug testing in 2019.
