WEF then and now

[capalypinto]

I was just going down memory lane and thinking about when I used to go to WEF to watch. I never showed, but just watched for hours on end. I remember in the 80s when the whole show grounds was a grass ring. I think it was south of Pierson Rd at South Shore.

Think it was the first time I’d seen warmbloods and I couldn’t believe how thick their legs were…haha. compared to the thoroughbreds. I would love to see if anyone has any old pictures from WEF in the 80s or 90s.

I spent a lot of time dreaming at WEF from the 80s up until 2010 when I moved . I miss that place, even though I never rode there. It was my escape. It was where I could forget about work and all my problems and just enjoy the horses. There was just something about it.

[nutmeg]

There WAS something about it. The Sunday classes were in front of the polo grandstand, on the grass with grassy berms where you could picnic or watch while hand grazing, edged by palm trees… If Abdullah was not IN the class he was watching from his paddock across the street, looking like a marble statue. No flashy night classes, just sun and sky. No towering bleachers, no VIP section. No city feel at all, you were getting what you came to Florida for… an oasis. RIP Gene Mische, we were lucky to have had you.

[capalypinto]

Wow. This brings back memories. Abdullah! I’ll never forget! I loved those grassy berms! I just remember thinking how big those horses seemed at the time. haha.

[ParadoxFarm]

Ah, yes! I have pictures from a regular camera – using film, no less – of Big Ben, Gem Twist…what good memories! I should see if I can find a few photos and scan them.

[capalypinto]

Please post! I would love to see them!

[cph1957]

We were there around the same time, my first year was 1984, a friend said “I heard there’s some kind of horse show out west, want to drive out”? There were a few large tents across from the polo stadium, South Shore was a sand road, parking was very lax, we pulled off onto the side of the road and walked around. No security of any kind, everything inside the tents was very relaxed. There were a few vendors, maybe 10, in pop up awnings along the entrance to the polo stadium. Yes, the names Abdullah, Gen Twist, were very common and very accessible. Stadium Jumping had a very small office “trailer” set up, with maybe 10 people running the show. Rodney Jenkins was walking around and very friendly as usual. It was there until around 1987 or 1988 and then it moved down to what was become the show grounds today. Back in the early days it would remind you of Upperville. Before the world descended on Wellington!

[ParadoxFarm]

Okay, I wish these were better, but here are Big Ben and Gem Twist at grassy WEF.

[CBoylen]

Those are fantastic, but I don’t think they are the old grounds. Definitely looks like the GP ring when it was grass, not the polo stadium.

[ParadoxFarm]

Yep, you’re right, sorry. I meant old as in on the old grass. Pre-modern. I edited it to “grassy” instead of “old”.

[MHM]

Coincidentally, I was just watching the live stream yesterday of the big class of the week down on that same field that used to be in front of the polo stadium. That is to say, the field is still there, but the polo stadium is not.

There might not be classes there much longer, depending on how the pending real estate development project goes in that neighborhood. But they’re still going on as of this winter, more than 40 years later. They don’t use the field all the time, but there are still horses jumping around out there during some of the weeks.

I remember that there used to be a grob in the field that was closer to South Shore Boulevard.

And a friend of mine was on a green horse out there one day, and it stopped and threw her into the grob. And she said she didn’t realize at first that she had landed down in it, so when she looked up at all the people standing around the edge of it and looking down at her, she wondered why everybody looked so tall. Lol.

There may have been a restorative trip to Cobblestones that night.

[MHM]

One difference I’ve noticed in the commentary these days is that they will often refer to the jumps by the sponsor name involved.

As in, “The jump off course starts with the Netjets vertical, then it’s a left turn to the Palm Beach Equine plank, then a right turn to the Lemieux combination, and then a long run down to the Hermes oxer to finish.”

Unlike back in the day, when it was more likely to be: the blue and white vertical to the green plank to the yellow and white combination to the big orange oxer. Lol.

[nutmeg]

I was behind the course designer one day in one of the early years at the new venue down the road when he said, “I am tearing my HAIR OUT trying to get all these sponsor jumps in a line by the tent. Everybody wants theirs in front.”

[MHM]

I’m sure! And no doubt everybody wants their sponsor jump to be the last one in the jump off so it will be in all the pictures. Lol.

The other memory I have from the early years at the “new” location was when I was driving out of the showgrounds at the end of the winter for the last time, and they were just starting to build farms across the street on Appaloosa Trail. And I remember thinking, who on earth would want to be that far from the horse show?!?

Funny to think of that reaction in hindsight, since now that is the prime real estate since it’s so close to the horse show compared to everything else in the vicinity. Lol.

[MsFinch]

If look closely in the recent photo there is still bit of a grob behind the big white sponsor sign slightly to left of middle in grass ring. I was just noticing that when there yesterday. It’s not particularly deep and probably hasn’t been used in at least 10 years but is still there.

[MHM]

Yes, there’s also a bank that’s still there in a different part of the field, but I don’t think they use it as an obstacle anymore. Now it’s mostly for spectator seating.

Ditto for the big bank that used to be in the corner of the international ring at the current showgrounds right under the announcer tower. But they finally pulled that down a few years back and made it a raised VIP seating area with couches and things.

They still have the table bank along the side of that international ring, but that has not been used as an obstacle for a long time, either. Now they put the judges’ stands on it for the big hunter classes.

[nutmeg]

RIP the banks. I could not believe my eyes when they took down the one at Spruce Meadows. But back to old Wellington, it was a good thing they had the drop bank in the derby field by Jane Ebelhare’s or my equitation kids would still be there trying to mount from the ground when Michael Page was judging.

[MHM]

@nutmeg

I could not believe my eyes when they took down the one at Spruce Meadows.

They took down the bank at Spruce Meadows?!?!?!? When??

How are they going to ski there when the horse show gets canceled because of snow in the spring and the fall??

I noticed that they finally took the dismount and mount test out of the USEF rule book for the equitation classes. But I think they waited until Michael Page retired as a judge. Lol.

[mroades]

So…at the USHJA Hunter Forum last week at WEF, Murray Kessler said there is a complete re-do coming for '27 or '28. They are building a brand new Jumper/Equitation facility on the 90 acres in the back, and trying to decide whether or not to relocate the hunters and put the new dressage facility where the Grand Hunter Ring and pony island are now. Some folks are very attached to the Mische and the Rost and others would like to be next door to the new facility

[MHM]

Hmm. Well, it will be interesting to see what actually happens when all the dust settles.