With WEC Ohio not happening this winter, I’m looking into wintering in Florida for the first time in a long time. Outside of board and training and housing, I’m trying to figure out if Ocala (either WEC or HITS) is truly cheaper than WEF. I couldn’t find WEF’s prizelist online in order to look up prices. Can anyone help weigh in? I know board and housing are huge components, but at this point I’m trying to figure out if there would be a sizable difference in my show bill at the end of the day. Thanks in advance!!
So I looked into this a while back, and the WEF show was actually slightly cheaper because HITS had some hidden fees that made it more. However, hotels, hay, farrier, etc is significantly more at WEF, so overalls HITS became cheaper.
Who knows yet on WEC though. Many have assumed prices will be the same as the WEC Ohio, but we still don’t know if the shows will be rated or not.
In general, costs are lower in Ocala than Wellington - hotels, restaurants, etc.
I showed at WEF for the first time this year - had my horse stabled off-site for about 8 weeks. On average, compared to HITS, it was $500 - $1,000 per week more expensive (all in) to show at WEF vs Ocala. But compared to HITS, it was so worth it! Having said that, WEC looks gorgeous and may give WEF a run for their money.
Budget friendly, on average, what would you be looking at per week for HITS vs WEF?
Very much depends on what classes you are showing in. Jumpers tends to be cheaper than hunters, unless you want to do money classes. What would you plan to show in? Do you have an RV, or know some more people to all chip in on an Airbnb? Onsite stabling or offsite?
I think the whole WEC thing may upend the apple cart so thoroughly in the next year or two that it’s almost impossible to predict what will happen. I drove by the new place last week, and holy cow. They are not fooling around there!
The other cost aspect to factor in is possible prize money. If you show in a division with prize money, where are you going to be more competitive, and thus more likely to offset your entry fees to some degree? It might be worth a glance at the results on the USEF website to see how many exhibitors showed this year in the same classes at both locations.
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We are planning four weeks at WEC Ocala Jan-Feb. WEF is nice, but WEC will be objectively nicer. With WEC OH closing, they are moving their team down there for the circuit (coincidence…?). Having shown at WEC OH I can tell you that team is first class. We are betting that the shows will be rated (though this is a gamble). Going middle of the road with travel/lodging/meal expenses, WEF is ~$6500/week including show fees (a Ferrier there charged $450 for an emergency shoe), we budgeted $4500/week for WEC including show fees. The trailering expenses from our base are much lower for Ocala as well.
We are planning four weeks at WEC Ocala Jan-Feb. WEF is nice, but WEC will be objectively nicer. With WEC OH closing, they are moving their team down there for the circuit (coincidence…?), and has shown at WEC OH I can tell you that team is first class. We are betting that the shows will be rated (though this is a gamble). Going middle of the road with travel/lodging/meal expenses, WEF is ~$6500/week including show fees (a Ferrier there charged $450 for an emergency shoe), we budgeted $4500/week for WEC including show fees.
We are planning four weeks at WEC Ocala Jan-Feb. WEF is nice, but WEC will be objectively nicer. With WEC OH closing, they are moving their management/gate teams down there for the winter circuit (coincidence…?). Having shown at WEC OH I can tell you that team is first class. We are betting that the shows will be rated (though this is a gamble though mostly irrelevant for us). Going middle of the road with travel/lodging/meal expenses, WEF is ~$6500/week including show fees (a Ferrier there charged $450 for an emergency shoe), we budgeted $4500/week for WEC including show fees.
Wait, was it $450 for ONE shoe??
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Probably. At one time steels with pads was pushing 1k.
Yes.
Also, I failed to mention in the prior post, but the trailering to WEF is quite a bit more for us than to Ocala. (of course, it may be more to Ocala then WEF for another situation.)
Holy guacamole. I need to bring my farrier coffee more often.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹Twenty years ago I knew a very good farrier in Florida who charged around $250 for a shoeing job. He used to say that his goal was to gradually raise his prices to $1,000 a job. He figured that some people might stop using him, but if only 1\4 of his customers stuck with him, he’d be making the same amount of money for only 1\4 of the work. But he was joking about it! Or at least I thought it was a joke.
