The World Equestrian Games Travels to U.S.

Massive new arenas stand in various degrees of construction. Hotel reservations are already filling up. Stores and restaurants stock their shelves in anticipation of the crowds to come.

No, this is not the site of the next Olympic Games. This is the Kentucky Horse Park where many are eagerly awaiting September 25, the day the World Equestrian Games arrive in America for the first time in the competition’s history.

Held once every four years, The World Equestrian Games were created in 1990 to serve as a unified place to hold the world championships in all of the Fédération Équestre Internationale (The International Federation for Equestrian Sports) events.

Currently eight of the FEI’s 10 disciplines are represented; combined driving, dressage, endurance riding, eventing, paraequestrianism, reining, show jumping and vaulting.

In order to compete in the games, a horse and rider team must be selected by their home country, similar to the way athletes are selected for the Olympics. To be chosen is one of the greatest honors shown to a horse/rider team. But as much as it is an honor, it is also a great risk.

As a rule, horses do not take the sea voyage necessary to get them from their home country to the location of the games well. The fact that the games are being held outside of Europe for the first time adds to the travel risk, as it means many of the competing horses will have to travel further by boat than they have ever had to before. It can take a horse months to recover from a voyage, if the horse recovers at all, which means that only the most experienced horses, those with the shortest recovery time, will be considered for the games.

Despite the strain that the travel puts on some of the competitors, the general mood surrounding the first ever-American hosted games is one of excitement.

Americans in particular are excited about introducing their European counterparts to the great variation in the American equestrian community. A major way this will be done is through the Equine Village.

The Equine Village will be an area of the competition grounds set aside for the games’ enormous trade show and expo. Among the Village’s many attractions will be exhibits on the various horse breeds and demonstrations of a variety of equestrian sports and entertainment.

The Village will also be home to a multitude of vendors, who will be selling everything from souvenirs, to the latest in tack, to a new thermal imaging system for horses.

In the world of equestrian sports, the World Equestrian Games is considered to be greater than the Olympics, and it is easy to see why. Between the vendors, the demonstrations, and the games themselves, the horse world is given a chance to shine in a way only possible in this setting. But in the midst of all the craziness, one thing remains clear – the games are about the horses. All the games really are is a celebration of their majesty and power, and at an event like this, that is exactly the way it should be.

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4 comments

Anonymous

Fri Apr 9 2010 16:41

Yes, overreacting is fun. One mistake and suddenly the future of journalism is at stake. It's kinda like dropping a straw wrapper on the ground and suddenly the whole world is just one giant trash heap.

Anonymous

Thu Mar 4 2010 10:37

Actually on the WEG website it sys 90 not 88.

jan

Sun Feb 28 2010 13:50

She didn't do any research. The first WEG was in '88, 90 is a summer olympic year. Fact checkers? I hope this is not the future of journalism.

Anonymous

Sat Feb 27 2010 16:19

Don't know where the author found her info re the horse transportion to and from the WEG. The horses will not travel to the Games by sea, but by air. Transportation of the equine athletes is said to be the largest airlift of horses in history.

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