Wef 2013

Soo I will be traveling to WEF this year!! I am trilled and so excited. The story behind it is that I had some bad news recently, my barn is closing down, lost an amazing job within 2 days of each other so it seemed like life was pointing to 1- Sulk that things suck. Orrrr 2- “ Make a Big Move”… I chose make a big move. This means nothing is tying me down to the city I live in, no coach tying me down so now I can travel without worrying about making her mad because I have to use another coach at the far away A shows or in FL. And I still may end up packing myself and horse up to move to a larger city in Ontario where the population of quality horses, coaches and shows is the highest. Theres only a handfull of quality A circuit coaches where I live and they are hard to come by!

But for now back to the FL topic…. I will only go for 3 weeks but financially I can’t do much more than that even with cutting a lot of costs. My friend is going to Ocala for 5 weeks but I’ve gone before, and Wellington is where I want to be! And lucky for me I start a new job today!!

I don’t have an illusion that I will win – I may not even place but I want to use it as a feel for the grounds so when I go back I know what to expect, where everything is, how classes are run, peoples turn out and I want to go look at some 6-7 figure hunters (window shopping to the extreme? Lol) I need to brush up on the American terms for classes, I believe you have the jr/am ( or jr/aa or jr/ao) low-med-high which is 1.20/1.35/1.40 ? Please correct me if I’m wrong here!

If anyone has any advice or tips about wellington or anything you would find helpful to me I would really appreciate it and what to expect that would differ from Ocala. Like peoples attitudes and things like that, temperature, classes and what to expect there, if there is any different rules about showing.. I don’t know how you would know they are different than Canada. I know WEF is big money so I am doing it on a budget but if having the best of the best clothes necessary? I like to have my riding speak for itself but would it be better to have a really good set of things for big classes? Like better helmet, breeches, jacket, horse boots exc? I am going in March so I have time to save for myself to buy some new things I’m just curious if it actually matters or not or it that’s all just for show.

Or if anyone lives around there and knows of any fun things to do on the off time or sight seeing ( no clubs or anything like that ). My parents will come down for a week and I don’t want to keep them at the show the whole time.

Thanks!!!

Ooh how fun! It's been 2 or 3 years since I've been to WEF but it is definitely a lot of fun and just a cool cool show environment. Be sure to enjoy all the night classes and vendors. There are tons of great restaurants and the beach isn't far. There's a huge club (players??? I think??) HA, but lots of other things to do as well.

As far as apparel goes... Yeah, you'll see the best of the best. Custom boots, Pikeur breeches, etc. I've noticed that in the jumpers the trend are the technical fabric jackets instead of wool, often with a contrasting collar. The wrap collar show shirts are pretty popular too. But really I'd just make sure that your clothes are clean and fit well and you'll be fine.

I don't know what the rules in Canada... WEF follows USEF's rules. If you get on the USEF website you can find the rule book and read up on it.

The last time I went was end of January I think? It was maybe in the 70-80s. I was comfortable in a polo with breeches but ended up using a light jacket certain days.

I actually haven't shown in Ocala but several of my friends go every winter. I don't imagine it's really that different. There are some bigger names in WEF though which is pretty cool.

Have a great time, congrats on your new job!

Wait a sec, are you showing in the hunters or jumpers? I just noticed you mentioned looking at some hunters... (and yes, they will certainly be there!) the jr/am jr/ao, etc (or anything measured by meters) are jumpers.

I've been to Wellington in March quite a few times. It is usually summer-like weather, normally in the 80s. But being in Florida where the weather can be unpredictable, I'd advise you to take several different types of jackets and rain gear.

The 2012 WEF prize list is still online, so you can get an idea of the types of classes that were offered last year. Equestrian Sport Productions, LLC
Go to Competitors, Prize Lists; scroll through by clicking Next until you see the 2012 WEF Prize List.

On youtube, the best videos to watch are the ones posted by shownetllc. You will be able to see what people wore in different types of classes. Randi Muster at Randi Muster Photography has her 2012 WEF photo gallery online as does Anne Gittens at Anne Gittins Photography On Anne's website you will have to select Event Proofs and scroll down to the bottom to find her 2012 WEF gallery.

Some of the jumper classes as upnover (great name!) said are run under USEF rules which can be found at Rule Book but depending on the classes you show in, they can also be run under FEI rules. The FEI rules are also online at ttp://www.fei.org/disciplines/jumping/rules

If you have a day and the time, I think a fun thing to do as a family is to go swimming with the dolphins. Dophin Cove in Key Largo (about 2 hours from Wellington) is a nice facility that has taken care of my family many many times when they have visited Wellington.

Oops, you're right! FEI rules are different then USEF. Although... FEI rules are the same in Canada as they are in the US... And I took the liberty to assume the OP is not showing at FEI.