"In My Opinion" by Ronnie Beard

I am writing this letter on behalf of many other concerned equestrians, and myself.

On August 28th a group of horsemen went to the meeting of The Wellington Village Council to show support for Gene Mische and Stadium Jumping. If you were at the meeting you would have seen the large number of people who put forth a great amount of effort to attend.

After a brief discussion we were informed that there would be no discussion or decision that night concerning the approval of Stadium Jumping's move.

I had been at a previous meeting and spoke to show my support for the new show grounds in Wellington. The members of the council did say that if anyone who wished to speak that could not come to the September meeting could have their three minutes. I chose not to speak thinking I would attend yet another meeting. After checking my schedule I realized that I had a commitment on that date that I would not be able to break.

I have since been thinking of that night and have some personal opinions I'd like to share.

My speech would have gone something like this, had I spoke that evening....

I am speaking to you as a Wellington citizen, a horseman, an exhibitor, a recognized horse shows judge, and a member of the USEF Show Jumping High Performance Committee.

I am very disappointed in our Village Council. We have all made a huge effort to come to this meeting for a decision. This is obviously a time sensitive issue that needs to be moved ahead quickly. I find it hard to believe that you would all sit behind the bench and look into the faces of the people that voted for you and dismiss us so easily. The biggest concern seemed to be if the ladies on the Council would be able to make the next meeting at four o'clock or five.

I know that I have learned something about the way Wellington is being run during these meetings, and I certainly won't take the next election in this community for granted. I will work hard to try and find a horseman to support, a horseman that can sit on the council and protect our points of view. I know many people now feel this way.

As much as I support the new show grounds being in Wellington, at this point I would not blame Stadium Jumping for moving elsewhere.

How many more hoops do they need to jump through?

The people that have supported Stadium Jumping and Gene Mische for many years are a very resilient group. We have followed him to many venues over the last forty years or so. The reasons are obvious. Stadium Jumping has evolved over the years and has brought Show Jumping to a new level in this country.

For years, in order to compete at the International level, we needed to travel to Europe. We still need to go to Europe for events, but now, because of the efforts of Stadium Jumping, Europe is starting to need to come to us. Wellington now hosts the only Nations Cup in our country.

This is an honor, which we cannot afford to lose.

Our industry, over the past few years, has exploded and we have outgrown our current venue. It is now time to take the next step and build a world class facility that all of us can be proud of. We need our own Spruce Meadows, we need our own Aachen.

I spent part of this summer in Kentucky at the Kentucky Horse Park. This is to be the site of the World Equestrian Games in 2010. I was so impressed by the horsemen in Kentucky - they hosted a party and proudly showed us what they were creating. Not only did they show us what they were doing, but the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation pledged to raise almost thirty five millions dollars in private funds, leaving no doubt that the venue will be first class.

Wouldn't it be impressive if our Wellington Village Council would encourage people to support and help raise funds instead of seeing how difficult they can make it for this new venture?

How fortunate we are to have a few people in our camp who are going out on a limb for us.

I do not believe the Wellington Council understands how many other people they are affecting with these delays. Real estate, from home and farm sales to seasonal rentals, is almost at a standstill. Many equestrians have not even made the commitment to come to Wellington this year for fear of the on-going turmoil continuing. I go to many shows and I hear this first hand. With these delays you might as well just turn over this season's revenue to other show locations.

I was pleased to hear of the purchase of the old show grounds by Mr. Bellissimo. Hopefully everyone can now work together so that we might have two venues in this town. There is room for everyone, and with the right structure and timing we could find ourselves with little reason to leave Wellington for long periods of time. I myself have been able to figure out how to be gone for only about six weeks in the summer.

I look forward to the day that we not only host a Nations Cup, but perhaps a World Cup Final, or more. I hope that event will happen in Wellington, and not somewhere else.

The next meeting of the Wellington Village Council comes at a very unfortunate time, and a number of important and concerned horsemen will be unable to attend. The American Gold Cup is that week, The Middleburg Classic, and many equestrians are heading north to get ready for the fall circuit.

I know that Stadium Jumping, Gene Mische, and all the other people who have worked so hard on this project would appreciate you sending notes or letters of support if you can not attend this next meeting.

Let's also hope the Wellington Village Council lives up to their promise of serving the community, and gives us a decision so that we can finally move ahead.

Ronnie Beard, Wellington, Florida
ronniebeard2107@aol.com
561 644-5632