We keep hearing the same complaints about horse showing: For all but the uber wealthy, many of the competitions have gotten too expensive — dealing with high entry fees and add-ons, while the cost of being away from home for five or six days has skyrocketed,
A new show series at Los Angeles Equestrian Center is geared to handling those concerns under the direction of Steve Hankin, who transformed California’s Desert International Horse Park during his five years as CEO. (Click here to read a story about that).
Steve, who departed DIHP last July, has come up with a new venture, Pacific Ridge Show Jumping, nine regional and national shows to run from April through October. The include fixtures of three, four and five days.
“There are always conversations about the regional horse show, will it work? commented Steve.
He is convinced that one place it will work is at LAEC, a 75-acre city-owned facility in Griffith Park. It has a 3,500-seat arena, 13 other rings, 500 stalls for boarders and nearly that many for horses competing in shows at the Burbank site.
Los Angeles Equestrian Center
“The notion of being at your home barn and saying, `My horse is going great, let’s put him in the ring for two or three days at a cost that’s not significant,’ is really cool. A home venue vs. an away venue cuts your costs in half right away. There are some interesting ways the facility can evolve and play a role in the sport in California,” said Steve, who has a reputation as a visionary.
“What’s been interesting is the reaction, how great people’s memories are of what LAEC was and how much they are excited about prospects for it to return to its glory. People everywhere, people around the country. have called about it.”
Steve, who lives 10 minutes from LAEC, said he is at “the intersection of two things that matter to me — doing something at home and doing something for the sport.”
At some point, Pacific Ridge may host FEI shows, perhaps even a World Cup qualifier, but now the focus is on the 2026 offerings.
“This is a start, there’s lots more that can happen,” said Steve. He will be working with Adrienne Karazissis, who has had experience in management with the West Palms shows, some of which were held at LAEC.
“We’re starting small. We’ve got a lot to learn about the place. It’s a journey very much unlike Thermal (DIHP),” he observed. But Steve explained, “you don’t have pressure the first day to make something big. People are excited. They want to support it, and I think we’ll learn. I never thought about what it meant to have an urban facility.”
“You have so many horses within an hour (drive). To be so close to so many horses, it can take on the feel of a home facility and it can be used in different ways than a traditional facility because of that.”
LAEC has been run by ASM Global, which was bought by Legends Global, a company involved with sports and entertainment.
While noting ASM “made good progress over the last couple of years,” Steve is eager to implement improvements at LAEC.
“The place is in need of serious work, everyone knows that. The things I focus on first are stabling and footing, and we’re trying to figure out how to have at least some impact on those in the short period of time we have before we can start our shows,” he noted.
He and his wife, Lisa, are personally involved with horses. She recently took a four-year-old to compete in lower-level jumper classes at DIHP.
“I really want to contribute to the sport still and I really want to do it in LA,” said Steve.
“It’s fresh, it’s new, it’s different. It’s fun to think about the challenges the people talk about in the sport and how do you solve it? People want a change. You hear it in the conversation everywhere you go. The question is, are they going to like what the change is?”
“If you can offer a quality three-day horse show that can help people qualify, it’s a great product, especially in an urban setting. It doesn’t work everywhere. It’s got to be a great experience in every dimension. I’m optimistic.”