by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 16, 2023
At the very end of a five-hour Wellington, Florida, council meeting on the controversial Wellington North and South development proposals, Councilman John McGovern raised a key question Wednesday night.
At the heart of all the conversation about the development is the need for an expanded showgrounds at Wellington International, home of the Winter Equestrian Festival. Developer Wellington Lifestyle Partners has agreed to put money toward the project on Wellington South under a scenario that would allow them to build housing and recreational amenities on Wellington North, now the home of the Global Dressage Festival at Equestrian Village.
That property and the neighboring White Birch polo fields are part of the Equestrian Overlay Zoning District, commonly known as the Equestrian Preserve, a designation which is supposed to mean it is safe from being overtaken by major housing developments. But remarks during a public hearing Wednesday and in a comment period Tuesday night raised the issue of how much the showgrounds project would cost to build, and where the funding would come from.
So a concerned Councilman McGovern asked Wellington International President Michael Stone, “We’ve heard a great deal about GEG (Global Equestrian Group, Wellington International’s owner)…and we’ve heard GEG is foundering, is not going to do any maintenance on the showgrounds. We’ve heard any number of things. And the most substantive of those that we heard, and we heard it several times tonight, is that GEG is up for sale and has been up for sale for two years. So I want to give you a chance to address whether GEG, Wellington International, any of that is currently up for sale today.”
Stone responded, “GEG has spent close to $12 million since they bought it (the showgrounds, in 2021). So for people to say they’ve invested nothing in the property is nonsense. GEG is owned by private equity, Waterland Group in Denmark, which has its headquarters in the Netherlands.
“I think most people involved in that level of investment businesses know most private equity is run on a five-year turnaround. So they try to improve the product and then they want to sell the whole thing. This is pretty typical of that sort of investment. So sure, it hasn’t been for sale for two years, but if someone wants to come and buy GEG, I’m sure Waterland will sell it. It’s not a secret and never has been.”
Michael Stone. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
The council faces a big decision on whether to take 96 acres out of the Equestrian Preserve so WLP can build its project on Wellington North. WLP has the land for a showgrounds expansion on Wellington South, just down the road, but without permission to build on Wellington North, the property needed to improve the showgrounds won’t be available.
To repeat a comment printed here yesterday from a spokesperson for WLP: “If the residential units in our application are not granted on the North Parcel it simply does not make economic sense to give up the residential development rights we have on Pod F (acreage on Wellington South) in addition to the incremental investment of approximately $25mm+ in new equestrian facilities that we are committing to build on Pod F.”
When it comes time for a final vote, four of the five council members, a super-majority, would have to say yes on removing land from the Equestrian Preserve. That has many Wellington residents upset; more than 7,000 signed a petition against that action, and “Horses Not Houses” T-shirts were in evidence among those in the crowd at Wednesday’s meeting.
Scores of people either spoke against removing the land from the Preserve or wrote in on comment cards that they were opposed. Only a minority who appeared during the public hearing were for allowing development on Wellington North, because they felt improving the showgrounds is so important to the future of Wellington as the “Winter Equestrian Capital of the World.”
If the showgrounds is expanded, dressage would move there from Equestrian Village. The issue has been raised, however, that dressage riders don’t like the idea of being among the hunters and jumpers of WEF because that could distract their horses.
Olympic dressage rider Ashley Holzer said she originally was opposed to the project, but after conversations and consideration, she is in favor of it.
Ashley Holzer competing at the Global Dressage Festival. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
Of WLP, she said, “They have changed their initial format. They are working with us. They really do want us to have a home for dressage. My fear is we could lose dressage. Period. The End.
“Before Global, there was not this world-renowned facility that we have. If dressage has no home, we’re moving to Ocala,” she continued, referring to the World Equestrian Center there, the facility with a 5-star hotel and the equivalent for horses in the stables.
However, Equestrian Village is private property, and the owners are under no compulsion to offer dressage shows there past Wellington International’s 2024 lease. If Equestrian Village and White Birch are not taken out of the Preserve, the owners could have a riding school there or open a restaurant, office building or “personal care” facilities, such as a nail salon or a chiropractor’s office on 45 percent of the property, according to municipal staff.
Drew Martin, who appeared on behalf of the Sierra Club in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, told the council, “We oppose this project. I have not heard a single solid argument why you would approve this.” Of the developers, he said, “There’s a question of whether they have the ability to finance this project.”
He believes there is enough in the way of assets in Wellington to improve the showgrounds without approving the Wellington North project.
“You don’t need to sell out to a developer to make it happen,” he contended.
“You cannot maintain a town as successful as Wellington if you don’t preserve something. I look at your logo and you have the horse and the trees. And I’m thinking if you approve this, you’ve got to change the logo. You’ve got to get rid of the horse and get rid of the trees. I don’t know what you’re going to put there, maybe a picture of a traffic jam.”
The derby field used by hunters and jumpers would be a huge loss in the view of some speakers at the Wellington meetings, as very few grass fields are available in the U.S. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Councilman Michael Napoleone was pondering the whole situation during the meeting.
“If the applicant wasn’t suggesting expanding the showgrounds onto Pod F, would staff have still recommended taking this land out of the EOZD to build this development,” Napoleone asked Tim Stillings, the village’s director of planning, zoning and building.
“I don’t believe so,” he replied.
Napoleone continued, “We wouldn’t be here today but for the fact that they’re promising to build an expanded showgrounds on Pod F. So maybe we should start talking about what that’s going to look like and what’s really going to happen, versus the Phase I we’re being guaranteed in Condition Seven (of the developer’s application) which really is just moving what we already have to a different footprint so they can build what they’re not allowed to build on the Equestrian Village/(White) Birch footprint with the hope and promise someone’s going to come in with a couple of dump trucks full of cash to build out the rest of it.
Horses not Houses T-shirts were worn by those like Drew Martin who are concerned about taking land out of the Equestrian Preserve.
“If they don’t build out the rest of it, we’re not really gaining anything, right?” Napoleone continued.
“This is not an easy yes or no. I’ve struggled with a lot of this But for getting the expanded showgrounds, I can’t envision why anyone would vote to take property out of the EOZD. I don’t know that I’ve heard anything in the months leading up today that I know I’m getting anything more than Phase I. So maybe we can hear more about how do we know we’re getting all of the equestrian expansion versus just Phase I, which you (WLP) said you’re going to put in $25 (million) to $30 million” which other people said at the meeting is not nearly enough to complete the project.
Traffic concerns and environmental issues involving the Wellington South parcel also were discussed, with conflicting information in comments from both sides.
The meeting will continue Thursday night, but that won’t be the end of it, as there needs to be a second reading and January was mentioned for more meetings in that time frame.
To read a previous story about the showgrounds, click here.
by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 15, 2023
They wore red T-shirts with white lettering that said “Vote No,” part of an overflow crowd which showed up for the Wellington, Florida, Village Council’s five-hour Tuesday night meeting on development plans that would affect the equestrian community.
The council drew no conclusions at the meeting, which will continue Wednesday evening. The session drew prominent figures in the horse world to speak on both sides of Wellington Lifestyle Partners’ plans for developing an expansion of the cramped Wellington International showgrounds. It is linked to taking more than 96 acres out of the Equestrian Preserve so WLP can build housing on a nearby parcel that now hosts dressage shows at Equestrian Village. In order for a property to be removed from the Preserve, four of the five council members must vote in favor.
A view of development plans for the North parcel.
This has been a long-running saga. It began when Mark Bellissimo, managing partner of Wellington Equestrian Partners, a major landholder in the village, announced his plans for the Wellington 3.0 development in 2022.
That went nowhere, and this year, a new iteration of his vision emerged under the banner of Wellington Lifestyle Partners, with Bellissimo stepping back and Doug McMahon taking over as WLP’s CEO. The plans for development were christened “Wellington North” for what is now the site of the dressage shows, and “Wellington South,” where the nearby showgrounds used by the Winter Equestrian Festival of hunters and jumpers would expand.
A view of development on the South parcel.
McMahon, managing director of developer The Tavistock Group and co-founder of the Nexus Luxury Collection, kicked off Tuesday’s meeting by offering a mea culpa, saying WLP’s original plan was “too grand.”
He explained, “Honestly, we were too big; we were too bold. I think we got it wrong.”
The application originally had too many condominiums and was too dense, he said, and what would happen with the showgrounds was “confusing.” A case in point was that several people who spoke to the council Tuesday night came up with different figures for how much land actually would be added to the existing showgrounds under the expansion plan.
A series of revisions by WLP has reduced the amount of housing to be built, from 447 to 210 units, and removed a number of condo buildings, coming up with plans that are “greener, more open.” But most important, WLP “has taken responsibility for a new showgrounds” that would include “a new home for dressage” and a new derby field on Wellington South, McMahon said. WLP will manage the funding and pay an estimated $25 million to $30 million toward building the showgrounds.
Although originally the parent company of Wellington International was going to buy the land and build the showgrounds, if all the approvals are in order, WLP will be building the showgrounds and leasing the facility to Wellington International. Since the showgrounds expansion concept surfaced, the economic climate has changed and financing is difficult
If WLP does not fulfill what is known as “Condition Seven,” McMahon said, “we do not get to build houses. It’s clear—a new showgrounds first, then we get to build houses.”
Most of the evening was taken up by comments from “interested parties,” representing residents with a stake in the community. There are those who worry that allowing a housing development on even a small portion of the village’s 9,000 Equestrian Preserve acres would open the door to other developers taking more land from the preserve.
Jane Cleveland, chair of the village’s Equestrian Preserve Committee that unanimously voted against taking land from the Preserve for development, wondered how you say yes to one developer “and no to the next.”
She called the development plans “the first domino. It’s not just 96 acres, it’s the first 96 acres,” cautioning that a precedent would be set for more property to be removed subsequently, she contended, comparing the possible future to what happened in now highly developed Boca Raton, south of Wellington.
The “Horses not Houses” movement has gathered more than 7,000 signatures on a petition against the WLP project. Residents campaigning against it, like those in “Vote No” T-shirts, see the proposed development as a threat to the equestrian ambience that makes Wellington “The Winter Equestrian Capital of the World.”
Prior to the meeting, WLP spokesperson Juliana Ferre explained to me that “If the residential units in our application are not granted on the North Parcel it simply does not make economic sense to give up the residential development rights we have on Pod F (Wellington South) in addition to the incremental investment of approximately $25mm+ in new equestrian facilities that we are committing to build on Pod F.”
The prominent Jacobs family, which owns Deeridge Farms just down Pierson Road from Equestrian Village, has previously clashed with Bellissimo. They were represented at the meeting by land use attorney Harvey Oyer, who revealed the family is “cautiously neutral” on the application, which had its first reading Tuesday.
Oyer noted that even so, his clients had “significant concerns that these applications threaten the character of Wellington’s equestrian community and the Jacobs family remains reluctant to support proposals, even though it is clear that the applicant has not only heard our concerns, but also adjusted their applications to address many of the concerns.”
The way that traffic would be affected by Wellington North is another question raised by the Jacobs.
The family does, however, support such concessions as presentation of more detailed plans for horse show grounds improvements, conditions that require they be completed in five years and “most importantly,” prior to any development or construction, Oyer reported. The family will continue to monitor the project so it can determine before the second reading if the project is in the best interests of the village of Wellington.
He said the Jacobs also want to see the Equestrian Village and adjacent White Birch parcel in the Preserve revert to their current restrictions if “the horse show improvements are not completed as represented” by the end of 2028. That land is privately owned, and even without taking it from the Preserve, a certain amount of building would have to be allowed there.
Oyer also mentioned “the history of failed promises by parties affiliated with the applicant has left our community feeling victimized time and time again. So the skepticism from our community is easy to understand as there have been too many empty promises and incomplete projects in the past.”
Others who spoke mentioned problems at the Tryon, N.C., International Equestrian Center, another Bellissimo project where a planned hotel never was built and elements of the facility were left unfinished when it hosted the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games.
Former U.S. Equestrian Federation President Murray Kessler, a 47-year resident, pointed out, “Many of the great facilities and developments (in Wellington) faced various levels of resistance” before becoming an important part of the community.
Former USEF President Murray Kessler speaking at the Nov. 14 Wellington Village Council meeting.
He smiled when he said Bellissimo could be “a pain in the butt,” but added he had to “give credit where credit is due.” For one thing, investments directed by Bellissimo “put U.S. dressage on the map,” he mentioned. Bellissimo holds all but one of the licenses for the dressage shows held at Equestrian Village.
Explaining that the Wellington International horse show grounds are overcrowded and “sometimes unsafe,” Kessler said there was a danger that the facility could become landlocked with no room for expansion. He feels the process has worked as it is supposed to in refining the application.
Although he objected to the original proposal, WLP has stepped up with major concessions to produce a “win/win proposal.” And, he pointed out, “Doug McMahon is not Mark Bellissimo.”
Lynda Farrington, mother of world number three-ranked show jumper Kent Farrington, and Robin Parsky, who owned several horses ridden by Kent, are concerned about loss of the grass derby field at Equestrian Village, which was part of the original polo development.
Robin Parsky, left, with Kent Farrington and Gazelle.
“This is not replaceable,” Parsky said of the deep-rooted grass, an asset vital for training top international horses to compete at such celebrated grass fields as those at Aachen, Germany, and Spruce Meadows in Canada, she maintained, calling it “priceless.”
Lynda Farrington told the council, “We feel you’re turning your backs on us. We don’t need more houses; we don’t want to become Royal Palm Beach.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 11, 2023
For the first time, show jumping enthusiasts had the opportunity to bet on the FEI Longines World Cup qualifier class at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Bookmaking firm Fitzdares, which offers odds on everything from snooker to ski jumping, was running the book at https://www.fitzdares.ca/sportsbook/SPECIALS/. When the betting was ongoing, you could have cllcked on “equestrian” to see who was in the running.
The only hitch was that you had to be in the Canadian province of Ontario to open an account and place a bet. Fitzdares has been operating there since the beginning of the year.
The Saturday night feature at the final competition on the North American Fall Indoor Circuit offered an obvious favorite in Kent Farrington of the USA, ranked number three in the world, who has been a big winner at the Royal on Creedance. But he was aboard the less-experienced Greya for her first indoor show and first World Cup qualifier, so that was something different in the equation for that class.
It turned out to be important, as Kent’s time of 34.32 seconds for a clean round in the five-horse jump-off proved only good enough for third over the course designed by Kelvin Bywater. Still, he said, “I’m thrilled with her progress. She’s answering every question.”
Her next stop likely will be the International Jumper Riders Club Top 10 competition in Geneva during December.
Daniel Bluman and Gemma W.
Israel’s Daniel Bluman has loads of mileage with Gemma W, who sped to victory in 33.28 seconds as he raced to beat Kent’s time.
“She was magical tonight,” he said.
“When you’re riding in an event that has this type of atmosphere it’s extra special,” observed Daniel.
“These indoor horse shows are very traditional horse shows in North America. We grew up watching them, and we grew up watching great names win these classes, so I certainly was a little bit upset last year that I couldn’t put my name on that trophy,” noted Daniel, who was second in 2022.
“I don’t know how many chances you get to win a grand prix like this one, and when you are given the chance, the minimum you can do is beat the time of the rider that went before you, so I’m happy that things went my way tonight and we ended up winning the class.”
Daniel, however, nearly got edged by the last to go, Great Britain’s Jessica Mendoza on I-Cap CL Z, who was clocked in 33.60 seconds.
Jessica, attired in a rose-colored jacket from Animo with bling on the collar (she said it will now be her lucky jacket) reported that she “played it safe” starting out and could have done one less stride to the third jump, but she really turned on the jets “and let it rip” in the last part of the course.
I asked Bobby Burns, Fitzdares’ director of clubs and partnerships, how the decision to offer odds on the Royal came about.
He said that after taking bets on a pickleball tournament, the people in his office thought, “Why don’t we try it for the Royal?”
As Bobby explained it, “All we needed from the Royal was the name of the contestants and a sort of vague idea of their ability and we were able to sort of draw a book up on it.”
On the website, it’s a different style of betting than I am familiar with, but I’m not a big gambler. It’s what they call “American odds,” which means Kent was at plus 188 on Saturday afternoon, while McLain Ward was at plus 225. Sadly, McLain didn’t make the jump-off with Callas after she had a rail at the first element of the triple combination.
Canadian Tiffany Foster was at plus 400, which translates to 4-1 in the style most people in the U.S. would know. This website–https://theallstar.io/betting-odds-converter/–can translate the odds into whatever style you’re comfortable with. There’s also a way to do that on the Fitzdares site, though you have to join to use it.
I wondered if there will be more show jumping to bet on with Fitzdares, and Bobby said of the Royal, “I can’t imagine it will be the last one. It will be definitely interesting to see an appetite for the market.”
By Saturday afternoon, more than $20,000 had been wagered on the class. Wagering was limited to people in attendance at the show for the first time that betting was permitted. Next year, Bobby forsees more betting on other classes during the week at the Royal.
Kent Farrington, third on Greya in the 4-star Longines FEI World Cup qualifier, won the Royal’s Leading International Rider award for his success throughout the show. (Photo by Ben Radvanyi Photography)
A $200 bet on Daniel at 5-1 odds paid off with $1,200, said Bobby.
“It was a great evening.” (And especially for anyone who placed that bet!)
The U.S. Equestrian Federation this year came out with a formal policy on sports betting and preventing manipulation of competition to regulate athletes when betting is involved in their discipline. Last month, I wrote about how betting is being considered for 2024 for the MARS Maryland 5-star.
Reader Sam Campbell, a native of Australia, spotted that article and asked, “Does anyone remember what happened the first day the Brits introduced betting on show jumping?”
He explained, “It is ‘rumored’ a handful of top British riders got together (at Hickstead) and beat the bookies. Betting on showjumping lasted 24 hours. Circa 1969, to the best of my memory.”
I had no luck looking up details of this alleged incident, so I queried Bobby about it.
He had never heard that story, but chuckled and noted, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that was completely true.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 11, 2023
For the first time, show jumping enthusiasts have the opportunity to bet on the FEI Longines World Cup qualifier class at Toronto’s Royal Winter Fair. Bookmaking firm Fitzdares, which offers odds on everything from snooker to ski jumping, is running the book at https://www.fitzdares.ca/sportsbook/SPECIALS/. Click on “equestrian” to see who’s in the running.
The only hitch is that you have to be in the Canadian province of Ontario to open an account and place a bet. Fitzdares has been operating there since the beginning of the year. The Saturday night feature at the final competition on the North American Fall Indoor Circuit offers an obvious favorite in Kent Farrington of the USA, who has been a big winner at the Royal on Creedance and seems likely to wind up as Leading Rider. But he will be aboard Greya for the World Cup, so that’s something different in the equation. The second favorite and Kent’s longtime rival is his countryman, McLain Ward on Callas.
I asked Bobby Burns, Fitzdares’ director of clubs and partnerships, how the decision to offer odds on the Royal came about.
He said that after taking bets on a pickleball tournament, the people in his office thought, “Why don’t we try it for the Royal?”
As Bobby explained it, “All we needed from the Royal was the name of the contestants and a sort of vague idea of their ability and we were able to sort of draw a book up on it.”
On the website, it’s a different style of betting than I am familiar with, but I’m not a big gambler. It’s what they call “American odds,” which means Kent was at plus 188 this afternoon, while McLain was at plus 225. The top Canadian, Tiffany Foster is at plus 400, which translates to 4-1 in the style most people in the U.S. would know. This website–https://theallstar.io/betting-odds-converter/–can translate the odds into whatever style you’re comfortable with. There’s also a way to do that on the Fitzdares site, though you have to join to use it.
I wondered if there will be more show jumping to bet on with Fitzdares, and Bobby said of the Royal, “I can’t imagine it will be the last one. It will be definitely interesting to see an appetite for the market.” By Saturday afternoon, more than $20,000 had been wagered on the class.
Kent Farrington and Creedance on their way to victory at the Royal. (Ben Radvanyi Photography)
The U.S. Equestrian Federation this year came out with a formal policy on sports betting and preventing manipulation of competition to regulate athletes when betting is involved in their discipline. Last month, I wrote about how betting is being considered for 2024 for the MARS Maryland 5-star.
Reader Sam Campbell, a native of Australia, spotted that and asked, “Does anyone remember what happened the first day the Brits introduced betting on show jumping?”
He explained, “It is ‘rumored’ a handful of top British riders got together (at Hickstead) and beat the bookies. Betting on showjumping lasted 24 hours. Circa 1969, to the best of my memory.”
I had no luck looking up this incident, so I queried Bobby about it.
He had never heard that story, but chuckled and noted, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that was completely true.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 24, 2023
Following a decision to ban dressage trainer/entrepreneur Andreas Helgstrand from consideration for the Danish Olympic team, the Danish Riding Federation and the Danish Riding-Instructor Association are canceling a cooperation agreement with Helgstrand Dressage as a training venue for riding education as of the end of 2023.
“We are obviously incredibly sorry about that decision. We are immensely proud of our riding students, and we consider them close and talented colleagues,” Helgstrand Dressage said in a statement.
The action came in the wake of an undercover TV documentary that showed harsh training techniques at the Helgstrand facility in Denmark, and detailed attempts to cover spur and whip marks on horses.
Saying the footage “has made a very big impression,” the statement continued, “We understand that the images that have been shown in Operation X should be responded to.
“We have done that ourselves too. We have therefore also given both Dansk Riding Federation and Dansk Riding-Instruktør Association an open invitation for dialogue and to come visit Helgstrand Dressage to see for yourself how our practice is as a training ground and how in the last year we have improved many of our practices.
“We are very sorry that neither association has chosen to accept. Our invitation is still open: both are welcome to drop by — also unannounced, where you can carry out the necessary supervision with horses, training and pupils.”
The statement added, “Of course, we will do everything we can to continue the dialogue, so that in the future we can also welcome back our talented students at Helgstrand Dressage, where we are convinced that we can offer a good training place with healthy values and a strong community.”
The Danish Riding Association last month said Helgstrand would be banned from its teams at least until the beginning of 2025 — after the 2024 Paris Olympics, according to a Facebook posting by the Danish newspaper Nordjyske.
Helgstrand is the CEO of Global Equestrian Group, which is part of Waterland Private Equity. In 2021, GEG bought the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. The home of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, the facility was renamed Wellington International.
Hearings have been going on in Wellington since the summer about controversial zoning issues in connection with a proposed expansion of the showgrounds.
The Olympics “is completely out of the question,” said the acting chairman of the Danish Riding Association, Jakob Ravnsbo, who succeeded Helgstrand’s father, Ulf, in the position. In a comment to Nordjyske, Andreas Helgstrand wrote that he regrets the association’s decision, has always been proud to represent Denmark, and that he had been looking forward to the Olympics.
Denmark’s Olympic hopes should not suffer as a result of the ban, as only three can be on a team in the Games and the country has several top riders, including Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, who recently got the ride on the spectacular Mount St. John Freestyle, previously ridden by Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin.
While the FEI, the international equestrian federation, commented that “any action or omission which causes or is likely to cause pain or unnecessary discomfort to a horse constitutes a violation of our rules,” it did not take immediate action in regard to the revelations of the documentary.
It stated it will “collaborate closely with the Danish National Federation, and there is a mutual recognition of decisions and any sanctions imposed. We will continue to communicate as the situation develops, and want to assure the equestrian community, our stakeholders and the public, that we are rigorously addressing this issue.”
by Nancy Jaffer | Nov 7, 2023
It started out as the ride of a lifetime around a top-level cross-country course at last month’s MARS Maryland Fair Hill event.
Arielle Aharoni, at age 23, was in her first 5-star competition on Dutch Times, a horse her mother, Christina, had bought as a weanling.
Now 15, Dutch had developed into a superb athlete who won show jumping classes, but whose heart was really in eventing. He finished second in June’s 4-star Long at the Bromont event in Canada, so a 5-star was the logical next step.
The Maryland course laid out by renowned Scottish designer Ian Stark had been upgraded in his third year on the job. The optimum time was tight (only one of the competitors would be able to beat the clock) and the hilly terrain posed its own challenge, That was in addition to the various tests ranging from a sunken road to the Crab Water with a beady-eyed replica of the crustacean as one of the elements.
Arielle Aharoni and Dutch Times on course at the Maryland 5-star. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
When Arielle neared the end of the 28-obstacle course, Dutch continued to cover ground as if he owned it.
“It was kind of a perfect round. I never felt him get tired,” she recalled.
“He was dragging me around. There was nothing he could have done any better. He never said no.”
Then they reached what Arielle called, “the last really difficult combination,” the Fair Hill Roller-Coaster and Drop. It was so close to the end that from the next fence, the Table, number 26, “you could literally see the finish flags.”
But as Dutch negotiated the Drop, “on landing, he never put his right front down, that was pretty terrifying, it was downhill, he was at full speed on three legs,” Arielle remembered.
“It took forever to pull him up, you know, gravity; you’re going straight down a hill. I’m in distress. I’m crying, pulling him up. There were people rushing to the scene. He’s not an easy horse to deal with when he’s all amped up like that.”
She didn’t know what had happened to him—could it be a broken leg? Please no.
After she was able to stop Dutch, the people who came to help put a cast on him and loaded him into the ambulance to bring him back to stabling.
A preliminary scan showed a rupture of the superficial digital flexor tendon. Following initial treatment, Dutch went back in the trailer and headed straight for the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, one of the country’s most highly regarded veterinary hospitals.
A later scan revealed, thankfully, that there was no involvement of the deep digital flexor tendon or suspensory ligament.
Arielle and her mother learned blunt force trauma is required in order for a tendon to rupture.
So how did it happen?
They speculated that when Dutch lost a shoe, possibly at the Foxcatcher Ditch hedge before the Roller Coaster, it might have flown off his right front hoof and hit his leg above his boot. Or he could have banged the leg on the back of a fence.
“It’s not anybody’s fault,” said Christina. “It’s just unlucky.”
Christina Aharoni makes sure Dutch gets plenty of personal attention. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
The shock of the injury understandably shook Arielle.
“I was pretty much ready to quit riding–you know, I don’t have my friend,” she explained.
“I love the other horses, but this is the horse that made things happen for me. I wasn’t prepared at all to never do that (cross-country) with him again.”
But she does have other horses who need attention, and kept on going. Arielle rode two of them at the Waredaca, Md., Classic Three-Day Event and Horse Trials last month, finishing second and third in Open Preliminary on Littlebitadominic and Chumley. Now she hopes those horses can be promoted to Intermediate.
Meanwhile, Dutch’s most recent scan shows the tendon already is filling in a little bit. Christina noted the prognosis is “the nine-month standard tendon rehab.” However, the Arharonis reference the fact that Dutch bowed a tendon on his left front eight years ago when he had a different rider, and the vets didn’t have hope that he would be eventing again. He came back anyway.
At the moment, Dutch’s right leg is bandaged. He’s on hand-grazing and stall rest, with other horses in Arielle’s Branchburg, N.J., stable taking turns keeping him company in the next stall. Dutch amuses himself by tossing around his lead rope and trying to get his blanket, which is placed strategically out of his reach on the bar in front of his stall.
Hand-grazing is on Dutch Times’ schedule these days. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
People have reached out with inquiries and supportive comments. Boeringer Ingelheim Animal Health sent along a case of Surpass, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that relieves pain and inflammation.
“It’s much appreciated,” said Christina.
Dutch will be going to the Aharonis’ farm in Ocala after Thanksgiving for more R&R in a friendly climate. The warm weather and limestone roads will help his healing process. After that, what he will do remains to be seen.
“He probably is not ready for retirement,” said Arielle.
“We have to hope for the best and give him something to do for the next three or four years until he starts to kind of age out.”
Possibilities include dressage, show jumping, low-level eventing or perhaps just being a mount for Christina, since she was the one who selected him all those years ago. One thing is for certain, though, said Arielle: “He’s staying with me for the rest of his life.”
