What’s the future for dressage in Wellington?

When you want an answer, you have to ask for one. So my question to Andreas Helgstrand (CEO of the Global Equestrian Group that owns the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center) was whether he is planning to move Wellington, Florida’s, Adequan Global Dressage Festival from the Equestrian Village to his nearby farm, since rumors to that effect were percolating.

The short response was no, but keep reading.

His company does not own the facility where the AGDF is staged, a short canter from PBIEC, though he indicated at a Zoom press conference today that it likely will be the owner, and I’d bet on sooner, rather than later.

“At the moment, we only own the jumping part, so of course, we put all our efforts into the jumping,” he said, referring to the massive improvements made to PBIEC after GEG, which also includes German show jumping legend Ludger Beerbaum, took over there last summer.

Those efforts include upgrading rings, replacing railings that had rotted, working on drainage and adding land for stabling and parking; the latter is always an issue. Shuttles will be provided to move spectators from outlying parking areas. The concentration was on the horses and the rider experience, rather than anything too cosmetic, after a survey was taken to determine the concerns of riders and fans.

Andreas noted, “We are working hard to take over the dressage as well,” but added, “before that, we cannot do so much. We will do everything we can to do as much as possible for the dressage riders, but as long as we don’t own it, we cannot do more than what we do right now. Hopefully, very soon we can also take over the dressage there and then we will also go full power on that side as well.”

The gossip was that the jumper shows would expand from PBIEC to the Global tract, where there already has been a good amount of hunter and jumper competition during the Winter Equestrian Festival, so the dressage would then pick up and go to Andreas’ own farm.

“I don’t think we have space enough for this there,” pointed out the Danish entrepreneur, who made his reputation first as a dressage competitor, then as a trainer and horse dealer.

“We are not there to make another showgrounds We are there to have our sales horses and training with the customers and so on,” he explained during the virtual press conference, set up to preview WEF, which gets under way Jan. 5, and AGDF, which starts next week.

This isn’t the first time that there has been talk that dressage might be leavingf the Global grounds. In 2016, when Mark Bellisimo was calling the shots at PBIEC and AGDF, he and his partners paid $72 million for the International Polo Club. The word was that he would move dressage to that site, but it never happened.

Michael Stone, president of Equestrian Sport Productions (an umbrella entity for the Winter Equestrian Festival, AGDF and the Tryon shows), did say that PBIEC would be hosting some dressage, however. The riders appreciated it when the final Olympic dressage observation event last year was held in the International Arena at PBIEC.

 

“Our objective is to grow the jumpers, grow the dressage and put both in the best conditions and the best venue possible and then have some movement,” he explained.

“So just as the jumpers enjoy going over to Global and jumping on the grass, the Global riders like to come over here and show in our facility,” Michael mentioned, referring to PBIEC.

He cautioned that the trick is to “just make sure we can fit everything in so that we don’t have dressage going until 11 o’clock at night. It’s quite complicated, but we’re working on it.”

GEG intends to pull out all the stops.

As Andreas noted about his company’s takeover of the facility, it offered an opportunity “to create something even more unique than what it is already. We want to invest money there; we want to take care that Wellington will stay as the best place on earth for horse people.”