Weekly Update | On A Wednesday
Dear Friends,
TGIF…on Wednesday morning! The reason for this premature “Friday” newsletter is that last night, in closed session, the City Council made it official…Horse shows are back at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park at San Juan Capistrano! What this means of course is that the tentative schedule announced in last Friday’s newsletter is now official. Ten days from now we will be hosting our first event of the season, the Blenheim Surf & Turf County Horse Show (June 26-28), to be followed on July 11th by the NO SHOW produced by Equi Sports. And as announced previously, our USEF national horse show schedule will start up again with the Summer Festival Horse Show at Blenheim (July 15-19). This of course is very exciting news for us, because even though a great number of our spring and summer horse shows were wiped out by the pandemic, we still have a full schedule of events coming up in July, August & September.
That being said, the horse show experience that we have been used to for all our lives will not be quite the same, at least not for the foreseeable future. Fortunately however for the most important element of our sport (our horses), nothing will have changed…For them, the grass will still be green and their spectacular efforts over the jumps will still be exhilarating! For us it will potentially be a bit of an adjustment! It is said that true athletes perform not for acclaim, but for their self-acknowledged achievement of excellence. Let’s see however how a “sport with no spectators” works when clean rounds and 95’s are greeted by silence. What we have to constantly keep in mind is that although that may be slightly unsettling for us, for the horses it will still be the same…a job well done!
Most importantly, we must remember that we have immense responsibilities to one another during this difficult time. The protocols that are in place have gone through an extensive review process at every level, and they are there to protect our health as well as the immediate future of our sport as an outdoor activity. The last thing we want is to be shut down by the authorities because of a few bad actors who feel the protocols and inconveniences don’t apply to them. It is absolutely essential that everybody familiarize themselves with the health protocols in our prize list and follow them to a tee. Our sport and the health of our community is dependent on that!
With that, enjoy the rest of your week, and we look forward to seeing all of you once we’re back in action!
Best regards,
Robert Ridland
President, Blenheim EquiSports
Blenheim EquiSports, an equestrian event management company based in San Juan Capistrano, CA, produces events in three locations: San Juan Capistrano, Del Mar and Las Vegas, NV. The events include 19 USEF “Premier” rated hunter-jumper shows featuring five FEI CSI events, including a Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ North American League event; the Markel Insurance 1.40m – 1.45m Jumper Series & Final, Developing Jumper Qualifiers & Championships, USHJA International & National Hunter Derbies, Pony Derby Finals, the Whitethorne Equitation Challenge, Medal Finals and more. New for 2020 – an additional four County Horse Shows sanctioned by the Orange County Horse Show Association and the Greater San Diego Hunter-Jumper Association.