A mega English & Western facility (my new barn)

In the 1980's the horse world was really moving. It seemed like new polo clubs were opening up every year and these kinds of mega facilities were being built from Massachusetts to Florida. In places like West Palm Beach FL people couldn't get enough of them. This one where I moved is big by even the 1980's standards. And then came the crash of 1987. I gave away horses in that one. It only lasted a few years but it was a deep and severe crash. I don't know when this place was built up but it might have been back then. It's a monument to big horse industry and I have not seen one built in the east in decades.

Still, it seems well managed and it is surviving. They have a diverse schedule of events as it has become general clinic/competition venue. I admire the adaptation from the equestrian glory days of the dot com bubble, like when the US Polo Association routinely tested players for cocaine, to the present more conservative horse world. The have survived and it's a beautiful facility. I don't think anyone would attempt to develop such a huge facility like it today, unless they were in a "hot" horse area like Aiken, Ocala or West Palm, and definitely not in central PA.


A portion of the Wellington FL West Palm equestrian/golf facilities (all that flat mowed grass is for polo).

I had a good ride yesterday at the new barn. I went out exploring. The creek that winds though the land is a real horse eater. I found only one easy place to cross it. I will take pictures next time but on my TB with no courage, it wasn't a time yesterday for photography around that creek. Erosion has made straight 90 degree sides along most of it. At some very narrow places the drop is vertical 6 feet and not enough room in the creek to pop out of it. At those narrow places it's only 8 to 10 feet wide, which my old Riley would have strided at a gallop. But with a relatively green field horse, I am not going to try striding it. There are scrub trees growing out of the banks. That creek is a wild place that I look forward to exploring in detail.

I was there alone in a place I'd never ridden. I looked over toward the barn and saw a couple people watching from quite a distance. I was wondering if they thought I was being dangerous. I'm new there and people ask me what kind of riding I do and I have decided not to explain. A boarder asked me as I was saddling up if I was a trail rider. I thought about it briefly and just said yes. I like it's a big place and it offers some anonymity, not that I am anything special. I am just remembering that the people at my last crazy barn were intimidated by the fact that I rode in the creek there (and was banned for doing it) that was nothing like the creek here.

On the ride home, which is long, I was thinking, how do you explain to young 21st century riders that you rode with 19th century riders that had a completely different take of horsemanship than the contemporary idea? I thought about all the times I was a Whip in a hunt, out on the flank alone directing and protecting a pack regardless of the terrain. Some of those times got pretty scary on a green horse, but Staff horses don't come trained. I remembered a time not too long ago when the hunt club was having radio problems. Only a few of the old Motorolas were working, so I told the Master I'd ride without one (when I started hunting there were no radios). The pack went off on a chase through a swamp (a fox will actually skip across lily pads and the hounds will follow and try to imitate the fox but sink in the water - a hypothermia risk in winter) and someone had to go out into it and push them back to dry ground. I volunteered and turned to go when a young Staff rider offered me their radio. I said thanks, but rode off without it. I liked my ride alone, I miss the days without radios, cold and alone with some hounds on a good horse. I don't think those days are ever coming back, so I think I will keep them to myself at the new barn.