Big event plagued by several problems
For Tryon, in western North Carolina, the arrival of the quadrennial World Equestrian Games this month was a chance to host the type of big international event that seldom comes to small Southern towns. Organizers promised half a million spectators and $400 million in economic impact.
Instead, much has gone wrong.
Few could blame organizers for the effects of Tropical Storm Florence, which have caused the delaying or cancellation of several events. One of the classic events at the games, called the three-day event, had to be extended to four days because of the storm.
But a series of decisions and mistakes, over housing and a botched endurance race, have led to some far more acrimonious disputes and have created hard feelings among some at the games.
The competition, which continues through Sunday, is one of the biggest and most important show horse gatherings outside the Olympics. A thousand horses were shipped to Tryon, about 90 miles west of Charlotte, representing more than 60 nations.
But things got off on the wrong foot almost immediately when some of the competitors were sent the wrong way at the start of the endurance event last week. Tarek Taher, a rider from Saudi Arabia, told Horse and Hound he had followed a sign to the right and had ignored a person who did not look official who told him to turn left.
As a result, organizers decided to restart the event at a shorter distance. “As there is no possibility to reschedule the ride tomorrow,” organizers said, “this was the only pragmatic solution.” But that decision sparked only more bad feelings, and competitors and others sounded off on social media and expressed anger on site that the shorter race had benefited some riders more than others.
It didn’t really matter, though, because later in the day the event was canceled entirely because of high heat and humidity.
“More than 53 horses were having metabolic problems,” Thomas Timmons, the president of the endurance veterinary commission, told Horse and Hound. “Conditions were extreme enough you have to consider the risk, and the risk was not worth it.”
One horse was euthanized after the aborted race, a situation that is not uncommon at competitions. But in something of a public relations disaster for the World Equestrian Games organizers, this horse’s name happened to be Barack Obama.
Event officials did not immediately return a request for comment on problems with the competition, and the challenges facing the event.
Another casualty of the weather was freestyle dressage, a popular event in which horses prance about to music.
“This was not an easy decision, but we have explored every option, including trying to reschedule the horse departures, and even looking at moving the competition into the indoor with a change of footing, but the logistics of making all this happen are just not possible,” the organizing committee president, Michael Stone, told reporters. “Horse welfare has to be the top priority, and flying the horses out on the same day as competition doesn’t work.”