The FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2018 were planned to be hosted by Bromont in Canada. However, at the end of July 2016, the FEI announced that Bromont was no longer an option due to financial issues and re-opened the bidding process. Already in August the same year – only one year after the first competition on the show ground – Tryon International Equestrian Center was working together with the United States Equestrian Federation on a bid to host the 2018 Games in North Carolina. And, at the end of 2016 it was final: In September 2018 Tryon will welcome thousands of athletes to compete for the World Championships medals.
In a series of articles, World of Showjumping focuses on the upcoming World Equestrian Games.
The horses competing at the Games will fly to Greenville, South Carolina and the first flight will arrive on September 2nd. “The quarantine depends on the origin of the horses. The European horses will fly directly from Europe to Greenville. Then they will transfer on trucks and come with police escort directly here to the venue where they will be in a three-days quarantine in barn five. The horses from Latin America will go through Miami and following their quarantine there they will go to Wellington where they will be able to go back into training before we will bring them up to Tryon. Horses from Asia will come through Chicago and do their quarantine there and then we truck them down to Tryon,” Eric Straus, who is overseeing all the technical aspects of the World Equestrian Games, explains.
There are two types of quarantine – there is the health quarantine, which every horse has to do, and then it is the CEM quarantine which is a restricted group within the population. “We are getting special permissions here so that we can mix the population the whole time. The only horses being separated are the pyroplasmic-affected horses. They will have a separate barn and there are protocols for them to compete. These are special rules for the Games,” Straus lets us know.
The horses will arrive to Tryon by discipline, and the stabling will also be by discipline. Today there are seven barns with 1200 stalls and 300 more stalls will be built ahead of the Games. Carly Weilminster, who is part of Tryon’s media organization tells us more: “All the stalls are 3x4 meter and have rubber mats. In every stable row you have two tack rooms and there are several hoses so that you can reach every stall with a hose and don’t have to drag the buckets. We have a fan in every box, that we wired ourselves to make sure it is safe. Outside every stall there are wash places so it won’t be far for the grooms. When this was built Mark wanted to make sure that everything is close and easy to get around. So, the stables are placed around the arenas and all horses will be stabled closest to their ring. You don’t need a golf cart here, everything connects and you can easy get around.”
There is plenty of room to exercise the horses with several rings and outside areas. Next to all the rings there are areas for shade with fans to cool down the horses. “Today we have 12 ridable rings and we can host competitions in eight of them. For the Games we will add some rings and the indoor will be bigger than now,“ Carly Weilminster closes off.
In our series 'Ahead of the WEG 2018', World of Showjumping will give our readers a preview and a look behind the scenes on the upcoming FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Tryon.
You can read the previous article here:
Ahead of the WEG 2018: From nothing to organising the FEI World Equestrian Games™
Ahead of the WEG 2018: “The whole venue was built in 16 months"
Ahead of the WEG 2018: McLain Ward – “I’m really looking forward to show the world what we can do”
Text and pictures © World of Showjumping by Jenny Abrahamsson
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