Comes to ldqest Eu By Pat Payne OCALA
The World Equestrian Center, a large and luxurious facility well known to horse show competitors in the Midwest, is coming to Florida with even bigger plans.
Why Ocala? Northern Florida is home to the city of Ocala, populated with just under 60,000 people and with over 330,000 in its metropolitan area. The area has become well-known for its Thoroughbred breeding farms, the first one developed by Carl G. Rose, who in 1943 discovered that the region’s abundant limestone was excellent for his horse pastures. Today metro Ocala boasts more than 1,200 horse farms and promotes itself as “the horse capital of the world” to the drivers who pass its many welcome signs touting that slogan. Towards the end of each year, thousands of northern
equestrians pack up their sport horses and head south to Florida for the winter. Many settle in the Ocala area, while others continue on to southeast Florida. Both parts of Florida boast serious show circuits for hunter/jumpers and dressage. Due to the landscape near Ocala, many even- ters settle there for the winter, making it rival Aiken, South Carolina in eventing popularity. Over time, many northern equestrians have settled there permanently and now call Florida their home year-round. So it’s no surprise that the Roberts family, well known
for their World Equestrian Center in Wilming- ton, Ohio, recently announced their plans to build an even bigger equine facility in Ocala. The new World Equestrian Center Ocala will be adjacent to the Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club, a residential community the Roberts family has already built there. The centerpiece of the new facility will
be its three-acre “Grand Outdoor Stadium,” surrounded by 17 outdoor arenas, four very large (262 x 550-foot) climate-controlled indoor arenas, multiple warmup areas, trails throughout the facility and 1,500 spacious permanent stalls, along with ample space for
additional tempo- rary stalls. Future plans for the site include a five-story luxury hotel, several fine dining options, 18,000 square feet of retail space, a chapel and 200 recreational vehicle sites.
“We wanted to expand the horse show
experience that we’ve built in Ohio to a bigger venue in Florida,” explains WEC owner (and CEO of the family shipping busi- ness, R+L Carriers) Roby Roberts. “The Roberts family owns the Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club prop- erty and Ocala is the ‘horse capital of the world,’ so Ocala makes perfect sense to create a world-class horse show venue with all the country club amenities and real estate opportunities.” Construction at WEC Ocala, he continues, is well under-
way, with about 40 percent of the facility completed at press time. “It will be ready for the 2019 winter show season,” he says.
A Blend of Grandeur, Comradery and Fun For Roby Roberts and his family, creating a certain kind of horse show experience was the motivator for creating both World Equestrian Centers. In addition, the goal is to make the new WEC as versatile as possible. “The facility will host multiple disciplines and breeds. We want to make sure
Grand Outdoor Stadium Warmbloods Today 77
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