Nick Skelton, Great Britain’s Olympic team gold medalist and one of the icons of jumping, on Friday joined American hunter, jumper and dressage riders in speaking out against attacks on equestrian events at Wellington, Florida, where he has been one of the most successful riders in recent years.
“I think people, especially those who are in the sport, want to be careful how much they try and stop the horse shows in Wellington,” he told dressage-news.com from the CSI5* Paris Masters. “Investment in recent years has made it a great facility, probably the best in the world.
“The horse show in Wellington has become an industry, big business. If the people who have invested so much decide to pull the plug, what is going to be left? An empty building site.”
The comments by Nick came after the Jacobs family, which opposes equestrian events at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center’s Stadium complex, filed a new lawsuit to prevent several 2013 Winter Equestrian Festival hunter and jumper competitions and wiping out the entire Global Dressage Festival.
Wellington, FL – November 28, 2012 – Despite two recent appellate court rulings where three judge panels summarily rejected Charles and Kimberly Jacobs’ appeals, which challenged the compatibility and development approvals for the Equestrian Village and new Stadium, the Jacobs family is further appealing the approvals. They also amended another lawsuit against the Village, the horse show, and the property owners of the new Stadium. The amendment seeks injunctive relief to void the Stipulation Agreement recently voted on by the Village Council 4-0 that ensured that the Global Dressage Festival and all the grass show jumping events for the upcoming 2013 equestrian season would occur.
