LAKE PLACID — Around this time last year, the Lake Placid Horse Show Association was facing a dilemma: improve their facilities, which are leased to the organization by the town of North Elba, or risk losing the ability to host its competitions there.
The story could not be more different now.
“The shows have done an absolute U-turn from this time last year, where we had an anemic entry situation,” said Philip Richter, chairman of the Lake Placid Horse Shows.
Not only is the project at the North Elba Show Grounds on track to be finished this month, but Richter said there are hundreds of horses on the waiting list for both of this year’s shows. The show has never seen interest like this, he said.
In the fall, the horse show embarked on a modernization of the facilities, including adding a ring, rearranging the existing rings and adding new footing, fencing and drainage. Richter said the project was aided by hard work and good weather — they were able to get a large portion of the work on the footing done in the fall, as planned.
These improvements also allow the show to become FEI-rated. FEI stands for the Federation Equestre Internationale, or International Federation for Equestrian Sports, which is the international governing body of equestrian sports. In Europe, equestrian competitions have point systems that organizations in the U.S. try to obtain, Richter said.
Around the time of the coronavirus pandemic, the horse show association saw a huge slump in participation at the two six-day shows — the Lake Placid Horse Show and the I Love New York Horse Show — that Lake Placid typically hosts. To compete with other venues, this village with a rich history of high-level sporting events had to step up. So far, these improvements seem to have done the trick.
“Everybody has fond memories of Lake Placid and loves being in the (village) of Lake Placid. and now with all-weather footing and FEI, it’s just a no-brainer,” Richter said. “It’s just been the talk of the horse show and everybody’s fired up to get back to Lake Placid.”
Circumstances have worked in their favor — Richter added that some shows that historically ocurred during the same weeks are no longer happening. Another factor is working with the right people. The show has a new show manager, Allen Rheinheimer, who also runs the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, a huge show with a big budget and lots of moving pieces.
“He’s as professional of a horse show manager as you can find anywhere,” Richter said.
He credited the horse show’s “great” relationship with the town of North Elba, saying this is a perfect example of a public-private partnership. So far, the funding for these improvements has come from a slate of generous private donors, but decisions have been made in partnership with the town, which has also made some small improvements of its own.
As the horse show association begins to prepare for the two events in the coming weeks, Richter expects a robust economic benefit to the area with the new-and-improved horse shows.
“Economically, I think this will put us at the top of the heap and will continue to grow with the town,” he said. “Everybody’s winning here. The town’s winning, we’re winning, the exhibitors are winning and most of all, most importantly, the horses are winning.”
Making the best use of the space
The big plans that the horse show has for the grounds don’t stop with new footing and rings. There are many more improvements to be made, including to the VIP lounge and the spectator pavilion.
While the town of North Elba will contribute to some aspects of the project, the majority of the work and funding falls under the purview of the horse show association. Much of that funding is likely to be private, but Richter said they are also exploring the possibility of state grants.
This project falls into a broader effort by the town of North Elba to maximize the use of the town’s facilities, which is partly why a large segment of the town’s comprehensive plan includes renovations, improvements and additions to the athletic fields and horse show grounds.
The final draft of the comprehensive plan, which was completed by the landscape architecture and planning consultant firm SE Group, is still being reviewed by the town. North Elba Park District Manager Jeremy Freeman said the first pieces of this project are likely to be the dog park and the pump track.
However, the town’s efforts are already showing other signs of success. This past weekend, the High Peaks Cup soccer tournament took place all day Saturday and Sunday, with 41 teams of varied ages. This is the first time North Elba has hosted a soccer tournament like this in at least several years, according to Freeman.
Freeman said it is critical to host a variety of sports at the town’s facilities. Not only do local businesses benefit from fresh groups of visitors spending money here, but soccer is a popular sport and it’s beneficial to have additional sport development in this region, Freeman said. There’s even a physical benefit to switching up sports — too much of one sport can wear down specific areas of the fields.
“Being able to have fields of different sizes, athletes running in different places … it’s just good for the turf to have that variety on it,” he said.