Region 13 Championship Show
By any way you measure it, the 2018 Region 13 Championship show in Wilmington was a huge success! This was the first year for the show at it’s new home at the World Equestrian Center, a venue already well known for being a first -class facility, and has more expansion and improvements in the works.
Lisa Powell on Make My Day CCF- Region 13 Reserve Champion Arabian Hunter Pleasure Open Owned by Gretchen McCormack
Geographically, Region 13 encompasses Indiana and Michigan and until 2012, the Championship was held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Renovations to that facility (and subsequent increases in rates to same) meant that the Region 13 show management had to get creative about finding a suitable location for the show. A facility that had sufficient stalls, arena’s and warm up areas, just couldn’t be found in either Indiana or Michigan and in 2013 the show settled into what was hoped to a temporary home in the Expo Center in Springfield, Ohio.
After five years at the Expo Center, Region 13 made a bold move to provide their exhibitors a new home. One that wasn’t just as good as, but is BETTER, than just about anything in the area—the World Equestrian Center—a move that provides the Region 13 exhibitors with a superior facility. Even in it’s first year at WEC, entries at Region 13 were up and with exhibitors leaving happy, it’s sure to grow in the future.
Haven’t been to the World Equestrian Center? Neither had I, but having been there, I can tell you that the R & L Arena is huge!
To get a feel for how large that space is, you can put two full size dressage arenas in there! I looked it up on the WEC website and it’s 120 feet by 615 feet! For Region 13, it was divided into three spaces—a schooling area (shown above), a warm-up paddock and the show arena, and all were plenty big. The footing was good, but it’s going to be even better next year. Just as Region 13 was wrapping up, they were installing new footing!
In addition to having lots of arenas, WEC is unique in another way; it's like a horse show village! You can book either a cabin or one of the Home Away from Home units, literally right on site!
We stayed in one of the Home Away units and it was perfect! Plenty of room, air conditioning and literally 5 minutes to the arena!
Jan Decker has managed Region 13 since 2010 and credits her assistant manager, Daphne Wyatt, show committee chair, Ann Knoop and volunteer committee members Linda Corich, Pam Kittredge and Michelle Kimbro, with the success and smooth running of the show.
Says Jan, “The number of horses was up for 2018 over 2017, and the show committee believe the move to WEC is responsible for the increase in numbers. Most exhibitors were excited about the new “digs” for Region 13 and the WEC management worked very well with us and we look forward to the show growing even more in 2019.”
