Hey there, LinkedIn. This is The Oxer by Pegasus. The newsletter that takes you out of your tack room and into the global equestrian industry.
🐴 Here’s what we’ve got for you today:
Shane Rose might’ve helped us all out: This Australian rider’s outfit could’ve generated more interest in the equestrian world.
🚧 Board drama at Wellington highlights the venue’s untapped potential: More about this in the second story.
🎥 How Jim Greendyk trains for free on Instagram to get more customers: More about that on our writeup in our previous Oxer edition.
🎬 Final Foals: Check them out after the second story of this edition.
Before we get into it, have you signed up to try out Pegasus’s beta?
If not, head to Pegasus, click “get early access,” and sign up today!
Let’s get the show on the road 🐎.
👙 Was This Aussie’s Mankini a Blessing in Disguise for the Equestrian Industry?
- Shane Rose, a prominent Australian eventer and a three-time Olympic medalist, recently found himself at the center of a unique controversy dubbed “mankini-gate.”
- This unusual choice of attire, far removed from the traditional equestrian dress code, sparked a complaint that led to Equestrian Australia temporarily standing him down, casting uncertainty over his preparation for the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Known for his achievements in team eventing, including silver medals at the Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Games, Rose’s recent stunt involved wearing a mankini during a competition.
The incident, which occurred at an event in New South Wales’ southern highlands, prompted Equestrian Australia to review its minimum dress standards and the education modules for its high-performance program.
Equestrian Australia’s chief executive, Darren Gocher, emphasized the body’s duty to address community concerns while announcing that Rose had not breached the code of conduct and was free to resume his Olympic preparations.
It’s a common belief that a stunt like Shane Rose’s generates interest.
Did Shane Rose wearing a mankini generate more interest in horse sports?
A good way to see this is by using Google Trends.
Google Trends is a free platform provided by Google to measure how much a keyword was searched for. Google will calculate a score based on keyword search volume from 0 to 100.
We took a look at whether or not people are searching for the word “equestrian” more on the date that Shane Rose’s stunt happened to the days following it.
The graphic below suggests that in his home country of Australia, interest in “equestrian” rose to prominence on February 19th and a few days afterward when mankini-gate made headlines.
However, on a global scale, mankini-gate appears to have not affected interest that much.
But in the United Kingdom, where almost half a million Australians visited last year (and where many Aussies go to live), it appears that mankini-gate might have had a more outsized effect on interest in “equestrian”.
These stats are telling, especially considering that Google is still the premier platform in the world to search for anything on the web.
🕴️ Ousting of Equestrian Board Members Highlights Wellington’s Development Potential
- In a recent development in Wellington, the well-known equestrian Mecca, two members of the Equestrian Preserve Committee, Jane Cleveland and Carlos Arellano, were removed from their positions.
- This action came upon the request of Mark Bellissimo’s Wellington Lifestyle Partners, highlighting a significant tension between development interests and equestrian preservation advocates.
The crux of the controversy revolves around Bellissimo’s plans to develop new luxury communities within the 9,000-acre equestrian preserve, known as Wellington North and South, and a proposal for a new showground that would centralize various equestrian events.
The attorney for Wellington Lifestyle Partners argued that the outspoken opposition of Cleveland and Arellano against these projects compromised their ability to offer a fair review of the upcoming showground proposal, suggesting a conflict of interest that could potentially lead to a lawsuit over due process concerns.
This situation underscores the delicate balance between development and preservation, particularly in a community defined by its equestrian culture.
The proposed showground aims to consolidate equestrian events into a single campus, featuring amenities like a derby field, barns, and a stadium capable of seating up to 10,000 spectators.
If the proposed expansion to Wellington International were to go through, its newest stadium would arguably be the biggest equestrian stadium to spectate at in the U.S., if not the world.
This is how the newest stadium compares to some of America’s largest equestrian stadiums.
- ⌚️ Rolex Stadium (Kentucky Horse Park): 7,338 spectators
- ⛰️ Tryon International’s indoor arena: 5,000 spectators
- 🌎 Arena 5 (World Equestrian Center Ocala): 3,400 spectators
Keep in mind that this would just add to the current seating capacity Wellington’s overall facilities have.
However, the controversy with the board lies not just in the specific details of the project but in the broader implications for the equestrian preserve’s future.
It represents an unprecedented intervention by a developer in the composition of a local governance committee, raising questions about the influence of private interests on public decision-making processes.
The incident also reflects the ongoing debate within Wellington regarding development within the equestrian preserve, a debate that touches on issues of environmental conservation, community identity, and economic growth.
The replacements for Cleveland and Arellano, Judith Sloan and Annabelle Garrett, bring their own perspectives to the committee.
However, the controversy underscores the tension between the need for development to sustain economic vitality and the desire to preserve the unique character and traditions of the Wellington equestrian community.
🐴 This Week’s Final Foals
📊 American Horse Council is hosting a “datapalooza” to talk about all the insights it learned in the 2023 Economic Impact Study. Use this link to sign up for free online, it’s on March 4th.
👏 We had our first ever company retreat at Pegasus! See the photos from it here.
💻 Try Pegasus’s beta today by signing up on the form on our homepage.
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