Syracuse and horse racing don’t seem to mix on the surface, but a large chunk of state money could make the Salt City a year-round destination for equestrian competitions.

The central New York equestrian community is anticipating a $9 million renovation to the facilities, which should be completed by the 2017 New York State Fair. In September, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an investment of $50 million toward renovating existing buildings and building new ones at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse that will begin shortly and be applied over the next few years.

The funds will partly be used to support renovations to the equestrian facilities at the fairgrounds, which will include renovating the Toyota Coliseum, building three new horse rings and modernizing stalls in the surrounding barns, according to a Syracuse.com article.

 

John Madden is the owner of John Madden Sales, a horse farm in Cazenovia, New York. He is also coach and husband to Olympic winner and only athlete to be named the United States Equestrian Federation’s Equestrian of the Year four times: Elizabeth “Beezie” Madden. He has run the Madden farm for over 20 years.

“The fact of the matter is that the existing facilities can’t attract high quality equestrians like they are now,” Madden said.

Madden said that if the equestrian facilities at the fairgrounds were developed with an open design in mind, they could be used to host a number of equestrian competitions year-round, with some being held on the same weekends.

Horse shows actually provide a significant economic boost to the area, as state officials said that this season’s 30 horse shows brought $12 million to the region, according to a June 11 Syracuse.com article.

Madden said the area in and around Syracuse has the potential to draw a world cup final or the Fédération Equestre Internationale World Equestrian Games.

“The county commissioner and state have a lot of insight in putting this in our state,” Madden said. “There’s not a lot of places where there’s a city the size of Syracuse so close to agriculture — which is close to equine.”

Madden said the demographic of people that participate in equestrian events either put their money back into the community or bring new money in, which he said is nice to see.

“Our area is suited for equestrian facilities. What I see is that (the equestrian community) is growing fast, much faster than the general economy, “ Madden said. “(The renovation) is a great thing for central New York to take advantage of.”

 

Ragen McGowan trains and instructs horses and riders at many different barns and riding stables throughout central New York. The 21-year-old has been riding for 18 years, specifically in the hunter and jumper disciplines, and has lived in upstate New York her whole life.

Last weekend, McGowan had riders and horses competing in all four days of competitions at the Autumn in New York Horse Show, with the weekend ending with amateur and young rider shows on Saturday and Sunday.

“For this arena, this is kind of the grand finale show,” McGowan said. “… We have a big group of clients here so it’s nice to see them improve and see how far everyone’s come in showing from the beginning of the year. The same goes for the horses.”

McGowan said that she heard that renovations on the equestrian facilities would take place around the structures of most of the buildings and some of the building’s historic parts. She said the renovations are a positive improvement to the facilities.

“It would definitely benefit us because in the past we’ve had some incidents here,” McGowan said. “The footing wasn’t that good a couple of years ago and we had a few horses get injuries because of it.”

Her father, Mike, is a third-generation horse-person and owner of Heritage Stables in Skaneateles, New York. He occasionally travels with his daughter and clients around the East Coast to attend different shows and division finals. His regular circuit shows, however, are usually held around the northeast region of the United States.

Mike said he supports the renovations of the equestrian facilities at the New York State Fairgrounds. In the past, he has competed in the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament, a central New York competition that was previously held at the fairgrounds.

“It sounds like it’s going to be quite an incredible venture. We can attract more people to create a bigger venue at the fairground,” Mike said. “Since I’ve been to a world cup-level horse show, I’d love to see that come back and have the fairgrounds be the venue.”

Published on October 5, 2015 at 9:51 pm

Contact Katelyn: kmfaubel@syr.edu