The inaugural Santa Barbara Horse Show had to be canceled after last week’s strong storms rendered the grounds unfit and unsafe for horses, organizers said.
Twelve days of equestrian competition were planned at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Carpinteria, starting Wednesday.
Over 400 horses and competitors, from amateurs to professionals, were preparing to descend on the club’s polo fields.
The nearly 5 inches of rain Carpinteria received, however, muddied and softened the competition field, and even flooded it at one point.
The show was going to be part of the equestrian circuit of Del Mar-based West Palm Events, which puts on over 20 hunter and jumper shows in California.
“It really is a bummer,” said Danielle Ballard, West Palms marketing and event manager.
The event will have to hold off until at least next year, as “the U.S. Equestrian Federation has to approve everything that you’re doing well in advance.”
West Palms Events already hosts shows up the coast in Paso Robles.
“We love it up there. It’s so great, and the weather has been phenomenal,” Ballard said of previous shows. “Our thought process was, ‘Why don’t we do a couple weeks in Santa Barbara where there are no shows, and then we’ll do two weeks at the Paso Robles Horse Park.’”
That city’s Central California Welcome Classic and Central California Zinfandel Classic run from March 8-12 and March 15-19.
“It is possible that one day we could come back to Santa Barbara and try again,” Ballard said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.