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Horse show at arena brings complications; in Washington, DC, they closed city streets

Atlantic Yards Watch offers a follow-up on some recent news, Gucci horse competition coming to Barclays, but where will the horses go?, where we learned that 70 to 80 horses would be stabled inside the building, with more than 200 horses in tenets nearby.

Writes Danae Oratowski:
The Paris Gucci Masters is held at the Salon de Cheval, a dedicated horse show facility that includes warm-up rings and trailer parking in addition to stables and show rings. Instead, the Barclays event will resemble the International Horse Show at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., which needed closed three city blocks around the arena this October.
In addition to outdoor stables, there’s likely to be a need for an outdoor warm up ring, since the backstage areas of the Barclays center may not be large enough. There’s also the small matter of a few hundred horse trailers that will arrive and unload (most likely in the middle of the night to avoid traffic).
A commenter on my earlier piece had written:
Temporary stalls can be set up anywhere. The Washington Int'l is held in the Verizon Center, stalls and warmup rings are in a nearby parking garage.
Closed streets in Washington

Actually, no. WTOP reported 10/26/11, "We noticed that 6th Street NW and F Street have been blocked around the Verizon Center." The Washington Post reported 10/24/11 that "F Street between Fifth and Seventh, and Sixth Street between F and G will be closed for the week to house temporary stalls for horses."

In a 3/15/11 statement, the Washington International Horse Show announced a three-year deal with Verizon Center to extend its run at the venue through 2013:
"We are thrilled to remain at Verizon Center and continue this great Washington tradition. Verizon Center has been home to WIHS for 12 years, and while there are complexities in producing an urban horse show with shipping horses in and out of the city and closing city streets to create stables, it also makes us one of the most exciting horse shows in the country," said Anthony F. Hitchcock, chief operating officer of WIHS.
(Emphasis added)

And in Brooklyn?

Note that the Verizon Center, unlike the Barclays Center, does not directly border a residential neighborhood.

In Brooklyn, I'd bet we see Sixth Avenue closed outside the arena, and maybe parts of Dean and Pacific Street. But if anyone official knows differently, please let me know.

Comments

  1. I'm not exactly sure when the parking garage was used for stalls and warm-up rings, but I have heard accounts that cited concrete pillars in the warm-up ring, so I assumed they were true.

    The configuration will depend on what the requirements are and the state of the project itself. Outdoor warm-up rings are more viable in Las Vegas, which held the 2009 FEI World Cup.

    My previous point about temporary stalls is that they can be put nearly anywhere, on or off site. If they were off-site, then street closings would be more likely.

    Using the plaza is doubtful, since the busiest intersection in Brooklyn could get very lively for show jumping's top athletes, some of whom are valued in the millions of dollars.

    Trailering would naturally be done at night, but that will be the case for most arena events, since it is easier to get trucks in and out of the Metro area at night.

    I'm am struck by the fact that Grand Prix show jumping, a
    sport so exclusive that even sports-crazy Brett Yormark knows next to nothing about it, has somehow become a "public use." Tally ho!

    ReplyDelete

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