Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) — Horses and equestrians prepared all day for the HITS Indoor Championship this weekend. It is the second year HITS has hosted the championship at the New York State Fair Exposition Center.
This year about 150 horses are competing, almost double last year’s event. Horse Trainer Nicolle Madonna Cerio said Tuesday through Sunday she spends 10 to 14 hours training and taking care of horses.
“It’s a long process. You don’t wake up one day and decide to horse show,” Cerio said.
Cerio’s client Heather Knox is competing in the event this weekend for the second year in a row. Knox jumps with the horse once or twice a week. She said it takes a long time for a rider to prepare for competitions.
“Long term, it takes awhile to get to some of these levels that like some of us are competing at now. So you kind of come up through the ranks over the years and stuff,” Knox said.
The riders prepare horses for at least a year in advance. Cerio said there is still always uncertainty when it comes to competing.
“You know… uhh… they’re animals. So no matter what you do sometimes they decide that it’s not their day, and sometimes they greatly surprise you,” Cerio said.
While the equestrians train their horses, Kristen Vale (the office manager) said that HITS has been preparing for this event for over a year.
“It’s not just the horses and the competitors. You organize the stabling, the feed and shavings for the horses. But you have other things like simply the food service, the EMT who has to be here,” Vale said.
Luckily much of the Expo Center was already set up from a different equine event last week. Vale said the preparation is still the most stressful part.
“Once the horse show starts tomorrow morning, my whole staff will just sort of take a deep breath once that first horse walks in the ring because you know that everything is all set,” Vale said.
Equestrians are not competing for a cash prize. Instead, the winners will receive trophies or ribbons to hang on their walls.
