The Virginia Horse Trials is legendary. It has been running in Area II for 30 years. Eight years ago, Andy Bowles left his native New Zealand and invested his life savings in purchasing VHT from Brian and Penny Ross. During the running of VHT, eventing has seen the support and development of such programs such as- Young Rider championships, the Intercollegiate championships, Young Event Horse Championships, and Licensed Officials development. Anyone who knows Andy knows that he has poured his heart and soul into this venture. He has secured one of the best teams in the business and they are renowned for putting on a fantastic event as well as constantly striving for improvement. 

In May of 2022, it became time to review the 2023 and beyond contract for the Horse Trials with the venue it is currently held at, the Virginia Horse Center. When presented with a rate increase that was proposed by the Horse Center, Andy was shocked to see a 300+% increase. Operating on such an increased facility fee would in fact mean that the horse trials would operate at a loss which is not feasible for VHT. After some negotiations, VHT were presented with numbers that they could make work within their budget. During a sit down meeting with the CEO and the President of the board of the Virginia Horse Center, Andy and Angela left with the assumption that the agreed upon numbers would mean that operations between the two would continue. Two days later, VHT received a letter from the CEO stating that the Horse Center was declining to renew the contract and that they wanted to "go a different direction with the organization of horse trials in the future." Heartbroken and discouraged, Andy offered to sell the business to the horse center at a price that was derived from market research. The Horse Center offered Andy less than half of that number. An offer that was less than what Andy had paid for it. The offer didn't give value to the $100,000 in new jumps that Andy had built or the growth in the horse trials that Andy had cultured- taking numbers from approximately 350 to 511 at the finale event this November. 

After discussions with various venues, Andy and Angela approached Tryon about running the event and were so grateful to hear that Tryon was eager to do so. Tryon is a well established, modern, and expansive venue that could continue to see the development and improvement in VHT that Andy sought when he purchased it. VHT has applied for a change of venue to run the same levels currently offered on the current dates. The Virginia Horse Center has applied for VHT's dates under the name Shenandoah Horse Trials. VHT adamantly objects to this for several reasons. First, if this is allowed to happen it will set a precedent allowing venues to commandeer dates from the organizers who have invested the time and money into establishing the events. In an age where events are being permanently shut down, VHT feels that for the health of our sport, this cannot be encouraged as common practice. Second, two events running on top of one another is not only not sustainable for either event, it also negatively impacts the competitors. 

The purpose of this petition is to inform the eventing community of the situation and hopefully give the riders, owners, coaches and officials who would be impacted a voice in this decision. We intend to share this petition with the USEF eventing sport committee and the USEA executive board. 

In closing, VHT does not deny that Shenandoah Horse Trials should be given an opportunity, we are just asking as priority date holders to be granted a change of venue, and asking that Shenandoah Horse Trials not be allowed to run on the same weekend as VHT. We ask you as our treasured clients to sign this petition should you feel so compelled and make your voice heard. 

With the deepest gratitude- Andy and Angela Bowles on behalf of the entire VHT family.