A last-minute management change at the Las Vegas National means the show will no longer host Fédération Equestre Internationale classes, including the Las Vegas leg of the Longines FEI World Cup series, but will continue with national classes, including the Marshall and Sterling USHJA National Championships. The show, which takes place Nov. 11-17 at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa in Las Vegas, was originally slated to hold both five-star and two-star classes.

The FEI announced Friday, Sept. 13, that the show’s organizing committee was canceling the scheduled Longines FEI World Cup class due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

That announcement was the first public indication of a management reshuffle that began several weeks ago.

After the FEI said Friday morning that the World Cup qualifier had been canceled due to “unforeseen circumstances,” the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association issued a press release late that afternoon explaining the Las Vegas National was under new management and will now be produced by Desert International Horse Park, led by DIHP president and CEO Steve Hankin and returning show manager Pat Boyle, taking over from the previous management team, Blenheim EquiSports.

On Saturday, Blenheim issued its own statement indicating that it is focused on completing major infrastructure improvements at Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park in San Juan Capistrano, California, to ensure the future of that venue.

On Monday, Hankin confirmed that the entire FEI schedule of programming has been canceled. He said that Blenheim president Robert Ridland contacted him “several weeks ago” to ask his team to take over management of the show.

“He asked if we’d be interested in helping out,” Hankin said. “He had some constraints on his ability to do it, so we’re trying to do the right thing and help support the horse show.

“The logistics of doing that World Cup qualifier there with that short of notice proved very difficult,” he added. “Our priority was to help USHJA, given the commitment they had for their national championship there. You can imagine this is hard to do with 60 days’ notice. We just really weren’t comfortable that we could sort out the logistics for that, so Robert notified FEI that we couldn’t continue with it.”

He declined to elaborate on why his team was asked to take over the show, suggesting that Ridland could discuss the reasoning. Ridland replied to an interview request on Tuesday, Sept. 17, with an emailed statement, saying that the company is “in the midst of two back-to-back sold-out shows, and 100% of our focus is on the long-term vision for the riding park.”

Blenheim issued a press release Saturday, a day after a representative declined to immediately discuss the FEI’s announcement regarding Las Vegas, saying the company “enthusiastically supported” the management change.

“Transitioning away from the Las Vegas National Horse Show will allow Blenheim EquiSports to put an even greater emphasis on producing a robust schedule of events at the organization’s home base, the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park in San Juan Capistrano, [California],” the statement said.

Earlier this year, Blenheim’s owner The Ridland Group entered a contract to complete extensive wastewater management improvements at Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park on a specific timeline to allow the facility to continue operating. Saturday’s statement referred to the company’s focus on that major project.

“At present, Blenheim EquiSports is amidst two back-to-back weeks of sold-out horse shows at the riding park—the Blenheim Fall Tournament and the Blenheim International Jumping Festival—and the commitment remains to provide top-notch competition options for West Coast-based competitors,” it read. “Immediately following the conclusion of the Blenheim International Jumping Festival, construction will begin on the long-awaited environmental infrastructure project. This investment into the riding park will secure its legacy as ‘The Place to Jump’ on the West Coast in perpetuity.”

Environmental issues forced a temporary closure of the  San Juan Capistrano facility earlier this year, which necessitated moving two weeks of shows to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on short notice. The Ridland Group signed an agreement to reopen the park and continue what turned out to be a lighter show season after the U.S. Equestrian Federation reassigned some of its dates to other venues in response to the closure. The May 18 agreement with Orange County Coastkeepers requires The Ridland Group to complete stormwater and wastewater management improvements by a set of deadlines throughout the year, which Orange County Coastkeepeers confirmed it has done so far. Those improvements include construction of a stormwater infiltration system by Nov. 15, or the group will face fines of $5,000 per day. The agreement includes the possibility that the park could be closed again on Nov. 15—a date that falls during the Las Vegas show—if those deadlines are not met. If all improvements aren’t completed by Dec. 31, the company will be required to preemptively cancel its entire 2025 show season at the riding park.

In his email Ridland said that work at the riding park will be completed on schedule.

“Construction of the final stage of the environmental mitigation project starts one week from today after the last horse leaves the facility following this week’s horse show,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, DIHP representatives are hard at work getting ready for the Las Vegas National. Hankin said the logistics of putting on a show with about two months’ notice are difficult—his team must redo the U.S. Equestrian Federation licenses and all the staff contracts, for example—but that his team is up for the challenge.

“When you get that feel of it, you understand how the added complexity of FEI would have been tremendous,” he said. “We’re scrambling to get things in place. We have a lot of resources and feel confident that we can do a great job. It’s an important show for us, and we wouldn’t have done this if we didn’t feel like we had the resources to do it. We run National Sunshine series [in Thermal, California] right up until the day before [the Las Vegas National starts], so we need to move staff a little bit early out of National Sunshine series. We have four medal finals at Sunshine this year, so it’s a big week. The good news is we have a deep team. We have a good relationship with the hotel, and we know it well. We’re really excited and confident we’ll do a great job.”