70 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
e
Washington International into the Future
By Lauren R. Giannini
Juliet Reid is genetically
programmed for horses –
and she loves them, but
from a distance: “with my
feet safely on the ground!”
She grew up dividing her
time between school in New
York City and Live Oak,
the Weber family’s farm in
Ocala.
Her mother Charlotte
Weber
is a
leading
Thoroughbred breeder,
trainer and owner. Juliet’s
sister Christina rode with
Don Stewart and her brother
Jay played polo; but now
he’s more interested in
Thoroughbreds and going
to the track with Charlotte.
Juliet’s youngest sibling,
Chester competes internationally in combined driving and has
won the four-in-hand National Combined Driving championship
eight times. Her father, Dr. John Weber, competes in the over 70
master class of Iron Man.
What Juliet does, with her feet on terra frma, is still very horsey.
She oversees her daughter on the circuit: they had just returned
in mid August from the Young Rider tour in Europe. In 2007, she
became involved with Washington International Horse Show
when she joined the board.
After spending 2008 as elected treasurer, she found herself
voted in as president in
December and stated:
“The WIHS holds the
distinction of being the
last of the classic, major
metropolitan horse shows
in the US and the pinnacle
of the equestrian calendar.
We are committed to the
survival of this historical
horse show and have a
huge task before us. I am
confdent that we have the
team assembled to make
that happen.”
Juliet’s tenure has moved
the show fnancially from
the red to the black and
she is determined that
Washington will have a
strong future in the nation’s
capital.
“Wemade$780 last year,”
declared Juliet. “When I
went on the board, we were
losing about $300,000 a
year. It’s very exciting. It
takes good people – we
have a lot of good people
working together. Robert
Ridland and David Distler
came in to manage the
show – they’re a really
good pair. Tony Hitchcock
and I worked to get the fat
out of it. He isn’t working on
the show this year; but for
three years Tony lived with
us four to fve days a week,
all year long. We do annual
economic impact studies
and last year the total impact
of WIHS spending on the District’s economy was more than $8
million dollars. My husband works in politics and knew how to
approach City Council. Now DC supports WIHS.”
It isn’t easy, putting together a show of this magnitude. Rent
alone for the Verizon Center comes to half a million and it costs
another $100,000 for the city to close down the streets. Then,
there are the costs of customizing the Verizon Center: the ice has
to be melted, dirt trucked in for the footing, hotel rooms secured
for the staff. Insurance, permits, awards, prize money, staff and
logistics add up. The operating budget alone runs three million
dollars; but Juliet, her board
and all the people involved
are convinced that WIHS is
well worth the expense.
“People have gotten
behind the show and each
year more than 20,000
people attend WIHS,” said
Juliet. “We get good crowds
of 5,000 plus on Thursday,
Friday and Saturday nights
– that’s an extremely
respectable audience for
equestrian sport in this
country. The venue is really
big, 17,000 seats. It would
be fabulous to fnd a venue
with 5,000 seats; but it
The North American Riders Group included the Washington International Horse
Show (WIHS) in their Top 25 Horse Shows for the second time in 2011.
Chester Weber, Juliet Reid, Laura Kraut and Anne Poulson, Board
Member of Washington International Horse Show
Photo by Rex Reed
Presentation of the Presidents Cup to Nick Skelton (Juliet Reid far left)
Photo by Shawn McMillen Photography
Continued on page 72