MINDEN - As the first rounds of competition began Wednesday at Horse Shows In The Sun Tahoe just north of Minden, manager and owner Tom Struzzieri was sweating.
But it wasn't over concern for the new venture, which will return to the Carson Valley each summer for the next decade - advance entries put it in the top 20 percent of horse shows in the country before it even opened for business.
No, it was just darn hot Wednesday and everyone was perspiring at midday as they put their mounts through their paces on the eight new show rings, groomed the 700 horses in the canvas-covered stalls or checked out the merchandise and services offered by a squad of vendors.
"Nobody's really comfortable with the heat, horses or human, and it's about 5 degrees hotter than we expected," Struzzieri said. "We wouldn't mind some rain. Our rings are all-weather and designed to soak up an inch of rain an hour.
"In fact, it would be good for them. It would help settle the base. We've been running water trucks around the clock to keep the base in condition," he said.
The competitions are hunter/jumper events, in which riders and their horses show off agility and discipline while jumping simulated fences on convoluted courses. Hunter/jumper events are included in the Olympic Games and organizers are expecting Olympic-class entrants as well as all other skill levels down to child and youth amateurs.
Struzzieri said about 1,000 participants are expected over the five-week run of competition, with about 25 percent of entrants signed up for all five weeks.
"We've had shows that started with many fewer the first year and they've grown to thousands of entries each season," he said.
Based in Gainesville, N.Y., HITS also runs hunter/jumper circuit shows in New York, California, Florida, Arizona and Virginia. Struzzieri said the Minden show will grow like several of the show facilities the show has developed, with portable facilities being supplemented each year by permanent installations.
This year, the only long-term installations are the show ring surfaces, 30,000 tons of compacted stone dust from Carson City's Cinderlite, topped with sand mixed with 60,000 pounds of chopped Nike athletic shoes. The compacted stone dust provides a firm base that still drains, while the sand and rubber make for a resilient but predictable footing for the horses as they run, jump and land in the show rings.
"The tennis shoes Nike chops up and sells us are new, returned from stores as unsalable - they're not even seconds," Struzzieri said.
The fences surrounding the show rings, the nine stables that each hold 96 stalls, the bleachers and the tents will all be taken down after this summer's run ends July 30, he said.
For next year, organizers plan to have some permanent restrooms in place, if local officials agree, he said. More improvements would be added each year.
Also expected before next year's show are turn lanes on Highway 395 leading onto the Stockyard Road entrance to the 100-acre show grounds leased from the Bently family.
Struzzieri said the company has paid the Nevada Department of Transportation for the improvements to the highway and they will be added during the extensive improvement of the highway that starts next week. He said the improvements include conduits under the highway to accommodate wiring for a traffic light at the intersection at some future time.
Organizers have arranged for traffic control in expectation of good attendance at its weekly Sunday afternoon Grand Prix events.
Besides the access from 395, the show grounds have a second exit on the east across Bently property for spectators heading toward Minden and Gardnerville.
"The folks going back to Carson City will turn right onto 395, while those going south will use second exit and won't have to cross traffic," he said.
Competition runs daily Wednesdays through Sundays starting at 8 a.m. and admission is free except for the Grand Prix events at 1 p.m. Sundays.
The admission for the Grand Prix is $5, with most of the proceeds going to area organizations: Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada, Kiwanis Club of Gardnerville-Carson Valley, Carson Valley Sertoma, Minden Rotary Club, Soroptimist International of Carson Valley, Carson Valley chamber of Commerce and South lake Tahoe Christmas Cheer program.
Volunteers from those organizations are selling advanced tickets and helping with directing parking at the show grounds.
If you go
What: Hunter/jumper competition
When: Starts at 8 a.m. Wednesdays through Sundays with Grand Prix events at 1 p.m. Sundays
Where: Bently Nevada just north of Minden
Cost: $5 on Sundays
