From The Publisher – The Horse Capital Of The World

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14 – January/February, 2025

By Tom Grabe

When Amy and I moved to Marion County, Florida nearly 30 years ago, it was much more rural in nature (US Hwy 27 was two lanes) and the population was half of what it is today. Downtown Ocala’s town square was half-empty and lifeless and the main drag on 200 had only 4 of the 6 lanes it has today–and it changed to two lanes west of town.

Even then, it was the place to live for people who loved horses of all breeds and disciplines. The majority of horses in the county were thoroughbreds, but the stock horse industry was well-represented with numerous farms owning, breeding and competing with Quarter Horses, Paints and Appaloosas at the highest levels. Some of the great sires and show horses of the time resided in Marion County. Many of the great trainers of the day called it home. Like the Denton/Aubrey area, it was a hot spot for the breeds we love so much.

As the show horse market declined in the early 2000s, Ocala/Marion County saw many of those big Quarter Horse farms, along with the little ones, go up for sale along with their horses. People moved away and the show horse scene that was once so vibrant didn’t disappear but it came close. The social scene was a shell of what it was, and the local shows followed suit. As time went on, the population of the county grew–the horse population, too–but not with stock horses so much. We saw an influx of Paso Finos, Arabians, Eventers, and the few odd Polo ponies. But that all changed just about the time the world went dormant due to the Covid scare.

The World Equestrian Center was under construction while much of the world shut down and opened its doors in December 2020. The first show held at WEC was the Tom Powers Futurity. It was a great event and sort of like an open house for the stock horse people to see the World Equestrian Center in all its glory.

Click here to read the complete article
14 – January/February, 2025