By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
WELLINGTON, Florida, Mar. 25, 2026–Four of five horse barns are now under construction and new competition arenas are well on the way to completion in a major expansion of Wellington International designed to accommodate dressage.
Horse stalls are being installed in the first of the completed barns. Competition arenas already have bases and are being readied for footing surfaces.
Extension of the existing show grounds is a replacement for the Global Dressage Festival grounds that are intended to be converted to a high-end housing and recreation community. The current Global grounds are also used for hunter/jumper events on the grass derby field during the year.
A new grass derby field has been built in the expanded show ground area.
An aerial photo of the expanded area of Wellington International shows four of five proposed barns in varying stages of construction. Alongside the barns are competition arenas in place of the Global facilities that ended 15 years of dressage competition just days ago. To the right is a covered arena that is significantly larger than the existing covered arena at Global.
The barns were designed by Harry Knopp and built by his company, IDA, and the stalls by his partner entity, Barnwalkers.
.“Our team has put in an incredible amount of hard work and coordination to keep this project moving forward at a strong pace,” he said of the facility. “Delivering these five IDA Steel barns for Wellington International in a timely manner is a direct result of that commitment. We take pride in not only the quality of what we build, but in making sure it’s done efficiently and on time for our client and the equestrian community.”
The arenas are projected to be completed by the end of April and the barns by the end of May, according to Wellington International.
The housing project to be built on Equestrian Village grounds that hosted Global cannot be built until the new barns and competition facilities are completed and approved for use.
Wellington International’s goal is to have the expanded grounds ready for competition by next winter for the start of the Global circuit.
The first competition of Global’s 2027 12-week season is scheduled for Jan. 13-17.
Wellington International is currently staging the 13th week of the Winter Equestrian Festival of jumpers and hunters that hosts the $1 million Rolex Grand Prix under lights Saturday night. WEF as the world’s largest horse show draws huge crowds for its weekly Grand Prix as have the Friday night dressage freestyle performances.
