A New Year For Zachary Libes
For the twelfth year in a row, Zachary Libes will travel to compete at the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) starting on January 9th. Libes will pack his bags and leave his home in Wilton, Connecticut, load up his two horses, and travel close to 1,500 miles to Wellington, Florida where he will reside for four months. To Zach, FTI WEF is the highlight of his year and each year it gets better and better. However, it is safe to say that this year will be especially victorious for this young rider because this year Libes is bringing down a whole new competitive advantage.
At 21 years old, Zach hopes to make a name for himself in the sport, with dreams to one day represent the United States internationally. Under the exceptional instruction of Jeffery Welles of Triton Ventures, Zach is confident that his goals are not far off. Libes credits much of his success to Welles, however this year the Brewster-based trainer presented Zach with the opportunity of a lifetime. After having a successful summer on the road, Libes packed up his bags once again and flew to Holland to train with Ben and Wim Schröder, as well as help with the 2012 Expo Talent Sale, a yearly sport horse auction. Aside from making short trips to Europe to try horses, Zach had never imagined of moving to Holland to do something like this. The goal of this trip was to become educated on different types of young horses, while picking up the Dutch way of training. One of the highlights of this trip was receiving wise words from Olympic gold medalist Gerco Schröder. “Not only is he an amazing rider, but he is able to translate and teach what he does to make the horses have the most fluid jump possible,” Libes explains. Zach was given the opportunity to ride different types of young horses, which he believes has exponentially improved his riding. With only being able to ride “hot-blooded” horses here in the United States, Zach was able to ride “cold” horses in Holland. “All the horses were incredible quality, which made them very fun to ride and helped me learn what a true prospect is.” Aside from all the helpful advice on horseback, Zach enjoyed being in Holland because the people were welcoming, extremely generous, and a lot of fun. The entire experience was a positive one, and with the FTI WEF season approaching Zach hopes to apply his new education to the twelve weeks of intense competition.
This year, Zach will show his two horses Vive La Vie and Barisme VDL. He hopes to be successful in the 1.45m-1.50m with Vive La Vie “Polo” and jump the 7/8 Year Old division with Barisme VDL “Delilah.” “I hope to use the new methods I learned in Europe and this past summer to improve my horses, especially Delilah since she is young, still growing, and learning. With my new techniques, particularly for flatting, Delilah’s ability should only improve” Zach explains. When asked about the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival, Zach had a lot to praise. “There is such a wide array of classes for beginners to the crème de la crème of international riders. My favorite part of WEF is seeing the top international riders competing all the time and being able to watch the big classes with them in it. What they do and how they do it really awe-inspiring and always makes for really exciting classes no matter what you are watching” he says. Aside from watching international riders, Zach believes that WEF goes above and beyond just any horse show. This show is special to him as a rider because of its longevity. “With the show being twelve weeks long, the riders have time to bond with their horses and learn about them. The footing is fantastic, and the courses are always done by elite international course designers that really make tops sport in all of the classes that are offered,” he described.
Zach encourages people to visit the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center because the show has to be seen to be understood. It is a show Zach personally looks forward to every year, because each year there is something new to offer. Even after traveling to ride in another country, Zach’s advice to anyone coming to the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival for the first time is: “The number of riders you see that compete at the international and even Olympic level can be quite intimidating, but have fun watching them do what they do best because this top sport is hard to find anywhere else in the country.”
FTI WEF 