Michael Britt-Leon outlines WEF campaign

It’s the fourth year at WEF for Michael Britt-Leon and Windsor Stables and after a record year, the Californian is excited about the next 13 weeks.

“We have a lot of new horses and clients – we’ve had a huge year of growth in 2023,” Michael said. “We’re heading down with all sorts of new faces which I’m very excited about.”

The Windsor team – including Michael, six grooms, two assistants and an additional rider – arrived in Wellington just before Christmas from their base in Alpharetta, Georgia. Michael brought with the team, 22 of his 72 equine charges set to take the stage in everything from the Childrens Hunters to the Small Ponies, to the Amateur Owners, to the Adult Amateurs to the Junior Hunters as well as an array of green horse classes.

“We go in with a plan for each and every horse and client,” Michael said. “It’s important to have a plan for this horse show because it can kind of run away with you. You have success and you want to keep going and going and it can be a lot on the horses that way. 

“For the green horses I usually start them in the young hunters or the USHJA – out at pony island – just to let them get their feet wet and be in the elements and around other people and all the horses and that energy.”

Michael paces the program, trying to spread out the workload and competition focus to suit.

“I have a lot of clients and we have a lot of horses so I try to space out my weeks as best I can,” he said. “We usually show the first three weeks and then we take a week off. Then we do the next three weeks finishing with Hunter Week – which is big for us obviously – then we are off week 7 and then we do two weeks on, a week off and two weeks on.” Not surprisingly: “By Week 12 of Wellington we are pretty spent!”

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