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(December 2010) posted on Mon Dec 06, 2010

Ruggles Signs and TGI collaborate to create graphics to brand the World Equestrian Games.

By Steve Aust

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In our increasingly automated world, it’s easy to forget the vital societal role horses once played. Whether through farming, commerce, combat or countless other enterprises, empires were forged on equine backs for millennia. Although horses are now perceived by many as valuable only for sport, entertainment or a hobby for the well-heeled, close proximity to a horse creates a sense of awe that reflects our innate connection to them.

Although thoroughbred racing enjoys a long history as an adrenaline-pumping, spectator sport, other equestrian events – such as dressage, vaulting and show jumping – display a horse’s many attributes besides speed, and a rider displays a more intimate relationship with a horse than simply using a jockey’s crop.

Since 1990, the World Equestrian Games (WEG) have served as the quadrennial international championships for eight of the 10 disciplines within the Fédération Equestre International (FEI), the governing body of equestrian sports. After the first five Equestrian Games were held in European cities, 2010 witnessed the first, U.S-based competition. Eight years ago, FEI’s leadership selected the Kentucky Horse Park, which is set on 1,200 acres in central Kentucky near Lexington, as this year’s site for the competition, which took place from September 25 to October 10.

Given the state’s importance within the equine and horse-racing world (horse farms abound within the Bluegrass State, and the legacy of the Kentucky Derby is well-documented), it proved worthy for the Equestrian Games’ U.S. debut. Although horse racing’s demise is often predicted or lamented in many corners of sports media, the WEG reported attendance of more than 500,000, which affirms the sport’s healthy following.

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Of course, such a landmark event requires distinctive environmental graphics that give sponsors their requisite brand recognition while not subjecting visitors to visual clutter. Bear in mind the equestrian-sport demographics differ significantly from a National Football League crowd.

Ongoing economic challenges forced event officials and Alltech, the Nicholasville, KY-based producer of animal health and nutrition products that sponsored the Games, to somewhat curtail the competition’s sponsorship and promotional graphics.

Persevering through the budget cutbacks and inevitable change orders that accompany large events, TGI Worldwide (Chicago) produced the Games’ digital graphics, and Ruggles Sign (Versailles, KY) produced primarily 3-D signage for the facility’s indoor arena.

TGI’s Rusty Lawrence, a project manager for the company, and Tim Cambron, Ruggles’ general manager, discuss their process.