"I was born about 150 years too late." This seems like an odd comment coming from someone who looks positively Victorian dressed in a bright red coat, tall boots and a grey top hat. But Cliff Haines is taking a break between presentations and told me he would have loved to be a cowboy riding the wide open spaces. He learned to ride on an 18,000 acre ranch in Alberta and says if it was possible nowadays to spend a lifetime as a working cowboy that’s what he would have done.

He could not be farther from the prairie of Alberta in his current role as Ringmaster at the Winter Equestrian Festival at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center, Wellington Florida. WEF is the world’s largest and longest running equestrian competition. Taking place over twelve weeks from January until the end of March, it offers $6 million in prize money and with 12 rings has 5,000 horses and 2,800 riders from 31 different countries competing.

A few years ago, when one of the WEF organizers said during a golf game, that a ringmaster was needed to keep the awards presentations and in-gate running smoothly, Cliff Haines replied:" I’m your man."

Cliff did have previous experience with horses and had run in-gates at several large competitions in Canada. He was given some training on the protocol for the awards presentations and fitted up with a red coat with gold trim, white breeches, grey top hat and tall boots custom made by Parlanti. That costume is for the main International ring at WEF. For the Grand Hunter ring, he has a black coat and fawn colored Fedora.

I met Cliff after he had finished the presentations on a Sunday afternoon for the Parade of Champions. All the Champions of the previous week are given special coolers and ribbons and follow Cliff in a parade around the International ring. Then each horse and rider, owner, or sponsor has their photo taken with Cliff at the side of the ring. In the break, before he would have to return to the ring for a presentation for a jumper class, I was able to ask him about his role as ringmaster.

What is your typical day as ringmaster?

"I am here at 7am to make sure the ribbons are sorted and arranged. Then I wait to present for the first class in the International ring or the Grand Hunter ring. Most days the last class is at 5pm. I work Wednesday through Sunday and on Monday and Tuesday I play golf. During the Winter Equestrian Festival, we also have nineteen nights "under the lights" in the International ring. On those nights I am working until 11:30pm.

What do you have to do during the night-time competition as those are usually Grand Prix jumping events?

" I have to make sure that the chute (in-gate) is clear and as soon as the horse and rider come out of the ring, I check the groom goes with them to the ‘boot check’ (tack check) as that is an FEI and USEF regulation. I cannot let anyone get in their way or interfere with the horse or rider until the boot check is done.

Then for the presentations at the end of the night I go and find the sponsors and bring them down from the stands for the awards. There are a number of big sponsors at WEF such as Adequan, AIG Insurance, Bank of America, Moet Hennessy, Hermes….it is important to have them in place for the awards at the classes they have sponsored. I introduce the sponsors to the rider. I have to get all their names right and always learn the names of the sponsors beforehand.

Also, I ask the sponsors if they are comfortable around horses. If they say yes I ask them if they want to pin (put the ribbon on) the horse. And if they say yes, I position them to my left (facing the cameras) beside the horse and show them where to put the ribbon on. I always hold the horse at my left shoulder. If they are not comfortable being near the horse then I put on the ribbon and hold the horse with the sponsor standing to my right. Then we have the photos taken.

The photographers have helped me a lot in learning how to get horses, riders and sponsors lined up for the best shots. In the presentations, safety is my first concern and I always have to be aware that some sponsors may not understand that a horse could hurt them. The hunter horses are usually pretty calm but some of the jumpers are live wires."

What is the most difficult part of your day?

"At awards presentations, where there are very excitable horses. I had a Russian rider once on a horse that was just ready to explode. She was doing a good job keeping him under control but I could see it was a touch and go situation. There was a photographer that just did not seem to understand he was in a dangerous position as the horse started to spin, and he would not listen to my warnings to him. I wanted to make things go as smoothly and quickly as possible in the presentation so no one would get hurt; horse, rider, sponsors and the photographer."

Did anyone get hurt in that situation?

"No we all came through it, thankfully."

Have you ever been in a situation where someone did get hurt at an awards presentation?

"No, but I did get kicked myself once and that wasn’t fun."

What other things are concerns at a big completion like this?

"It is always a worry if a rider falls off. The worst is when the rider does not get up, or when they get up but I know they have probably got concussion. I want to make sure that the horse does not get out of the ring when it is loose. Of course, it is terrible if both horse and rider go down. That is very stressful."

What is the most demanding situation you have had to deal with at WEF?

"Well, near the end of the season we have the Great Charity Challenge with $1.5 million donated to 35 local charities. There are representatives from all 35 charities and they are all present for the photos at the awards presentation. That is a nightmare! Previously all the charity representatives would come down and have to get up onto a wagon for photos. You can imagine what that was like. This year they are going to have a podium for them to stand on and that will be much easier to manage. "

What do you enjoy most about your job?

"All the people I have met. There is a great group of people here from all over the world and I have really enjoyed meeting them and making friends with many of them."

Where do you go from here?

"Once WEF is finished I will be going to shows in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and then, in the summer, to Ontario, Canada for six weeks at the Palgrave show, then the Trillium Championships and finally the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto."

What is one of you happiest moments at WEF?

"At the end of the season we have annual awards given out. They award trophies are all laid out on a table and I pick up each trophy as it is announced to present it to the winner. Last year when I picked up the Ramblewood trophy, which is for the person who has made an outstanding contribution to the season, I was looking to see where the award winner was. I’m looking and looking and couldn’t see any possible recipient. Then I heard the announcer say: "this year’s winner is our Ringmaster, Cliff Haines." I was so happy. It brought tears to my eyes."

At that moment Cliff got a call on his walkie-talkie that he was needed to be on standby in the ring. Having watched how adeptly he had handled the Parade of Champions, and also having seen how smoothly the Saturday night competitions were run, I knew that Cliff is indeed a Master Ringmaster