Pro Tip: anytime you receive an event invitation from Rolex, you must absolutely make it top priority to respond in the affirmative and attend, no questions asked. The team that brings the green and gold watch brand to life can always be counted on to pull together a top class gathering, whether you’re scurrying around a stadium in France without food or water (true story) until you stumble upon a Rolex-sponsored lunch, or you’re deep among the one-percenters in Wellington, FL, in the midst of all-things-equestrian-fantasy, and Rolex casually welcomes you into the private stable of one of the top riders in the world. Refreshments included, of course.

While the above courtesies are almost exclusively handed out to the media corps, we always have our cameras in tow, and today there was a whole crowd of us that descended upon Kent Farrington’s home base in Wellington. We toured, we ogled the impressively catered breakfast, we had personal exchanges with a few very famous horses, and last but not least, we hung on every word uttered by Mr. Farrington as he led us on a tour of his own personal utopia.

It was a lucky day for the assembled media, indeed. Scroll down for a behind the scenes look at one of Wellington’s more amazing farms, narrated by Farrington as he walked us around the property that he designed himself.

“I’ll give you the dime tour right now.”

“As the season extended in Wellington, and the show grew over time we all started spending more time here. So I tried to set it up the best I could to work for the horses and my team.”

“The most important thing to me is what’s best for the horses, and what’s best in their everyday training.”

“I tried to design the working, functional parts of the stable for my staff to stay organized.”

(open air stalls make for content horses)

“I think anyone who is looking to excel or improve in their sport is in some ways always a student of their sport. They’re always looking for ways to improve.”

“The horses are all individuals. They all have their own personalities and idiosynciricies. It’s our job as a rider and as a manager to adapt and change in order to maximize the potential of every horse.”

(even if that horse has dreams of one day becoming a photographer. Voyeur’s second career is all lined up)

“I was kind of a strange kid, I was very organized; my room was always clean. I guess some things haven’t changed.”

“I’ve had some very difficult horses in my career, and some horses that other people didn’t want to ride, so I have a huge collection of bits.” (that’s an understatement)

“I have the stable organized for 20 horses, I have 20 saddles, and 20 places, one for each horse…”

“…with their show bridle and work bridle depending on what they’re doing each day.

(a throwback gem spotted in the tack room: Kent victory galloping early on in his career)

“My staff is my pit crew, they’re the people behind the scenes that are really doing the heavy lifting.” (From left to right, Albert and Marcial)

(The entire pit crew)

“I don’t really think about the trophies on the wall. I’m always looking to the future, so I look at all the empty spaces on the wall and I try to imagine what I want to fill them with.”

(Breakfast break. Thank you Rolex!)

(Nom)

(Nom nom nom)

“I try not to have any superstitions, that’s one of my superstitions. If I start to think tht something is lucky, I immediately change it. I was told years ago that superstitions were a weakness, to have a superstition would someday come to haunt you. SO if I think something is lucky, I change the plan.”

“Voyeur has been one of the most difficult, and also one of the most rewarding horses that I’ve worked with.”

“We built it all from the ground up. It’s a work in progress.”