Sarasota County is playing host to the 9th Annual Venice Equestrian Tour. It is one of the highlights of the winter season for elite horse show and horse jumping athletes and enthusiasts. The very niche sport is among a few that are bringing big bucks to Sarasota County "We come from Chicago where it's miserable this time of year so we usually make the track down," Sarah Cassells said. For four years now, the Cassell Family has loaded around 15 of their horses onto caravans and headed to Venice in January. "We bring a group of about probably 12 to 15 people," Cassells said. Many of those people help work on more than 400 horses for the 8-week-long Venice Equestrian Tour which goes through till around mid-March. The Cassells, like many of the attendees, are avid riders and are competing in the various events through the tour. The event is an opportunity to partake in an event they grew up with and an opportunity to reunite with old friends and meet new people from all over the country. Award-winning rider Frank Owens of Oakwell Farms in San Antonio is participating in the event for the first time. "Over the years, I've heard a lot of really good things about it you know super friendly footing nice classes beautiful weather," he said. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/sarasotacounty/venice-equestrian-tour-sarasota/67-d04090dc-228c-41ce-a5e2-a5dcad1696c7 ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►X: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay