Frankie Chesler-Ortiz is riding her up-and-coming five-year-old horses to the winners' circles at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida.

And by the way, the Hockley Valley-based competitor is pregnant.

Last year, they sold her Olympics-level horse, Picolien Zeleenrust, delaying her ambitions to ride in the Olympics for the moment, so she and husband, Juan Ortiz, decided that now was the time for them to have their first baby.

Bubbling over with the news, Juan told me, "We are all so happy - my parents are really excited. My sister is having a baby too. She is due a month before Frankie, at the end of July. My sister lives in Spain. So, my mother will have to go to Spain in July and then come to us in August. She has a busy year ahead."

There was so much to tell about the season in Florida that we hardly knew where to begin. The Chesler Ortiz team, Frankie and Juan, have been running their business for a couple of years now in Hockley Valley.

They bought the farm next door to the Cheslers' "Sher-al Farm". It is on Sher-al Farm that the extensive barns and teaching facilities have been built for training horses and students. Chesler and Ortiz invite talented and enthusiastic horse and pony owners to join their stables as students and clients, partly on the understanding that they will participate in at least some of the winter show season in Florida.

There are many reasons for this but, chiefly, that there are no riding competitions of note during the winter season in Canada after the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. In order for horses and riders to stay in competitive condition, they need to make the trip south for the rounds of classes there.

There are 7,000 competitors vying for prizes during the course of the festival, of which some 5,000 are competing every week. It is hard for us to picture the scene as described to me this week in a conversation with Alan Chesler and his effervescent son-in-law, Juan Ortiz.

They were talking to me on Alan's cell phone from his car as they were driving back to their Florida town houses from the golf course. The story of the experience of the Equestrian Festival bounced between them.

"It's a mad house," one of them said. Juan elaborated: "There are 14 rings going at one time," so many are the entrants to the competitions. "It's the granddaddy of horse shows."

Part of the craziness, of course, is the money involved. Said Alan, "It costs $8,800 to get two seats in the Jockey Club for the season to watch the events."

More to the point is the value of the "farms." In many ways, Alan himself started this ball rolling. Years ago, he bought a property which he developed as an equine condominium resort, as it were. He built a collection of stables, combined with adequate accommodations for grooms. There was a private training ring, some small paddocks, not a lot of land, say four or five acres.

In the interim, many of these farms have been developed, bringing the value of land in the immediate vicinity to staggering figures. A five acre place with unbelievably luxurious suites for horses - no houses, just fabulous stabling, etc. - sold for as much as $16 million (US).

In the face of this extravagant expense, Frankie and Juan do everything to make the trip feasible for their clients. This year, they have sixteen horses and five students/clients involved with the Florida scene.

Some of their clients stay in Florida for extended periods; others come and go, according to their work schedule, for a week at a time, as a flight to Florida can cost as little as $100. One person might rent a house and share it with others, while Juan has discovered a charming and reasonable hotel within minutes of the festival grounds.

Naturally, the Chesler- Ortiz team takes care of the horses. They have rented private stabling, 25 stalls, with their own training ring and every necessity. Their routine is to work with their students with daily lessons. On the weekends, the students ride in the shows, learning how to compete in big, bustling competition rings.

"Our clients are having the time of their lives - they're so happy to be here," Juan enthused. "They can't believe their eyes - really you have to see how things are down here to describe it."

Meanwhile, Frankie is very well, feeling a little sick in the mornings and tired by nightfall, all of which is perfectly normal. As always, though, she is in her element and riding to win. Juan commented that she has begun to have some cravings. And he doesn't mind whether the baby is "Daddy's girl" or "Daddy's boy."

In fact, in every respect, according to Juan, their whole situation "is heaven."

For a punch line, Alan told me that while they were playing golf that day, one of the players, in searching for his golf ball near a water hazard, came within a few feet of a 14- foot alligator.

Perhaps, heaven could be a crazy place.