We spent yesterday at the 55th Annual Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show. If you have never been to this, or have never heard about it, it is the largest show of its kind. Imagine a mini city that springs up around thousands of Arabian horses. Vendors come from all over with all sorts of things to sell, from trucks and trailers to clothing and jewelry. You don't even need to own a Arab to appreciate this event. Aaron and I have been going to it since we started dating, and last year we brought Sam for the first time. Of course, any event we can bring Sam along makes it even better!
The event last for nearly two weeks. All through the day horses are being shown in four separate rings. The events include equitation, dressage, reining, halter classes... the list goes on.
Aaron likes to call it the Scottsdale Horse and Golf Cart Show. Golf carts are available for rental - the show is held at Westworld and there is a lot of ground to cover. Some of the bigger barns bring their own, but everyone seems to have one of these. We think that there may be as many golf carts as horses at the event. Maybe even more!
We think Sam really likes to watch the contestants. We like to pick out which horse and rider we think is best, and then see who the judges picked.
"
Hmmm... That one has excellent form..."
Of course, Sam also noticed two Standard Poodles at the event and spent a lot of his time looking for them and trying to act very cool when they were around.
This one seemed to really like him, although she did bark at him at first.
This one was dressed for the occasion - even her nails were painted.
Of course, there was tons of shopping to do - or "window" shopping in our case. They set up two huge white tents full of vendors. It is fun to walk through and look at everything! Sam's Mom had her eyes on a set of really pretty stirrups...
Hey, Mom? What about the Sam? When does Sam get something?
...although she also wanted this tractor to drag the home arena. Aaron pointed out that it wouldn't even fit through the gate...
One thing that is fun to look at is the decorations the big barns put up. They design patios and porches with lots of live plants to distinguish their barns from others. Of course, their horses are advertised on these false fronts. This was one of our favorites. Some of the stables actually haul this stuff with them, which is quite an endeavour considering a lot of these folks are from the east.
We had a really good day together, although by the end of the day we were all very tired. Sam had a wonderful day - he got lots of attention from people and lots of treats.
We don't have the heart to tell him he smells a little bit horsey and is very dusty and has a bath in his imminent future...
I remember well what happened when last that orb shone brightly across the desert…and the horror that followed.
