Just got back from the world’s largest horse show. It may not technically be the world’s largest, but most likely the largest one I will ever go to. Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show, or some name that sounds similar to that (which is probably like saying a Camaro is similar to a Mustang in the car world). I didn’t get to spend much time there, but after my second time to the show, I feel I have enough info to make some accurate observations.
I am just wondering, with about 2500 horses on the property, why is the primary mode of transportation a golf cart? After 5000 years of being used as basic transportation (until about a hundred years ago) you would think that people would at least use them for that at a horse show. But no, I actually saw someone hand off a horse that they had just been riding to someone else to walk next to it, while they climbed in a golf cart and rode it back to the barn. Or, better yet, the people leading a horse while riding in the golf cart.
Let’s talk about vendors; You can buy things that I didn’t even realize horses needed. What, exactly, is the purpose of a magnetic sheet? Last I checked, horses weren’t made out of iron. How about a treadmill for your horse? For those horses that want to binge watch Mr. Ed while they work out maybe? We haven’t even gotten into the things for horse people, everything from a horse doll to a new truck and trailer to haul your pony around in, special deal, just for the show. Then there are the bangles and bling. You can get anything covered in sparkly stuff, coats, hats, blankets, some of the booths looked like an Elton John concert with special guest my little pony. I even found one booth with lamps made from the tail-lights of a ’57 Chevy, this was my favorite booth, but still not sure how it relates to horses (maybe a gift for the hubby after he figured out there was one more brown horse in the pasture).
I think I have decided that the costume classes are my favorite. These are amazing, the horses and people have flowing silks, bangles, bells, colors and a multitude of looks. It is quite a spectacle. My only question is how? A lot of the horse that I have seen spook at the idea of a rabbit running across the field two paddocks away from them. How in the world to you tie a bell to its mane? And how do you get in that saddle?
Of course, being a car guy, anything with wheels is interesting. The tow rigs are nothing short of amazing. There was the standard collection of Fords and Dodges, with the occasional GMC or Chevy, but that was not surprising in the least. Now, when we have a Kenworth conventional with a twenty-five foot sleeper with a pop-out pulling a 10 horse aluminum slant trailer with its own living quarters…I guess that is when you know you have “made it” in the horse world.
Now, if I could only figure out how to get her to go a month early.
I am just wondering, with about 2500 horses on the property, why is the primary mode of transportation a golf cart? After 5000 years of being used as basic transportation (until about a hundred years ago) you would think that people would at least use them for that at a horse show. But no, I actually saw someone hand off a horse that they had just been riding to someone else to walk next to it, while they climbed in a golf cart and rode it back to the barn. Or, better yet, the people leading a horse while riding in the golf cart.
Let’s talk about vendors; You can buy things that I didn’t even realize horses needed. What, exactly, is the purpose of a magnetic sheet? Last I checked, horses weren’t made out of iron. How about a treadmill for your horse? For those horses that want to binge watch Mr. Ed while they work out maybe? We haven’t even gotten into the things for horse people, everything from a horse doll to a new truck and trailer to haul your pony around in, special deal, just for the show. Then there are the bangles and bling. You can get anything covered in sparkly stuff, coats, hats, blankets, some of the booths looked like an Elton John concert with special guest my little pony. I even found one booth with lamps made from the tail-lights of a ’57 Chevy, this was my favorite booth, but still not sure how it relates to horses (maybe a gift for the hubby after he figured out there was one more brown horse in the pasture).
I think I have decided that the costume classes are my favorite. These are amazing, the horses and people have flowing silks, bangles, bells, colors and a multitude of looks. It is quite a spectacle. My only question is how? A lot of the horse that I have seen spook at the idea of a rabbit running across the field two paddocks away from them. How in the world to you tie a bell to its mane? And how do you get in that saddle?
Of course, being a car guy, anything with wheels is interesting. The tow rigs are nothing short of amazing. There was the standard collection of Fords and Dodges, with the occasional GMC or Chevy, but that was not surprising in the least. Now, when we have a Kenworth conventional with a twenty-five foot sleeper with a pop-out pulling a 10 horse aluminum slant trailer with its own living quarters…I guess that is when you know you have “made it” in the horse world.
Now, if I could only figure out how to get her to go a month early.