THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Arabian horses.  Rode one once, the spirit of their souls and vibrancy of their attitude appealed to me.  It was many years ago, but, the memory of that horse is vivid.

I kept seeing this Arabian horse show advertised on the local telie stations and mentioned it to Man. After a bit of discussion, we decided to drive over to Scottsdale.

After a breakfast out, we drove over, not in a particular hurry, we were just going to go, see whatever, enjoy it, and call it a day.  Perfect.  We arrived in time to see these 13 year olds (and younger) compete in the Arabian Country English Pleasure class.

These two riders were from another group, I believe the same, but 14 to 18 year olds.

You can see these are magnificent animals.  After the 13 and under group there was a short break.  Next up was the Half-Arabian/Anglo-Arabian Mounted Native Costume class.  Well, I had no idea what that was, but, I knew that native costume stuff sounded very special!  And, indeed, special it was!  The native costume class celebrates the deep relationship of the Arabian horse and the Bedouins of Africa.

A bit of back story, Man and I spent about 1.5 years in Morocco.  We are familiar with the Bedouins.  There was the wedding ceremony we attended - - but, really, now, I am digressing too much.  Back to Scottsdale - -

The costumes and horses were gorgeous, stunning, breathtaking.  (Nope, my photos don't do justice, you would need to see this in movement to really appreciate the beauty.)

The moment the first rider rode into the arena Man and I were enthralled.  The class could have stayed in the ring for hours and we would never have had enough.  How we enjoyed this.  Lots of bling here, I cannot imagine what these costumes must cost.

Enjoy the beautiful costumes and horses. I know Man and I did.

We felt we had seen the best part of the day, so, we went and found some lunch, walked around looking at other arenas, horses, and the vendors.  Oh, MY, the vendors.  Their goods were exquisite.  Now, I have been to a dog show or two in my time, but, let me tell you, dog show vendors cannot even compare to the quality and expensive stuff these horse show vendors were selling (well, Westminster might come close. LOL).  You know, there are just a few times in life when you wish you had a bottomless pocketbook full of $$$$$$$$.  HAHA, this was one of them.

So, I sighed a bit, drooled (carefully, so as not to ruin the merchandise) and after several enjoyable hours we headed back to Tana.  I was most anxious to look at my photos.

A special day, perfectly timed by default.  Ya, that worked!




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