Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show Part 1

Hi Everyone

One of my favorite things to do is see this wonderful show. We used to own an arabian horse farm in Ohio many years ago and my love of Arabians is a passion. In fact, Cinnamon, my 20 year old arabian mare, graces our lives--all for the better.

This year, we tried to go to different events rather than attend the same ones as last year. I have several blogs on the 2007 Scottsdale Arabian Show up on my blog--just look in the February area and you'll find them.

Since the last show, I bought a Nikon D-80 because my Nikon D-70 broke and had to be repaired. And then, it broke again--same thing--Nikon did not repair it correctly the first time--and I was without a camera (arghhhhhh). I ended up buying the next model, the D-80. I finally got the D-70 back a day before we left for the show down in Scottsdale, AZ (Phoenix area). I gave Dave the D-70 with a 35mm to 200mm lens and I took the D-80 with the 300mm lens. He's just as good at photography as I am in composition. I have to set the settings on the camera, however because he refuses to learn how to do it.

The D-80 has a small card--the SD card versus the larger compact flash that the D-70 uses. I got in trouble with my 4GB San Disk in the D-80. It STOPPED taking photos about 100 pictures in. And so, all the rest that I shot--are gone. I was devastated when I found this out after I got home. I'm really angry about this and have to do a bunch of research to find out WHY a 4 gb card isn't going to work in the D-80. I had a SanDisk 2gb SD card in my D-80 and it worked fine.

Luckily, Dave had been shooting the same classes as I did. I lost all my jumping classes but he shot enough, thank goodness.

I'm glad I tried the D-80 out with the SanDisk 4GB at this show--instead of being somewhere, like a national park, and shooting wildlife--and then losing 2/3rds of my shots. I'd have just died if that had happened. So, it was a good thing it was a local event and Dave had covered with the D-70 on the same classes. You will be seeing Dave's work as a result and I know you won't be displeased. In fact, he shot the funniest photo of them all--but I'm leaving that beauty for the last blog on these parts for the Scottsdale Arabian horse show :-)).

So, without further adieu, let's begin our blogs on the horse show with the senior stallions class (purebred arab).


I'm sorry, but I tried to find out the names of these aged stallion class--but couldn't find them anywhere. I even bought the show catalog--and it's not in there, either. So, with that apology,let's move on. In a halter class like this, it's important that the horse know how to 'pose' and this is a good example of 'posing.'


And of course, they're supposed to stretch their necks, lift their heads to 'accent' themselves so the judges can see how beautiful they are.


Now, this isn't smart in my opinion....but they do it all the time....when stallions get together in the ring they usually keep them FAR apart. Why? Because stallions are territorial and if they think they're personal turf is being invaded by a strange stallion--they will fight. Here, I caught a couple of trainers letting their studs get real close to one another. What happened was the one on the left squealed, leaped around and wanted to fight. I don't know the logic of this--to me it's complete idiocy because you have a thousand pounds of horse and tiny, teeny halter lead and that's IT. They'll jump to the defense that their stud is controllable and is well mannered. But you know what? I owned arab studs and you can't trust them. They be sweet as pie but you get them into an arena with others stallions and if you're aren't aware and on top of things--there can be a fight. To me, this is photo shows what NOT to do.


This was an interesting one. This gray arabian stallion, if you look at his eye--they have shaved around it and downward, like a 'teardrop'. I don't know why. I see it's becoming the fashion to shave around a horse's eye--I suppose to make it look larger than it is--but really, Arabians have the largest eyes or at least they stand out in their dished faces more--than most breeds. So, why do this? When I first saw this on this stud, I thought: how ODD. To me, it does NOT enhance the horse's face in any way but make it look grotesque.


This is Odyssey SC, and he eventually won the championship. Nice looking animal. The trainer looks like he could do more running and lose some weight. I swear, I don't know what it is--but some trainers are really over weight and you see them out their running these halter horses--and you worry that they're going to drop dead out on the spot with a heart attack--because of the weight issues.


And here's Odyssey--a close shot--the trainer smoothing down his mane. There was a nice, easy relationship between this horse and his handler. He didn't have to 'threaten' him with a whip--the horse knew his stuff and peformed flawlessly. All three judges had him as number one on their cards--so from a conformation standpoint, this horse had it all.

And here's a nice shot of Odyssey SC trotting.


This is my favorite photograph of this class--the gray's mane flying outward. Of course, the 'teardrop' shaving around this stud's eyes really takes away from the beauty of this Arabian in my personal opinion.


After the showing and the judges are deciding who has won, the halter horses gather in one end of the ring to wait for the announcements.


And here is Odyssey SC with his trainer receiving a well earned championship award. Notice the woman that is standing slightly to the left of the horse? You see what she has in her hand? It's a whip with a group of pink ribbons on the end of it. The official photog for the class wants a nice photo with the horse's ears up and looking alert. This woman waves the fuzzies around and the horse pricks up his ears and voila! A good camera op for the stud occurs.


I'm not sure which arabian stallion head shot this is....might be Odyssey, but I'm not sure. That aside, you can really appreciate the 'dished' face that all Arabians possess to either an extreme or almost non-existent degree--depending upon breeding. Also, all that 'shiny' stuff on the horse's muzzle? That's baby oil. Everyone 'oils' up the horse from head to toe. I think it's a bit much...but hey, that's me. Natural is best but then, these horses get shoe polish on their hooves, oiled up one side and down the other, shaved, primped, prepped to sometimes, almost a ridiculous degree. I love the natural look of an Arabian without all these added esthetics.


The next class was yearling geldings, I believe. This little guy, about a year old, is quite nice looking considering how young he is. I'm a sucker for a horse with four white socks and a wide blaze, anyway, and this little one has it.


Here is a nice headshot of a gelding going into that competition.


And here is Dave taking a photo of an interesting 'specimen' with the Nikon D-70


This Arab is wearing a neoprene head/neck 'sweater'--it's made of rubber and it makes the horse sweat off any extra 'fat' so that their neck, jawline, ect., are sleek, long and nice looking. This one happens to have zebra striping on the neoprene and Dave liked that. At first, when I looked at the arab I thought it was painted on his skin! Fortunately, it was not :-)


Here's a typical look at the horse show--horses, grooms, people wandering around and the indoor and outdoor arenas where classes are going on. It's a laid-back atmosphere and the many of the women are really duded up with glittering rhinestone belts, cowboy hats and so on. It's a fun horsey fashion show for the two leggeds--but there is no champtionship trophy to be given away :-)))


There are rows and rows of box stalls with fancy tents that trumpet the horse farm or breeding facility around it. Also, folks put out their ribbons to show how many they have won with their horses while at the show.


Here's one, McDonalds. You can see one championship ribbon, three reserve champ ribbons and the teal colored ones are all Top Ten award ribbons. The horses they breed are obviously doing quite well at this show

Well, that's it for part 1!! Stick around for part 2 when I get time to get it up in the weblog :-)

In Spirit....Eileen