what happens in scottsdale

So, we head down to the Scottsdale All-Arabian show on Friday, and it's great, as usual. Good vendors, lovely fillies and colts:


Some deep quality in the under-saddle classes:


Adorable children in the Leadline classes:

Artery-clogging horse show food (....mmmmm....faLAfel........):

But we soon discovered that our primary raison d'etre at Scottsdale was to be the entourage for a certain celebrity. No, I'm not talking about Brit-Brit. It's someone MUCH more of the moment:

Dude. Seriously? Maiden and I couldn't walk more than ten paces without hearing that telltale "AAAAAAAAWWWWWWIsthataBoxer?Howoldisshe?She'sSOOOOOOOOCUUUUUUUUTE."

Show management was really on top of things this year, too. They apparently knew Belle would be coming down from the high country, because they provided her with her own, private facilities:

It's too bad I'm so prejudiced against pit bulls and that I'm totally impervious to puppy breath and warm puppy bellies. Because here's what faced me the next morning in my hotel room bed:

Hey, Belle? Just remember: What happens in Scottsdale stays in Scottsdale. We can keep this between us, right?

'Cause, you know. I got a rep to protect.

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'tude tuesday: february feast

Spring is next month! Spring is next month! Spring is next month!

I've been waiting since November to say that, like so many other folks I know scattered hither and yon. Imagine my excitement when it's actually March. Talk about attitude at altitude!

I'm fond of February for several reasons. Not only is it the last full month of winter, but it's the month of Love - of hearts and flowers and Be Mines. And, of course, there's also Mama Love.

It's also the month when the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show hits the Valley of the Sun. I'm looking forward to a little Phoenix fun in just a matter of days now. Scottsdale always presents some great opportunities for shopping (mainly of the window variety in this economy), feasting (horse show falafel...yummmmm), people watching and thawing out. Not to mention the fun of watching all the pretty horses.

Gotta earn the trip, though, so it's back to work for me.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

bloodlines on the brain

My friend April and I headed down to the annual Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show last Friday morning. April's grandparents were well-known Arabian breeders in the Pacific Northwest, so she got to spend her summers on their ranch growing up. She also bought one of our horses last year, so this was a good chance for her to get to see some of his relatives. I haven't been this excited about going to Scottsdale since I showed my gelding Zzari there a decade ago. I was also kid-less back then, so I had no idea how rejuvenating a couple of days of solid "girl time" could be. I think I can speak for April when I say we had a blast.

We got to see a nice Prix St. George dressage performance that first evening. This boy's tempi changes and extended trot were lovely, though I couldn't quite figure out how to get my camera to behave in that night-time, fluorescent Equidome lighting.

On day two, this volunteer from a Phoenix wild animal sanctuary was there in one of the exhibitor tents with her friend:

The outside warm-up arena between the Equidome and Wendell were full of action. It's my favorite place to evaluate the horses and riders because they're not trying to put on a pretty performance for the judges. This stallion really caught my eye (and April's, too). When I asked about his bloodlines, the trainer told me he was Russian and Spanish. It figures. That explains both the substance and the pretty. April's gelding is the product of our *Nariadni daughter (now, sadly, deceased) bred to the great *Muscat son, Mussiah. My husband and I love those Howard Kale/Taylor Ranch Russian bloodlines. I've never owned or bred Spanish lines, but I've long admired them from afar. In my opinion, you can't top mares like Estopa for beauty, or stallions like Gual Kubesi for exotic masculinity. I'd like to get back into the horse-breeding game someday, but not yet.

As the sun was going down, this rider had the covered warm-up practically to himself.

Here's the Wendell in-gate at the start of one of the Western Pleasure semi-finals. You can see the judges standing in the middle, awaiting their victims.

And here's a happy Native Costume champion just after her victory pass.

Don't even get me started on the food at Scottsdale. I meant to have a falafel at some point, but never got around to it. Instead, I had some awesome, spicy Thai noodles with chicken; some Miss Karen's frozen yogurt in a waffle cone (that's a required tradition); and, at the Shada barn party, a reeeeeeaaaaaallllly yummy pork sandwich with Hollandaise sauce, plus sourdough/cream cheese and cucumber/shrimp appetizers. Yeah, I'll add some minutes on to my next prairie run.

Scottsdale is also a great place to find romance. Case in point:

Her name is Marissa, and she's not even a year old yet. She is sired by an up-and-coming *Nariadni son out of a *Muscat daughter. Bred by Taylor Ranch, of course.

Did I mention that I love her?

Now I just need to go dig around under the couch cushions to find that spare $20,000 in change that has no doubt collected there.

As the husband said when I told him about Marissa, "Hey, she costs a lot less than a new F-350 Powerstroke." Oh, had he been with us, he would have been a GONER, I tell ya. It would have taken him only one moment of scritching her behind the ears and seeing her big eyes go all half-closed and dreamy, and that would have been all she wrote. We'd have a new filly in the pasture this morning, and credit card bills out the yazoo. But can you just look at this face for a moment? What's crushing debt compared to something like this? Plus, there's filly breath to take into consideration, which everyone knows is priceless.

And speaking of nice things to look at, where there are cow butts...

...you'll also find these:


So, while I was capturing the scenery, April was snickering and capturing ME:

Its a good thing I have one of these at home. That's all I'm going to say about THAT.

My overall impressions of the show? It was first-class all the way. The exhibitors and horses seemed happier in general than I've noticed in years past, with very few exceptions. The vendors seemed happy, too, which doesn't surprise me, since the tents were quite packed both days we were down there.

Judging by the "for sale" fliers tacked up on every available wall and bulletin board, the Arabian market looks like it's in a fairly healthy place right now. Nice horses certainly aren't being given away, but you don't see exorbitant price tags on green horses of questionable quality, which has been the case in the not-too-distant past. April was bugged by the greasy shaved faces, especially on the halter horses, but that's been going on for decades now. Overuse of whips in the halter arena and spurs/rein-jerking in the performance arenas was practically non-existent as far as I could see, and that is a wonderful development.

The weather down in the valley was quite blustery the first day, but considering the fact that we drove through a near-blizzard to get down the mountain, it didn't seem that bad. Saturday's weather couldn't have been much more gorgeous, which is another reason it's such a treat for us high-altitude folks to head to Scottsdale in February. I missed having my man there with me, since some of our best times are Scottsdale/Arabian/horse-related, but let me tell ya: There's no WAY he would have wanted to stop and ogle the pretty jewelry and clothes on display the way April and I did. I'm hoping she'll post a comment with some of her impressions, too.

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