This time last year I was manning the USEF booth at the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show. And I have to say it was an experience like I had never had before!
I had been on a fair amount of trips with the USEF booth including on both coast of the US for Equine Affaire (Springfield, MA and Pomona, CA). In fact, I had spent 6 days in Pomona flown back to Lexington, KY for 36 hours and then hopped back on the plane to go back to the western half of the country for my booth duty in Scottsdale. I had also logged a lot of hours in the USEF merchandise booth and USEF information tents.
As well as having grown up with parents that were active competitors and having competed for many years myself, I had been to more than a few horse shows.
But what I saw at Scottsdale was unlike anything else I had ever experienced!!!
What was amazing to me was that so many people that had come to the horse show, had never been to horse show before or had ever really been interested in horses. They had heard about the show on radio spots and various other promotions and decided to come and see what it was about. Which for somebody coming from an eventing background where many of the spectators are either family or friends, with the exception of huge events like the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event that bring the masses out, it was an awesome site to see horse sports reaching such a broad and wide ranging audience.
There was also another group of die-hard fans that seemed like they had been coming to Scottsdale for years and knew all the faces, names, horses and trainers associated with this show and any and all Arabian Horse Shows. I was so interested to hear them re-hashing what had just happened in the Halter Class or English Pleasure class that had just wrapped up when I would grab a few minutes to have some lunch. It was also hugely educational for me to listen to the comments of the people around me at a few of the classes I watched.
Basically, the Scottsdale fans are SUPER Fans!