2012 Scottsdale Show Blog - 2/21

Some of the best things about the Scottsdale Arabian Show - and there are many - are seeing all your friends, meeting new people, and making new friends. As I walked around the arenas and through the vendor's retail area, I stopped for a moment as I realized that I was hearing a number of different languages ebbing and flowing as I passed the various booths; English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, Flemish, Italian, and Arabic - all these languages, all these people from around the world - all brought together because of the Arabian horse!

Later, standing together along the ringside rail at Wendell arena, I looked across at all the people watching and enjoying the show. Many people I spoke to were evaluating the horses being shown in the ring and looking at their pedigrees too. A lot of breeding decisions are yet to be made and looking at the offspring of particular stallions is a big part of the Scottsdale experience.

Although the seats were very full for most of the classes, it occurred to me that there are many more people watching the show thanks to the live feed provided by iEquine. I asked Scott Bailey, the owner of iEquine and he was able to check the statistics and provide me some amazing data. IEquine is broadcasting live feed from three arenas this year: Wendell arena has had 35,536 viewers, the Equidome has had 51,358 viewers and the Reining Arena has had 11,066 viewers. I am sure the Wells Fargo Bank Celebrity Slide held last night brought many online viewers - it was great fun! Congratulations to the winner Keith Krichke! That's more than 97,960 views of the Scottsdale show from around the world. In fact, there were people from 86 different countries watching the Scottsdale Arabian show on IEquine's live feed!

The Scottsdale Arabian Show appeals to breeders and owners everywhere and value it as a premier venue to showcase their breeding program. Al Shaqab, member of the Qatar Foundation, and one of the leading breeders in the world has sent their horses to compete at the show with Michael Byatt. Michael showed the fabulous Hariry Al Shaqab (Marwan Al Shaqab x White Silkk by Dakar El Jamaal) to a unanimous championship win in Two-Year-Old Colts of April 16-December 31. Watch for Hariry Al Shaqab when he competes for the Junior Colt Championship title on Sunday morning with Michael Byatt. We'll see you ringside at the show!!!!!