Monday, November 9, 2009

Arabian U.S. Nationals

The U.S. Nationals ranks as the most prestigious North American championship in the Arabian show horse industry. It is 1,506 miles from Kuna, Idaho to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The driving time on that trip is about 24 hours. The Tulsa Expo Center is one of the grandest show grounds I have ever been to. At first I was discouraged being stalled all the way in the "who the hell are you" stalls, but after a few days of freezing temperatures I thought our massive enclosed barn with heaters was pretty nice. Nathan showed his stallion, Nobles Top Gun, in the Arabian Reining Futurity. There were two runs and they took the composite score from both runs and Nathan was Reserve National Champion. It was one of the most proud moments of my entire life. And one of the few times I have actually seen Nathan get excited about winning.


In order to kill some downtime during our week at the show I checked out the Oklahoma Aquarium. It was a good way to burn a couple hours. The Aquarium was complete with giant bull sharks (the biggest one in captivity), cute little turtles, big ugly turtles, clown fish, big ugly fish, and otters.

No comments: