Arizona All Breed Circuit Strikes Gold!

EC Blog by: Shelley McKay

This past weekend, I attended The Goldmine Circuit, a four-day, three-judge horse show, here in Arizona that was held in the Equidome at WestWorld. This is the second year I’ve attended, and it’s grown tremendously (50+ more horses just this year) and even more over its four year existence.

Carolyn Dobbins is the creator, show manager, vendor, awards coordinator, etc. of this amazing four-day All Breed/Open show. She does all of this because of her overwhelming dedication to promoting horse showing in a “back to basics” atmosphere.

This same atmosphere is what started people showing horses many years ago and was somewhat forgotten as the economy grew and horse show numbers increased. Many of us were caught up in the wave of who’s winning, who had the pricey horse, and who was chasing the point standings for year-end awards. Now that we have all felt the impact of the economy, this refreshing event takes us back to a place of humbleness, enjoyment, and a true family friendly atmosphere.

This is a show that reminds us of the “why” – why we started showing horses in the first place, why we had fun at horse shows, and why we wanted to come back year after year. It’s a show that has decided it’s best to take care of its exhibitors, trainers, and supporters.

This show is open to all breeds and it showed with Paint Horses, Quarter Horses, Appaloosas and POAs attending. All of these breed registries have their own formats and programs but we don’t get together to show, except at perhaps an event like the Pinto World Show. All of these breeds help make horse shows happen, so what a great way to have them all together? It allows us to make new friends with people we might have never met.

Here are a few stats from the show:

• Approximately 200 horses attended
• Over 1,000 entries
• 147 trail runs
• 69 entries in one class alone! A walk/jog all ages class gave away a show saddle to a lucky exhibitor. There were four cuts, two semi-finals, and a finals!
• A selfie photo booth
• Great vendors
• Exhibitors’ party
• 13 saddles given away
• Endless awards such as embroidered jackets, silver show halters, silver headstalls, Maytex show pads, blankets, coolers, and a treasure chest that contained up to $100 cash!
• Six sweepstakes classes
• Awards for 1st – 10th place
• All awards for saddles, cash, etc. were given out at random.
• Proceeds supported the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

Be sure to check out this event on Facebook or on thegoldminecircuit.com to see even more fun photos.