Silver Dollar Blog #4- Maintaining Horses For the Silver Dollar/Sun Circuit Marathon
Blog #5- That’s A Wrap!
As the Silver Dollar comes to an end, the focus turns to preparation for Sun Circuit. Silver Dollar and Sun Circuit worked together to ensure the schedules were an easy transition from one show to the next. Accommodating horses for an additional night at the South Point facility until stalls were available at the Sun Circuit allowed exhibitors and horses to move seamlessly from one show to the other. The date changes have had a positive impact on both shows with entries at the Silver Dollar at an all-time high and pre-entries for the Sun Circuit up.
Trainers heading from Silver Dollar to Sun Circuit made a few changes to their typical prep to ensure their horses and clients were at their best for both shows. Leslie Lange had a successful Silver Dollar, while ensuring she still had enough horse left for Sun Circuit.
“With Silver Dollar being back-to-back with the Sun Circuit; I think I had my horses a little less tired when I got here, so they were a little fresh, but they showed well. Keeping in mind that we’re going from here, then three days off, and then another eight days, we didn’t necessarily try and peak them for this, but have them prepared, but not over-prepared. So really, we didn’t do a lot different but maybe just a little less tired upon arrival.”
Ryan Kail agreed with Lange, “We’re backing off a little bit knowing we have 10 days left at Sun Circuit in Scottsdale. We’re actually trying to show them a little fresher, which worked to our advantage here. We’ve had a really good show.”
Karen Graham joked that her secret to keeping her non-pros happy for the duration was to give them alcohol! “For the horses, I didn’t longe them, tried to put little rides on them, keep them happy, and provided lots of shavings and lots of food.”
Keith McDonough from Palm Desert Quarter Horses noted that more of his customers were “looking forward to doing both shows. It’s 12-13 hours for us to come here and then another six to Scottsdale, but our clients are really excited to put them together. They love the facility here and hopefully the weather will be good in Scottsdale, so we’re looking forward to two great horse shows in a row.”
As the tack rooms are cleaned out and horses loaded to head south to Scottsdale, the sentiment remains that this show is making its mark on its exhibitors as something they will not miss next year.
Blog #4- Simply The Best
Although entries have yet to be tabulated, consensus seems to be unanimous among exhibitors that this Silver Dollar has been the best yet! Entries are higher, the schedule has been efficient, and the energy and morale of the show has been fantastic. One of the show’s favorites, Leslie Lange, speaks about how the changes have benefitted the show.
“My favorite thing about the Silver Dollar this year was the class size. We had great class sizes top to bottom across Halter, Ranch Riding, and Western Pleasure. I mean top to bottom the class size was excellent. In Western Riding, last year, we had around 100. This year, we had 140, so the classes have gotten significantly bigger, yet the horse show has managed to schedule the classes so that we’re done by 6 or 7 at night so that we can go enjoy the amenities that South Point has to offer.”
Ryan Kail agrees with Lange,”The South Point this year, as always, is a great facility, and I like the schedule where the non pros and open are separated, because it allows us to have fresher horses shown in the open as opposed to showing everything in one day.”
Karen Graham mirrored those sentiments. “I thought the entire schedule was great. The classes got done early and they were big and tough, but everyone had a great time. I thought the demeanor of the whole show was fun.”
With the days finishing around 6:00 pm, the South Point restaurants, casino, bowling alley, and more filled up with Silver Dollar competitors. The fun and energy rippled through the show. This is why we call the Silver Dollar circuit a “horse show vacation!”
