SCOTTSDALE HALTER DIVISIONS 2019
Dickens said it best; “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of cold and rain, it was the epoch of mud …” Well, Dickens didn’t quite say exactly that, but it pretty much sums up Scottsdale 2019.
The international halter classes are always held in the Aljassimya arena adjacent to the Equidome, which means indoors, for which I’m sure all the exhibitors were extremely grateful. Instead of the usual short sleeve shirts, sunglasses, and ball caps, it was puffy jackets, scarfs, and wooly hats, as the coldest, wettest and muddiest Scottsdale of recent memory commenced.
*SULTAN GK
A literal dark horse came in out of the rain to cause a huge stir at Scottsdale this year. *Sultan GK (WW Stivallea x Al Magna by Al Mabrook), owned by Al Babtain Stud of Kuwait, was unknown in the U.S. and unannounced before heading out into the rain for his halter class.
“*Sultan GK came over from Europe and was in quarantine here until one week before Scottsdale,” says Andy Sellman. “I thought there was absolutely no way we could show him, given that time frame. But we thought we might as well start working with him and see what we think in a week. He actually was doing really well, so we decided to go ahead and show. There were some good stallions in his class, so if we weren’t very high up, I wasn’t going to feel bad. It was really a nopressure situation.
“When *Sultan GK came into our barn from quarantine, I had a reaction like I have never had with any other horse. Looking at him for the first time, I couldn’t really process him all at once. He is very big. He has an extremely typey head. His neck is unbelievable — not only extremely long, but extremely hooky. And he can use it. His tail and head go up instantly at the same time — he is full of charisma. He has good feet and legs. I just couldn’t process all of this being in one horse in the moment. And the thing is, even now —
