Thousands of people came to Tulsa this week for the U.S. National Arabian and Half-Arabian Horse Show. It’s the most prestigious Arabian horse show in North America and brings thousands of visitors to Tulsa every year. The estimated economic impact of the show is around $34 million.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
“We’ve been here a lot of years in Tulsa, and we love Tulsa very, very much,” said Stan Morey, the Executive Director of the Arabian Horse Association. “Tulsa has always been good to us. We have a really good relationship with the Chamber of Commerce, the CBB, hotels, motels.”
ABOUT THE BREED
The Arabian breed is known for its versatility, and excels in everything from English and Western riding, to jumping and racing.
“A lot of horses are only bred to do one discipline,” said Morey. “This horse can handle a lot of different disciplines, from English to Western to over the fences to racing. Arabians are bred and raced all over the world, so they do very well.”
ATTENDANCE FOR THE SHOW
Fans came from all over to attend the show, including Canada and New Zealand. Planning for the event started last December.
“Well, we’ll start again. We’ll have our first strategy meeting, if you will, the first part of December, and starting from there. But it goes on all year long. We have a show commission that meets, and they all work tirelessly. As far as trying to put this thing together, it is, I have probably 120 people here and staff and contracted people,” said Morey…