The Arabian National Breeder Finals is happening this week in Scottsdale. It features competition horses from all over the world, Brazil, Belgium, Europe, the Middle East and across the country. But, Scottsdale is a mecca for the sport.
You’ve probably heard of the bigger Arabian Horse Show that happens there every spring. The Breeder’s Finals features horses shown in hand and ridden, celebrating the centuries-old breed.
Austin Garrett, managing partner at MNS Farms in Cave Creek, has spent his entire life in the world of Arabian horses. Though, Garrett did try a more traditional career path before beginning to buy and breed his own horses a decade ago. He’ll be showing six different horses at the Breeder Finals. His chestnut filly, Aloara AG, won the Scottsdale Signature Stallion Auction Championship earlier this year.
Garrett joined The Show to talk about the world of Arabian horse breeding and what the competition looks like.
Full conversation
AUSTIN GARRETT: Arabian National Breeders Finals, I tend to call it just the Breeders Finals, is going strong and it's going to include horses that are shown both in hand and being ridden. And I like to compare the, the in hand horses to, to like showing dogs. If you've ever watched Westminster on TV. It's a lot like that just with a much larger dog.
LAUREN GILGER: So you mentioned dog shows, which is kind of what I would think of initially when I thought of what this might look like, right. But you said there's also people riding horses, is that more like dressage? Like what we saw at the Olympics at Versailles?
GARRETT: Not so much dressage. While Arabian horses do compete in dressage events,, none of that's going to be featured here. So we have what are called performance classes, which tend to harken back to olden times the way that you might have seen something written. So if you think about like the wild West, we've got horses that are ridden by folks dressed up like cowboys and in the hat, in the chaps and everything like that.
All the way to, if you go back like the English aristocracy, what we call saddle seat horses that are ridden with a coat and tails that are big, high stepping, high energy kind of horses. As well as horses that tend to hearken back to, to fox hunting. So there's all different styles of this.
GILGER: So one, yeah, one question I have when I, when I've read about these shows and when you, when you have the bigger Arabian horse show, like you said in February is why Arabian horses, like I think we kind of might understand what a horse show looks like or you know what a horse competition was, but why, why Arabians?
GARRETT: Yeah. For me, I can tell you personally, Arabians are incredibly smart, they are incredibly loyal, kind. I, I have never seen a horse interact with a person the way they do and their beauty and the way that they present themselves is unique and it just, it can really blow your mind.
I, you know, personally find myself in those special situations where I get goose bumps and that is such a, such a strong feeling for me and something that is, that has brought me into this space and certainly kept me there.
GILGER: So let's talk about your role as the breeder and handler, right? Do you ride the horses?
GARRETT: I do but not very well. And so you won't see me in competition.
GILGER: OK. And you got into this sort of after, you know, a regular career, it sounds like, like working as a program manager at Amazon, right? Like, how did you make this your full time job?
GARRETT: Yeah, absolutely, you know, I've, I've had a, a fulfilling professional career and I've been able to transition into breeding and, and showing a ton of horses, which has just been a huge passion of mine for a long time.
I come from a family that's been involved in Arabian horses for four generations. And so I was, I was kind of born into it but, but I took a chance to go and, and have a quote unquote real job before I started spending a lot of time in this space.
GILGER: That's so interesting. So, talk about your family a little bit. How were you involved in this as a kid? Like, what are your memories of it?
GARRETT: My, my great-grandparents on my dad's side, and my grandparents on my mom's side were both heavily involved back in the ‘60s and ‘70s when some of this stuff was just getting started. And as I was growing up, you know, I was in those households, I'd go and see grandma and grandpa and go down to spend some time with their horses.
And then my, both of my parents were professional horse trainers and they lived and breathed the horse. And so I was able to kind of grow up in that space. It was something that when I was a kid, I kind of felt like it was a chore. That wasn't necessarily something that I, I was in love with or passionate about.
But when I was 12 or 13, I came to really fall in love with it and understand where that came from. And I started showing horses when I was about 14 years old. And now I've been fortunate enough to be doing that for quite a long time.
GILGER: So talk about the breeding process. I mean, like, how do you make sure that you get the best horse out of it? We talk about dog breeding a little bit, but like, what does it look like when it comes to Arabian horses?
GARRETT: You know, Arabian horses are one of the oldest, if not the oldest set of bloodlines that have been continuously recorded, it goes all the way back, hence the name back to the Arabian Peninsula. Out in the desert where you would have these war bands of Bedouin folks that were literally living with these horses.
We're able to record these horses all the way back to that, to that point. So with that much knowledge and that much in our, in our back pocket of being able to know and see, we've been able to understand kind of what certain combinations of bloodlines will do, what we're going to, to potentially get out of something.
Of course, you're, you're rolling the dice no matter what, you never necessarily know what's going to happen. Nature is going to do its own thing, but you do your best to identify a horse that's going to be good at what you're, what you're looking for it to do, whether that's continuing to be a breeding animal and showing in hand or potentially something that's more specialized to be ridden in our performance classes. There are a lot of specific bloodlines that are, that lend themselves to showing in our saddle seat classes or showing in our Western classes.
GILGER: It's fascinating. It's like a glimpse into this entire world I don't know anything about. I love that. So I want to know lastly what you love about this. Like you have this, you know, award winning championship horse, Aloara AG, right? Like what do you, what do you love about, about that horse?
GARRETT: Yeah, for me, it's a passion that brings excitement. There's so much that's happening out there in the arena in real time. It's incredibly fun to watch and it's incredibly fun to be a part of. When I'm out there with a horse like mine, it, it almost feels like a dance to be out there to get a chance to, to work together. And I've built this bond with the horse that has been incredibly fulfilling for me.
And that's what I found continues to be a foundation not only for me but many other people who, who are involved with these horses, they're, they're incredibly smart and I don't know if we give them enough credit for how smart they are, how much they can feel what you're feeling.
It's almost like working with an empath every day who can really feel exactly how you're feeling and your energies can certainly be shared between each other and it's a really special connection that's created there.
