This weekend I had was able to attend the Longines Masters show in Los Angeles for a couple days. I've known about the event for a few months, but hemmed and hawed about going because of the cost, finding people to go with, etc etc. However, about a month ago I won a pair of tickets from a horse publication. That pretty much sealed the deal-I was dying to get down there!
I wrangled a couple friends who at this point wouldn't mind doing the drive with me, we worked out a free hotel thanks to one of my friend's hotel points, and decided that we would cram as much horse time in a whirlwind 48 hours.
Thankfully the drive went pretty painlessly. No traffic out of Sacramento, and the traffic once we hit LA was minimal. Made it down with plenty of time to shower, get ready, and head over to the show to check out the vendors before watching the first class.
There is a lot to say about this show, so I'll just start with the amazing and the good.
The Amazing:
I think this goes without saying but DAMN. The caliber of the rider and horse at this show is top notch. They allowed 2* riders to show (for a hefty sum) but even those people were some of the best ammys and pros in the US. As for the 5* riders (the Masters riders) that kind of goes without saying. The top riders IN THE WORLD with their TOP horses. This wasn't a second string horse type of show. People brought their "A" horses. I got to see Cristallo, Blue Angel, Willow, Zavall, Simon and Cos I Can, just to name a few. To see these horse and rider combinations in the flesh after only watching them on internet live feeds is an experience I will never forget. I mean at a couple points in time when I was watching the riders warm up, I could have reached out and touched them. It was pretty amazing.
On top of that, the riders were pretty accessible. They walked around the venue just like everyone else. In fact, I encountered Mclain Ward as I was leaving my seat the first night. I might have geeked out a bit and tried to be all sneaky to take a pic, but he totally caught me and said it was fine to take a picture with him. So I did. I admit to being a total dork but whatever! It was very very cool. I also was standing literally right behind Reed Kessler and we rode the escalator down after the show. She may not have the nicest reputation, but I will say she is very pretty in person and just seems kind of normal. I wanted to say hello but it was after her not so great ride in the GP class on the last day so used my better judgement and just smiled.
Also amazing was the venue. The convention center was totally transformed. Beautiful styling everywhere, along with a nicely thought out warm up ring in the center of the lobby area (so everyone could watch), plenty of seating, and a gorgeous arena. Parking was easy, access to everything was easy and even for being such a "fancy" show with many millions of dollars of horseflesh, everyone working was pretty easy going. Backpacks didn't get checked, we didn't get hassled for bringing in outside food or taking lots of pictures. It was a good mix of fairly casual people, and then people dressed to the nines (VIPs).
Speaking of people being dressed to the nine...SO MANY CELEBRITIES! I try not to geek out about celebrities but sometimes you just can't help it.
The Good:
Food and drink was fantastic, but has been deemed only good because of the prices. I understand why it was all so expensive but the second day I went to have a mimosa and it was $20! I almost choked. Still delicious and the bartender was super generous (poured a full glass of champagne, let me drink quite a bit of it, topped it off again and then added the OJ) but man...that's more than what I pay for umlimited at brunch.
Shopping also fell under the good. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as amazing as I thought it would be. Vendor space was pretty limited, but everything except maybe one vendor was stuff I would see/find at any horse show in my area. The highlight was the D'yon booth. Huge with tons of beautiful leather goods. They ended up giving a deal to us on a couple of cute little crossbody purses and I bought a pair of lined spur straps that were very affordable. I did see a couple of other things I *could* have bought but I resisted since I think the shopping will be better at the Penn National show I'm going to in a few weeks.
Next post will be on some of the crazy/interesting observations I made, as well as the bad!
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