The National Celebration for the Pure Spanish Horse

. It is a very tough economy from high unemployment rates, to stores closing, to cheap hotel rates, to conventions canceling coming to Las Vegas.  Things are defiantly challenging, and it is a challenge to make ends meet. 

As photographer, it is even tougher than it was before.  Clients are watching their dollars and shopping around.  Studio time is widely available, but, the cost is usually out of reach if your client is unable to afford your photography fees.

But, in all of this I had something to look forward… The National Celebration for the Pure Spanish Horse.  I attended this horse show last year, and I was very impressed not only with the beautiful horses… but, the friendly people.  You can see my photos from this show… http://photos.kjanthony.com/gallery/5886236_EZn26#365823936_CC2Pp 

About a week a ago I checked the calendar for the South Point Equestrian Center to see what was new, exciting, and remind me what was coming up for August.  Up pops the page, carefully I scrolled the list top to bottom, and I rescanned the list bottom to top.  I closed the website and brought it up again, and there was no sign, links, or mention The National Celebration for the Pure Spanish Horse show.

Ummm… website glitch, hacked into by a computer hacker as they were that week for a convention, why they would hack into a calendar was beyond me!  Okay, I thought to myself, come back in a few days and see what was posted on the calendar for events.

I went back in yesterday; yes, The National Celebration for the Pure Spanish Horse was not on the calendar.  Very strange I thought.  So I sent an email off to my show contact, to see if she could solve the mystery of the missing listing, or at the very least let her know that the South Point was not listing their horse show.

My contact back to me today… and here was her response “with the current economy we’ve had to change the venue for the National Celebration from SouthPoint.”  The show is now being held in California, five hours away.  Although I can understand why the venue was changed, it really deflated my day.

It is this sort of economic indicator that most people never see, the specialty events that get moved or cancelled due to lack of sponsorship, lack of public interest, or not being a large enough organization to fund the entire cost.  In the end everyone loses and Las Vegas loses revenue and employment opportunities every time an event, horse show, or conference does not come to Las Vegas.

It is my greatest hope that The National Celebration for the Pure Spanish Horse will be able to return to the South Point in 2010.  I wish everyone attending this year’s National Celebration for the Pure Spanish Horse show success with their horses, and I look forward to seeing them next year here in Las Vegas.