Valitar!

I don't think I mentioned in my Yellowstone post, but I was born in Cody, Wyoming.  

I spent the first 5 years of my life living on this dude ranch.

Due (I suspect) to being around dozens of horses from a young age, and then having a horse for a few years again after we moved to California, I've always loved them. 

I imagine if we'd stayed in Wyoming I might have a little boy like this by now.  :-)

Source: joaniemcmahon.com via Cynthia on Pinterest

 

When we visited the ranch this summer, the horse barn might have been my favorite part. The horses are so calm and serene, and a few came over to say hi to us.
Oh, and they are so soft.  I forgot how soft they are.  And how good they smell.  :-)

The point is, I like horses. 
So when I saw billboards around town for Valitar, I was intrigued.

My BF and I drove by one of the billboards together last week and we realized we were both interested, so we looked up some info online and settled on a night to check it out.

  I read the "story" of Valitar on their website (which is not very specific), but intentionally didn't watch any of the videos.  So I wasn't exactly sure of what we might see on Saturday night. 

That evening, we headed up the coast to Del Mar to attend the big event!  No photography was allowed as it might distract the horses, so all of these pics are courtesy of Valitar/Equustria Development, Inc. 
Saturday was only the second public performance (EVER!) of this show.  Kind of exciting!

This is what the tent looks like.  I've been driving past it twice a day for weeks on my way to/from work.

Some contortion starts off the show.

 

Once the horses join the show, it's kind of mesmerizing.

These guys were doing all kinds of stunt riding, racing around the arena. 
There was also some trampoline acrobats and 2 guys on rugged skateboards. 
Pretty crazy!

I really liked the trick riding, where the guys were jumping on and off of the horse, riding backwards, STANDING up on the horses backs!!

This was my boyfriends favorite acrobat... the rope lady. :-)
(There may be some more techniocal term for that...?)

We both thought this guy was really impressive. He did a lot of the stunt riding and was entertaining and engaging.

 This woman had 9 beautiful white horses running and dancing around in sync, with no harnesses/leads or anything.

Probably the most thrilling stunt of the night. 
He went underneath and back to the top while the horse was galloping around the arena. Yikes!
(Also, I loved this horse. Light mane, caramel colored with a few darker spots.  I wanted to pet him!!)

I really don't have anything negative that comes to mind about the show itself.  I was kind of expecting maybe a few more "WHOA! OMG!" moments.  But it is more about the beauty and grace of the horses (and the humans!), and relationship between them. 
Don't get me wrong, the guy going under the horse? The people standing on the horses backs and dancing? The guy being pulled by the horse on the mountainskateboard onto a ramp?  Those were all crazy, but the overall feel of the show is more "zen" than "cRaZy".  And I liked it that way. 

I didn't love the 2 people near me who kept whistling, that ear piercing,  sports game kind of whistle.  They mention no pictures because of the DISTRACTION it could be to the horses.  Not only do I think those whistles could have been, too...but they hurt my ears! Plus, one of them, a guy behind me, was also talking through most of the show. Not quietly.

Besides that the entire experience was extremely pleasant.  

All of the ticket takers and ushers were nice and helpful. 
The parking was easy (though a bit of a rip off at $9). 

The food & drinks in the concession tent were expensive (which is to be expected) but there was a pretty decent variety of snack type items to choose from.  We had an iced mocha and a piece of cake before the show. :-)

 The merchandise area didn't have a ton of options, but there were definitely a few cute shirts I liked.  I ended up buying a long sleeve t-shirt, but in large because no XL available (I've now determined it is going to be extremely tight, but wearable).  And it was $45.   Ouch.  I don't think there was anything under $30 besides the printed program.  (Of course, I still bought one, cuz I'm a sucker for a souvenir.)

I saw on their website that Valitar will begin touring to other cities soon.  If any of this sounds interesting to you, I suggest checking it out!  It was really fun and a great way to spend and evening with my boyfriend.  I think it's a great show to see for a date, or for a family night out! 

 

Disclaimer: I was provided 2 tickets to see Valitar, but all opinions are my own. 
They did not ask me to provide a positive review or to fall in love with the caramel horse.