Watch: More Than 1,800 Horses Featured At National Arabian Horse Show

The U.S. National Arabian and Half-Arabian Championship Horse Show is happening in Tulsa all week long.

The show will feature around 1,800 horses with riders competing in several different events.

Organizers say this is the most prestigious Arabian horse show in North America, and people come from all over to be part of it.

This is the 55th Annual Arabian U.S. Nationals. Every year, it’s held at Tulsa Expo Square.

Between amateur and professional divisions, there are several different competitions for riders and handlers.

That includes halter, where horses are led around the arena, working cow, cutting, reigning, sidesaddle and more.

Joe Alberti is the owner and trainer at Chestnuthill Arabians in Ocala, Florida, the horse capital of the world.

He says qualifications were waived the last two years due to COVID-19, but typically, it's extremely competitive to make it to Nationals.

He has around 45 Arabian horses in training year-round and says they're one of the most versatile breeds.

"So, what makes the Arabian special, one of the things, is that they're the only pure breed. So, when you date their pedigrees all the way back, you can go back to literally desert bred to when they were bred by the Bedouins, which were a nomadic people,” Alberti said.

"Arabians are really my passion. They're a beautiful animal, they're super-intelligent, they're very, very different than a lot of other horses,” he said.

It's free and open to anyone to attend. Finals are on Friday and Saturday.