How to prepare for your 1st show? :-0

scarymary

scarymary

New Member
Sep 9, 2007
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up a gum tree, somewhere in lancashire
Ok so all you guys that are pro's at showing will probably think this is abit lame, but here goes..................Youve got a show sunday morning around 10am (ish) when does your show work start? i.e bath time? grooming time? making feathers white from yellow :eek:,getting wraps on legs to keep feathers clean etc? everything that goes with showing, every last bit.......you can write it in list form (numpty form:eek:) if you like then i can try and follow it. we are walking in hand to the show not travelling in box/trailer. and Coyote if you read this plz dont laugh, you know im only a Nelly wannabee:p;):D thanks in advance guys. :)
 
scary you are tooo cute ! why would/ should any one think you were a numpty ? :p:eek:

i would wash/ shampoo neddy sat afternoon, and wrap up legs etc, then stable over night (for feathers i have heard the pro's use old stocking to keep them neat tindy and stop them dragging );)

clean tack that evening, get clothes ready to go for morning (everything next to fromt door otherwise i forget it)

get to yard for about 6am sun and plait manes/ tails if neccessary

final groom, tidy, remove any poo stains, finishing touches i coat sheen, chalk etc

9am good to go ! :)
 
This is usually our yard routine for a show first class at Sunday morning approximately 10am

Saturday Before
* Turn out/work in morning
* Muck out and put down big deep mega clean bed
* Bath
* Whiten legs, stars, blazes etc
* dry off, apply show sheen and rug up

Sunday morning
6.45am Arrive at yard
* Feed/net
* Hook up trailer to car
* Muck out
* Check for marks bit's to touch up etc
* Change rugs to travel ones
* Bandage tail and legs
* Load
* Leave about 8am, it's usually around an hours drive to any show traveling on our yard but they have been known to go 4-hours away so it's a very early start in that case.
* Arrive at show about 9am, check ponies, declare at secratary's tent, go loo and get cup if tea and bacon butty!!!
* Unload ponies, unbandage and tug check for further marks etc to touch up and touch them all up, groom, finishing touches.
* Get self ready
* A little working in
* Head to appropriate ring
* Win win win ;) :D

Hope that helps, good luck and most importantly have fun :D
 
Bertie said:
This is usually our yard routine for a show first class at Sunday morning approximately 10am

Saturday Before
* Turn out/work in morning
* Muck out and put down big deep mega clean bed
* Bath
* Whiten legs, stars, blazes etc
* dry off, apply show sheen and rug up

Sunday morning
6.45am Arrive at yard
* Feed/net
* Hook up trailer to car
* Muck out
* Check for marks bit's to touch up etc
* Change rugs to travel ones
* Bandage tail and legs
* Load
* Leave about 8am, it's usually around an hours drive to any show traveling on our yard but they have been known to go 4-hours away so it's a very early start in that case.
* Arrive at show about 9am, check ponies, declare at secratary's tent, go loo and get cup if tea and bacon butty!!!
* Unload ponies, unbandage and tug check for further marks etc to touch up and touch them all up, groom, finishing touches.
* Get self ready
* A little working in
* Head to appropriate ring
* Win win win ;) :D

Hope that helps, good luck and most importantly have fun :D
Click to expand...

OMG that is seriuos stuff !!! that is a propper schedule - no wonder i never win anything ;):D
 
I would NEVER call you a numpty!! :eek:

Hey im only an amatuer at this too.:eek:

When Nelly had his feathers id wash the night before, stable and bandage
Next morning id touch up any grubby bits.
Look dont stress about it ,its the worst thing to do,my motto is whatever will be ,will be!! ;) :D

Its about having fun at the end of the day.:D
 
Chickyd444 - I know what you mean at our yard showing is serious stuff in deed, they normally take anything from 2 - 10 to any 1 show. And they win, last week we went to one and got 1st and 3rd in Yearling Filly, 1st in 2-3year old colts, 1st & 4th (not off our yard but as with us that day) in 2-3year old filly, champion and reserve youngstock champions, it' all welsh B's. Although YO's daughter came 5th in Welsh C & D's last year, so they are serious.

I just groom and am general dogsbody I don't do any showing.
 
our schedule is

bath the day before

pack up car the day before with everything we need for the show

make sandwhiches and put them in fridge

drinks in fridge

deep bed pony for night

plait mane except for bottom two and forelock and put on his lycra mask - he looks hysterical in it - I must dig out a picture!

scrub hooves out

trim up where necessary

clean tack, clean tack and clean tack a bit more


on yard at 6am

hot water on

pony out of stable

hubby hooks up trailer whilst I stand there and look in horror at all the stable stains he's got over him - never ever does it unless we are going to a show - grrr

wash off stable stains

mutter about pedigree chum a lot

oil hooves (black conditioner stuff - its not oil, this stuff is good for their hooves but looks fab too)

take off lycra hood

do last 3 plaits

re-"oil" hooves

plait tail

re-do hooves (he has two white ones at the back so we do this to blacken them as he looks better with 4 black ones)

bandage tail

trim off any bits that need a last second trim

rug and boots

spend about half an hour convincing pony trailer isn't actually going to eat him

pony then decides we are right and just walks on trailer

more muttering about pedigree chum

drive to show, to arrive around 9am

remove pony from trailer

threaten him with pedigree chum again as he will have pooed and stood in it and will have stains down his back legs

leg protectors off and a fleece on

scrub off stains

wander off to book in

have a cup of tea

panick cos we've taken too long!

oil the hooves

apply more show sheen and a bit of muzzle shine

watch others apply makeup and realise life is too short!

shout at hubby a few times to cut daughters number and find x y or z

tack up pony

last minute brush off

daughter gets on

they enjoy themselves

we collapse!



at least we don't have to lunge our pony! we now folks who have to arrive 2 hours before their class to lunge like mad otherwise pony's go nuts!



If we are jumping

turn up, find pony in field, half hearted attempt to get mud off

box up

arrive with 15 mins to spare, tack up and run down

dash around course (husband whilst I am dealing with child and pony)

enter class




we are doing a show on Sunday for fun only and we'll just brush him and not plait so that's a much easier day

tack will be clean but he'll just be turned out tidy so easy morning thankfully!
 
My mares live out - so in the week before the show I start serious gromoing - 45 mins a day - to get all the scurf out of their coat - they might wear a rain sheet if it looks damp as I'm removing all the waterproofing.

On a Thursday I bath in tresseme deep cleansing, with lots of hot water to get more grease out.
I'll go over the tail with a tail rake then too.

Saturday I trim whiskers, chin, heels, ears, mane etc and re-pull tail and set in a bandage for about an hour. Then another bath, in whitening shampoo if its a grey.
Then they are left to dry in rugs, when dried bandage off tail and rugs off back in the field.

Sunday morning I give them a good groom for about 40 minutes. I gel and rebandage tail, plait the mane and tidy up any straggly hairs that are left. For travelling they are rugged - sometimes have hoods on so they don't get their heads covered in hay dust - and have travel bandages right down to the coronet band. Their tails are bandaged right to the end.

When we get there, we warm up with tail bandages and leg bandages still on. Once warmed up, we get rider dressed, horse has bangages off, tail bandage off, hoof black on and quarter marks on, plus make up on their heads - around eyes and muzzle.
The tack goes on and has a fine wipe over with shiny stuff, rider sits on and then off we go!

Make sure you take water/buckets/shampoo/sponges with you, as they will inevitably get dirty in the journey! We also use massive quanitites of Tesco value baby wipes, on both horse and rider - to spot clean and keep tidy.



I have a long checklist of things to pack, which I do on a Saturday afternon then my mum checks the ticklist on a Sunday morning to confirm I've got everything (don't trust my memory!)
Trailer is left skipped out and full of haynets 24/7 in case we ever need it for emergency transport.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Snowyboy said:
our schedule is

bath the day before

pack up car the day before with everything we need for the show

make sandwhiches and put them in fridge

drinks in fridge

deep bed pony for night

plait mane except for bottom two and forelock and put on his lycra mask - he looks hysterical in it - I must dig out a picture!

scrub hooves out

trim up where necessary

clean tack, clean tack and clean tack a bit more


on yard at 6am

hot water on

pony out of stable

hubby hooks up trailer whilst I stand there and look in horror at all the stable stains he's got over him - never ever does it unless we are going to a show - grrr

wash off stable stains

mutter about pedigree chum a lot

oil hooves (black conditioner stuff - its not oil, this stuff is good for their hooves but looks fab too)

take off lycra hood

do last 3 plaits

re-"oil" hooves

plait tail

re-do hooves (he has two white ones at the back so we do this to blacken them as he looks better with 4 black ones)

bandage tail

trim off any bits that need a last second trim

rug and boots

spend about half an hour convincing pony trailer isn't actually going to eat him

pony then decides we are right and just walks on trailer

more muttering about pedigree chum

drive to show, to arrive around 9am

remove pony from trailer

threaten him with pedigree chum again as he will have pooed and stood in it and will have stains down his back legs

leg protectors off and a fleece on

scrub off stains

wander off to book in

have a cup of tea

panick cos we've taken too long!

oil the hooves

apply more show sheen and a bit of muzzle shine

watch others apply makeup and realise life is too short!

shout at hubby a few times to cut daughters number and find x y or z

tack up pony

last minute brush off

daughter gets on

they enjoy themselves

we collapse!



at least we don't have to lunge our pony! we now folks who have to arrive 2 hours before their class to lunge like mad otherwise pony's go nuts!



If we are jumping

turn up, find pony in field, half hearted attempt to get mud off

box up

arrive with 15 mins to spare, tack up and run down

dash around course (husband whilst I am dealing with child and pony)

enter class




we are doing a show on Sunday for fun only and we'll just brush him and not plait so that's a much easier day

tack will be clean but he'll just be turned out tidy so easy morning thankfully!
Click to expand...

Holy S*** :eek::eek: i knew there was a reasoni had never done shows before:eek: fortunately mary is a cob and im only showing her in hand, so no plaits or tack cleaning:D
 
its not as bad as it sounds! Just lots of me grumbling about how if he doesn't stop doing so and so he's going in a can of pedigree chum!

We co travel with our friends as we own a trailer and they don't and our pony travels better with a friend so its a win win for us both

Its very social and great fun with both of us getting them ready and its a real team effort on the day with the Mums' running around and the dad's taking it in the neck and the kids just love it!

We do have a real laugh doing it - I couldn't do all that if we didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Snowyboy said:
its not as bad as it sounds! Just lots of me grumbling about how if he doesn't stop doing so and so he's going in a can of pedigree chum!

We co travel with our friends as we own a trailer and they don't and our pony travels better with a friend so its a win win for us both

Its very social and great fun with both of us getting them ready and its a real team effort on the day with the Mums' running around and the dad's taking it in the neck and the kids just love it!

We do have a real laugh doing it - I couldn't do all that if we didn't!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

im loving the pedigree chum thing :D my husband has already had his orders that he WILL be at the yard with me in the morning and at the show. Once we get this 1st show out of the way and i see how mary is then i will probably calm down abit. Anyone would think im going round the ring with her im that nervous! im too chicken for the 1st time though :eek:
 
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