Advice on going to shows on my own

[Cowboy_Girl]

First its not about etiquette, its about a business relationship.

• You are fully independent - own your horse, trailer your horse, you do all the daily riding and training rides
• You board your horse as a convivence to you - facilities and easy access to coaching
• You take regular lessons from a subject matter expert to further your skills

You are fully capable of safely taking yourself and horse off property and doing what ever you want with whomever you want to have fun and learn more skills. Consult with the subject matter expert about the most beneficial and activities and keep her in loop on progress and challenges as you value her opinion and want to keep her engaged.
If she can’t handle this type of relationship find someone more professional.

[fordtraktor]

There are many reasons why I also might say a particular person isn’t welcome to ride a client’s horse on property. I have barn rules for a reason, anyone who violates them is not welcome back. Being too rough or otherwise harming a horse is one of them, so I get your position in this circumstance.

I also require a signed liability waiver before anyone gets on any horse.

This thread got prescient today because in a local FB area group, not horse-y, I saw someone posted seeing a loose horse in my area. I had a migraine and I clawed myself out of bed, nauseous, and went to go do a head count immediately. It wasn’t one of “mine,” but loose horse is a drop everything situation. Horse is home now and did visit mine.

A lot of us barn owners really do care immensely about the horses in our care. I am still paying for going out in the bright sunlight.

Glad OP has committed to telling her BO personally when she is taking the horse somewhere. Beyond that, nothing more is needed. Have fun, OP!

[HipNo34]

@nighthorse6

However, I’m determined to show all those Warmbloods in Hunterland that TBs can still be competitive there! Plus I can’t help myself, I really love a “it’s like watching paint dry” Hunter round

Here just to encourage this.
And also to let you know, re watching rounds, me too!
I can get super invested in even the 2’3" or 2’6", pulling for absolute strangers to improve from one round to the next.

[fordtraktor]

I applaud you. I even tell my family not to come to my dressage shows. They would be bored stiff, even I am bored watching lower levels unless it is someone I know or a super nice youngster.

[Bearx2]

I don’t think any barn owner is out of line asking to be kept in the loop when a horse is going to be off the property, especially if the horse will be gone over night . I can only imagine what it would be like to walk into a barn and find a horse gone.

[SillyHorse]

@Demerara_Stables

@SillyHorse

It’s hard for me to understand why a trainer would automatically assume that “said clinician” would screw up the horse.

Not “automatically assume”

@Demerara_Stables

if the trainer doesn’t think your horse should go because he’s not ready/not fit/the clinician is too different from her training philosophies

Actually, you did write that.

@Demerara_Stables

I don’t think it’s fair for a client to go off and do whatever they want but then come back to the home trainer who then has to fix whatever said clinician screwed up on the horse.

You might be surprised that there are some very, very good clinicians. Some might even be better than you.

[Demerara_Stables]

@SillyHorse

You might be surprised that there are some very, very good clinicians. Some might even be better than you.

Yes, like the clinicians that work with my clients on a monthly basis.

[CanteringCarrot]

I’ve always ridden with trainers that encouraged me to go to clinics. Sometimes I’d ask if they knew “so and so clinician” and if they’d be a good fit/worth riding with if I didn’t know the clinician or their style well.

I also have a good feeling on what is right for my horse. I did tell a clinician “no” once and ended the lesson. I did it respectfully, it was civil, and I just really had to be an advocate for my horse. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done because I didn’t want to show a lack of respect, but at the end of the day, I knew what was most important.

So maybe my trainer(s) just trusted me? I dunno. In Europe it seemed a little less about “ownership” of clients and there weren’t all of these exclusive riding programs and contacts. The US H/J world seems really into that.

I’d be straight up with my trainer about my plans and also consider any points that she brings up as well. At the end of the day it is my horse, but I try hard to keep the peace.

[Annie10]

@Demerara_Stables

@Unfforgettable

Any trainer who has a problem with this is insecure and afraid of losing a client…potentially to someone who knows more and/or is a better trainer.

Or the trainer has had horses messed up by other trainers and doesn’t want to have to spend weeks/months fixing the horse physically or mentally.

Then that trainer has the right to say “you break it you buy it” as it were and tell the owner to send the horse to another trainer to fix it

[OTTBs]

@DownYonder

What isn’t fair is for a trainer to try to dictate to a client what she can or cannot do with her own horse.

I only got to about post 30, but I notice how it seems everyone BUT the OP is referring to a “trainer” while OP calls the person a “coach.”

[nighthorse6]

I guess I used coach because she coaches me in my weekly lesson, but doesn’t train my horse.
A trainer to me is someone who has a program that your horse is in and they put rides on it. That’s not the case in my situation, but I think other people might use coach and trainer interchangably?

And I guess I wanted to make that distinction clear because I felt it mattered in my situation. That by wanting to go off on my own, I wasn’t taking my horse out of his training program, because I am his trainer. If that makes sense.

[MHM]

It does not necessarily mean everyone uses it this way, but the distinction between coach and trainer for USEF purposes is that the trainer has control of the horse’s care, which means a trainer can be held responsible if the horse has a positive drug test at a competition.

A coach is a separate thing for USEF purposes, meaning someone who just instructs the rider without having any involvement in the horse’s care, and thus no liability for any positive drug tests.

There are certainly plenty of people that I think of as trainers who do not ever sit on the horse themselves. So it may just be a difference in terminology.

[fivestrideline]

Outside of the USEF specific rules, most people around here use “trainer” and “coach” interchangeably. In fact, they’re so often used identically that filling out an entry blank is wildly confusing at first .

I wouldn’t be reading that much into the terminology choice, personally.

[DownYonder]

@OTTBs

I only got to about post 30, but I notice how it seems everyone BUT the OP is referring to a “trainer” while OP calls the person a “coach.”

You are right - the OP said she takes one lesson a week from the barn owner, who also coaches her at shows. So in the OP’s case, the BO is an instructor and coach. She may be an actual trainer - i.e., have other horses in a training program with her - but in my book, she can’t really be considered the OP’s trainer. I used the term “trainer” because I was responding primarily to a post about how it wasn’t “fair” to expect a trainer to fix issues that developed because a client took a horse to a show or clinic without the blessing and/or participation of said trainer. (And in actuality, this OP isn’t the trainer’s client - she is her student.)

But no matter what terminology is used - and even if the horse is truly in a “program” with a trainer - the fact still remains that it is the client’s horse, the client’s money, the client’s risk, the client’s decision. Both parties need to come to an agreement and if they can’t do that, they need to amicably part ways.

[Xctrygirl]

One thing I want to add…

I compete my horse myself. Largely no grooms. Mostly on my own.

A couple years ago a freak accident happened and this is what came from it.

Short version… While walking my course (in the ring) my horse jumped out of my trailer to evade a horsefly. He went over first the chest bar of his standing stall, and then second, over the bar across the ramp opening of my 2+1. He didn’t clear that one though, so he did a rotational fall onto my ramp and kind of fish flopped out of my trailer into the freedom of the Kentucky Horse Park. No serious injuries.

BUT… he was alone…away from me. He did have his leather halter on with his show name on it.

I got a call from a New York number on my cell, and thankfully answered it. A nice man had gone through my truck and trailer and found a piece of paper I had from a clinic where we had to have our contact info on the stalls. So he was able to reach and me and get me back to the trailer.

Ever since this I have laminated signs that look like the picture attached all over my trailer and truck in case something were to happen when I am not right there.

THIS was a VERY big duh moment and I am sharing it because this is a very simple fix.

Also I now talk to someone I am parked next to and let them know the signs are there in case there’s an issue.

Em

[MHM]

That’s a very good idea.

Some years back, I took a horse to a show at a venue that I had been to a million times, but it happened to be a completely different set of people in attendance at that event, so I did not really know a soul there.

Some people in the next aisle noticed that I was there by myself, and very kindly offered to help me if I needed a hand with anything. I was pretty much the last person on the showgrounds who needed any assistance, but I appreciated their offer.

So there are definitely nice people out there at shows who will help a solo stranger as needed, which is reassuring to know.

[BrownDerby]

OP, enjoy your clinic. And don’t forget this forum is very useful for evaluating clinicians. You might do a search if you have a name in mind.

[beowulf]

Glad Cudo was okay!! I have something similar in my truck/trailer - it’s just a laminated Pony Club stall card.

[Xctrygirl]

Mine is on 8.5" x 11" so that ANYONE can read it easily. LOL

My eyes suck…so ergo… other people’s eyes could also.

Em

[beowulf]

@Xctrygirl

Mine is on 8.5" x 11" so that ANYONE can read it easily. LOL

My eyes suck…so ergo… other people’s eyes could also.

Em

Oh yeah! A Pony Club stall card is usually printed on 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper. It has a lot of good details but some might not be relevant to adults (chaperone info) - here’s the online form for it. It’s not as big font as yours but you can change size IIRC. Click.