these are all reasons why when I went to the facility I was shocked they were able to get AA rated shows there.
How friendly is it for a Amateur/Owner with a green horse? Do I need to find a barn to stall with? In terms of the green horse, is it too busy? Looking for a good place to take a horse that has some schooling show miles but then sat at home for two years and needs a causal introduction back into horse show life. (To be honest, both myself and the horse would benefit from a nice, slow reintroduction!) Also, do many people stay in living quarter trailers or RV on the grounds? Thanks!
I’ll answer your last question first: tons of people stay on the grounds in the living quarter trailers or RVs. Often the living quarter trailers and the cabins are sold out. The RV parking lot is right on the grounds and there are even some you can rent for the week you’re there when their owner is not.
You could stable there by yourself if you want, there is no obligation to be with a trainer, but nothing about this show is casual. It can occasionally be slow, but it is busy and noisy and the schooling rings are packed. If you’re willing to school very early or very late you might get a quieter ring experience. One of the things the show is truly lacking right now is schooling ring(s) that are quieter (they are in process of building 4 more rings I think). Right now anywhere you go to just hack is also a schooling ring for an active show ring or you can wait until the show day is over and hack in the reset show ring. If you’re nervous and the horse is nervous and you want to come, I would probably find a professional to come with so at least one of your sets of nerves is cancelled out. I’m sending my baby horse next week (4 year old) to do the 2’ ushja hunters with my trainer. I’m 100% positive he’s going to be a spooky idiot, which is why I’m not doing any of the riding and my trainer is doing all of it.
The most casual option is the opportunity classes on the weekend. The way they school for those is actually in the show ring itself in small groups. So they may have groups 1-6 and each group is up to 5 people, you go in the ring you’re about to show in, school around for 10-15 minutes and then wait outside the in gate and immediately show. However the area you wait in is the back of the schooling space for the big hunters and it’s a very busy ring.
If at all possible, you might want to come check the place out and see if it’s for you. Lot’s of people bring green horses to show here and they have the 1’6-2’ ushja hunters + opportunity classes, but it’s certainly not a quiet, low key place.
Separately @APirateLooksAtForty you should have seen what the place looked like before they upgraded it and they used to host small A shows. The jumper schooling ring used to be the big hunter showing ring, the vendor village was the schooling arena which is basically like trying to jump on a postage stamp. When they started upgrading it, they took over a lot St Louis’ business because that facility was in dire need of an update footing wise and show running wise (show days going past midnight!). It’s still got a ways to go but it’s vastly superior to other indoor facilities within a days drive, at least compared to those that I’ve been to in the past.
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