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Eventers, how do you do it?

‘Do THE Walk Around!’ A friend lost an expensive bridle bc the kid dropped it in the grass and didn’t pick it up. Always do the walk.

At an ‘event’ we had someone come tell us we had a flat tire on our trailer. Everyone around pitched in and we got that changed in no time! Better yet we ended up opening all our coolers as we got this done! :stuck_out_tongue: We’ve now have become good friends with that entire barn! Go eventing.

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LOL! But I have fixed that problem too! I no longer need to stop and go check the horse, I can SEE him. (And for extra credit, I can see behind the trailer!!). New camera setup:

210220_8027 by Wendy, on Flickr

210221_8044 by Wendy, on Flickr

Seriously though, whatever you are worried about, if you want to do this (trailer and compete alone) you can figure it out. It may not be cheap (trailer cameras, US Rider plan, even paying a groom for the day if needed) but it can be done.

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I’ve shown alone most of the time… from dressage, to eventing to jumpers. I also trailer out to hack and hack all over town here by myself mostly.
I don’t do much worrying to be honest. I’ve had the odd thing happen, but it always works out.

I enjoy going with other people for sure, but it doesn’t always happen folks can come along. If I waited for company to do things in life, I wouldn’t have done 90% of this things I have taken part in.

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If I didn’t show solo I wouldn’t show! And that’s worth the stress of trailering. I’ve broken down with the horses. It sucks, but we’ve all lived. If I fall off and get sent to the hospital…maybe the horse shouldn’t have sent me to the hospital? :woman_shrugging:

Do you drive to lessons currently? Maybe instead of starting by going to a show, start by hauling along to school or lesson. I used to not be very confident with driving the trailer and worked out into a larger and larger comfort zone of where I was willing to go.

Once of my things (since I have green horses) is to keep them inside the trailer and go to the bathroom when I arrive. I tack them inside the trailer until I trust them (and even then the oldest and most annoying horse is tacked on the trailer). We emerge from the trailer fully formed and ready to walk right into the ring, dusty boots be damned.

I quit eventing and show local hunters + hunt now, and I have never had an issue with friendly strangers videoing my rounds, tying back my martingale for the hack etc.

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These are great ideas, especially realizing the more you do it, the more comfortable it gets. 2020 kept me from hauling anywhere, so it’s time to get going again. ShowAssist is a new app that may help at H/J shows, you can hire ringside help or a groom for the day.
Thanks to all the helpful replies, I have entered a local schooling show this month! Good practice for everything. I really appreciate that no one here was discouraging. It’s good to see that others thrive on achieving goals on their own account. I have been to shows without a show barn in the past and it was more fun and such an achievement just being there with my horse.

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I have always recruited a friend to come along even if they know nothing, having the moral support and extra hands is a blessing!

Most recently my best groom has been my daughter who is almost 13. She is somewhat horsey and goes with me to most of my horsie outings. This past weekend I went to my first Fox Hunt and she came along. She is very helpful (as long videotaping or photography are not involved :rofl:). Having someone to hold a horse, grab things from the truck/trailer, locate items that are lost, chat with on the road, etc. are absolute bonuses in my book. Not to mention having someone to chatter at and discuss post-ride analysis with is wonderful.

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Former hunter rider here…converted to the dark side! I trailer to lessons at a local barn and have made a group of friends there. So while I still trailer to most events and foxhunts by myself, I’m usually meeting up with others at the destination. Sometimes we will caravan, especially on longer trips. I love the independence of being able to load my horse up and go wherever we want on a whim! It helps to have a horse who loads and trailers well and doesn’t mind hanging out in or tied to the trailer for periods of time.

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This. I know plenty of people swear by the ol’ George Morris line of “if the rider’s boots are dirty, you can be sure there’s dirt elsewhere in the horse’s care” but I guarantee not a single one of those people have ever gone to a show by themselves. If you’re going to tell me that having a little dust on my boots after I get on makes me a poor horseman despite the HOURS of time I spent bathing, clipping, grooming, braiding, trailering, tacking, and god knows what else, I’ve got a very specific finger for you :upside_down_face:

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Not sure where you are located, but join your area’s Adult Rider group! At least in my area (VIII) you can request to stable with A8AR and make instant friends. I did this often when I first started eventing in the area since I wasn’t riding with a barn/trainer. I made tons of friends very quickly and everyone was always willing to lend a helping hand when I needed it. Like others here, if I didn’t go alone I wouldn’t have been able to show for many years!

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For some reason this made me picture all eventers as Athena, emerging fully formed from Zeus’ head and ready to go battle the dressage judge. :laughing:

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Offtopic, what system is this? Hardwired? How long is your rig?

@endlessclimb This is the camera system
https://www.tadibrothers.com/products/9-monitor-with-2-built-in-wireless-mounted-rv-backup-cameras

My trailer is 16’ but it will go further than that.

The cameras are wireless but do need power. I have them wired into the running lights on the trailer, but you can also use a rechargeable battery pack. I was using a Milwaukee adapter for their rechargeable tool batteries for a while before we finalized the installation and wired it in.

More here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wsmoak/albums/72157718190127752

(the thing holding it in the cupholder is separate, that is from RAM Mounts)

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@Gardenhorse I’m emerging to battle teenagers in the warm up ring but right idea :laughing:

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I like this visual. Since I’m wimpy about X country, i’m gonna say that everyone who gets out there - from puddle jumpers to CCI 5* is a warrior queen. :star_struck:

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I’m usually at h/j shows alone-ish. I say “ish” because I usually have DH or my mom along but they are varying degrees of competence with helping and inevitably not around when I do need help. Or like last year, when I had to stay in the ring for a jump-off and couldn’t remember the course and they were both mystified why I was asking them for help with the course (you just jumped it, didn’t you?
what do you mean, jump-off? :rofl:).

Maybe people think I’m weird but I often just ask for help from someone ringside - anything from asking someone to just stand at my horses head while I climb on to telling me the course that’s posted too small and too light for me to see without my glasses. Last fall I asked a trainer who I didn’t know how a line was riding for horses because I had only seen a bunch of ponies jumping before me. I think that’s a big thing I have learned in this past year: people are generally helpful if we just ask for the help we need!

That being said, I would not ask a random person to dust my boots or wipe my horse’s mouth though :wink: This is why I’m almost always the person with the dusty boots and the slobbery mouthed horse. C’est la vie.

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