Hauling in to shows vs. stabling overnight

[Mcl1]

Just curious to hear people’s thoughts/decision making on hauling a horse to and from a show vs. keeping them overnight in a stall. It has been a minute (or maybe 10+ years…) since I showed (hunter/jumpers), and I am now showing in a different area of the country (Midwest) than I did growing up. It seems very common here that people get stalls at shows, even schooling shows, and keep their horses overnight. Obviously this makes sense for horses coming from far away - but it seems as though many local people also do it.

I could understand why a trainer with many horses cannot shuttle them back and forth, but in my case I am showing solo and hauling my own horse. All shows are ~1 hour away, hauling in an open stock trailer (so basically a box stall). I recently brought him to a show for a day and did not get a stall (they actually charged me for a stall and when we went to get it taken off the bill they were surprised), and then brought him to a show for three days where I got a stall for him to be able to hang out in but still hauled back and forth at “night” (leaving show each day by ~2 - 3 pm). My horses live outside 24/7, and it just felt wrong to me to leave my guy (who finished showing by 10-11 am) stuck in a tiny stall for 20+ hours when he could be home grazing with his buddy.

Enough people made comments to me that it was clear that I am in the minority in terms of my thinking on this (at-least in this area), and I was just curious to hear other people’s thoughts. I would say the most common scenario I will be in is a 2 day show with morning classes both days. In the future if I were to do another longer show I would stagger days to give him a break in between. Wondering primarily from a horse welfare perspective (not trying to pinch pennies on stall fees) as I know trailering can be hard on them.

A few of the comments were along the lines of being amazed that he could just step off the trailer and show without time to settle down - but I can’t imagine that spending a night in a strange place would be a peaceful and settling experience for him?

[enjoytheride]

I see a lot of people who live that close to a showgrounds doing exactly what you are doing. It’s a non issue.

For someone with a green horse, or someone hauling further away, or showing earlier, it makes sense to come the night before. If it’s really hot out, or the weather might be bad, I don’t mind a stall.

[NaturallyHappy]

I always got a stall for mine. He could wait there while I filled out paperwork, got a snack, etc.
If I went home to sleep in my own bed, so did he😀.

[ClearDonkey]

I show out of my trailer at my local schooling shows. My horse is happy to stand at the trailer with a hay bag between classes, and can be trusted alone if I need to step away to the show office/restroom/etc. I have gotten a stall and kept her there overnight just for the experience, knowing that if something went wrong it was a short trailer ride home.

I think she’s more comfortable standing at the trailer, since we do the same whenever else we go (there is no stalls at the local trails or off-property schooling!). Also, she is reliable at new places, not needing a bunch of time to settle in.

I am on the fence if I want to stall her overnight once we begin showing at recognized shows which are about an hour drive away. I know she’d be happier being out at night with her buddies, but two hours in the trailer each day is tiring, especially after a long day.

[Zevida]

I think this is just what works best for you and your horse.

I had two shows recently at venues 10 min from my home barn. I thought it would be easier to just haul in each day so did that at the first show and it didn’t quite work out. My horse didn’t settle as much as normal and it wasn’t actually as easy as I didn’t have the barn support system (ok, the g. So the next show I decided to stable the whole time including overnight and go the day before for schooling and it went much better for me. I think it was easier to haul-in and out when my horse and I were at a lower level but the level we are at now it made a difference to stable over.

[Montanas_Girl]

I’m going to a large Ranch Horse show this weekend, and I’m getting a stall, even though the show is only about an hour away and I will be sleeping at home every night.

It is less stressful for me to haul my mare up on Thursday and commute until we both come home on Saturday evening. I can drop the horse, tack, and trailer off tomorrow and burn less fuel than I would hauling the trailer back and forth multiple times.

I also think that, for my horses at least, it is less stressful for them to arrive on Thursday and go home Saturday or Sunday than it is to “arrive” anew every day. They seem to settle it well with their stall and a couple hundred new BFFs for the weekend than day hauling allows.

Selfishly, I can also sleep later when I’m just driving up vs having to load/haul every day!

[exvet]

My preference has usually been to haul back and forth, forego the stall. My horses definitely prefer to be at home overnight; however, I have one now who does far better if a ‘rent’ a stall. I don’t stable him overnight if it’s close to my home. I still haul him back and forth but he does far better in his tests/classes if I put him in a stall when I get to the show grounds so he can urinate. He won’t urinate next to the trailer despite being very used to a good tied to it. If I don’t give him his opportunity to urinate he will be so darn cranky throughout my riding that it is worth to pay for a stall just so he can have his own private bathroom LOL.

[rulex]

Interesting question, I am wondering the same myself as I’ve opted to trailer in both days for an upcoming show. I figure my horse will be happier to come home and be able to stretch her legs. Also, while my other horse can cope with us being away for a few hours, I don’t know that he would appreciate being alone for the entire weekend. So then it gets complicated and potentially needing to bring both along. I’m by myself so that definitely adds a lot more to manage. My horse also does great settling in to new places, so that part is not an issue.

@Montanas_Girl

I’m getting a stall, even though the show is only about an hour away and I will be sleeping at home every night

Do you leave your horses alone at the show grounds when you go home? Just wondering as my local shows require a responsible party to be at the grounds overnight with any horses staying. I know for myself I’ll be much more rested sleeping at home than camping at the show grounds as I don’t have a fancy LQ rig or anything.

[Mcl1]

@rulex

Also, while my other horse can cope with us being away for a few hours, I don’t know that he would appreciate being alone for the entire weekend

I have that situation with my other guy as well. He seems ok if he is kept in his “safe” place (a smaller holding pen/pasture) but I would feel bad leaving him totally alone overnight.

[poltroon]

For an hour’s haul, I work out of the trailer and don’t get a stall. Indeed, for the H/J show series I grew up with, none of the showgrounds even had stalls. Now that I haul myself, all my gear lives in the trailer and I tack up and groom from there.

In the LA area I could even be a half hour from a showgrounds and in that case I might haul both days of a weekend for a dressage show. (Again, many of those venues didn’t have stabling, or only very limited.) If it was say a 4 day show at LAEC, I would usually set up my classes to not be on consecutive days - IE for Cool August Nights I might enter for a ride time on Thursday and one on Saturday, and this was a 30 minute haul.

It’s so much less expensive to not do a stall - not just for the cost of the stall but also the shavings and all the energy and time to set up the stall. On these short hauls, I think my horse was happy to be home in her regular place at night and I never noticed that she seemed to be affected by a haul of that distance.

Over an hour, or when eventing, and we’d get a stall. At that point it’s more fun just to stay over.

[Montanas_Girl]

@rulex

Do you leave your horses alone at the show grounds when you go home? Just wondering as my local shows require a responsible party to be at the grounds overnight with any horses staying. I know for myself I’ll be much more rested sleeping at home than camping at the show grounds as I don’t have a fancy LQ rig or anything.

Yes. One of my fellow competitors does night check for me.

Are you saying that your shows don’t permit owners/trainers to stay at hotels rather than on the show grounds unless they have a groom or someone camping on the property? I have never heard of that in my ~30 years of horse showing experience. I’m not even sure how it would be enforceable. The vast majority of facilities don’t have anywhere near a sufficient number of RV hookups to make it possible for every horse to be attended by someone staying in a camper.

[JumpWithPanache]

We have a great local H/J series that generally draws a fair number of entries and are generally within 10-30 minutes of most local farms. I almost always show off the trailer, even when I’m meeting my trainer for her to ride my young horse. In contrast, I would say the vast majority of people get a stall with the host farm for the day. Keep in mind that most of these are coming with a larger barn/trainer so may not necessarily be hauling their own horse. There are a handful of us old(er) ammies that work off our trailers. In my case, my horses have worked off my trailer daily for the last year and a half since they moved onto our property but the house and barn are still not built yet. Even when I’ve shown at a local multi-day USEF/USDF rated show, I still worked off my trailer. The only multi-day shows I’ve attended have been 2+ hours away, so getting a stall is no question.

[ParadoxFarm]

I prefer getting a stall when I can get one – even for local shows. I think trailering stresses ME out, and I like to get my horse settled in before working with him. Now, I have done shows off my trailer, but that’s not my preferred method. I always worry about leaving my horse tied to my trailer, even though he’s a good boy. It just adds that little bit of extra stress that I don’t need at a show. I do, though, even at shows when I have a stall, tack up at my trailer. Why unload everything, then have to reload it, when I can tack up at the trailer.

[trubandloki]

@Zevida

I think this is just what works best for you and your horse.

This! Totally this!

I would guess some of the people like to get a stall because there is a certain amount of ‘show experience’ associated with hanging out at the barn with everyone, taking care of your horse, helping others with their horse, and all that stuff that is hard work but worth it that makes a horse show into a social event.

If you and your horse (and the facility works out for it) do great showing off the trailer there is no problem with your trucking back and forth.

One advantage, with my horse, for getting a stall is not having to wash ground in dirt off every inch of the horse for the next day.

[2DogsFarm]

I’ve done both with my riding & driving horses.
Shown both from a trailer at 1-day shows, stalled both for weekend or longer stays.
I’m a 1-woman show & even when I was younger, it was easier to leave my horse in a stall, my trailer on the showgrounds & stay in a nearby motel.
My horses are at home, turned out 24/7 with access to stalls.
They’re fine being stalled overnight for multiple days.
Good training in case there’s ever a reason they need to be kept in a stall.

[tabula_rashah]

Just for a day, I’d prefer not to stall, my horses are 100% comfortable hanging out tied to the trailer but tend to be not so happy in stalls. For overnight- unless it’s more than like an 8 hour drive, I think they’d be happier just to be at home

[beowulf]

This is probably horse dependent. I’m with you, I prefer mine to be out 24/7. But I did learn recently that it was kinder for one of my horses to just keep her in a stall versus the fuss of trailering back/forth. We did a 3 day session where she was ridden 2x a day each day. She was way too tired to be wired up about being in a stall. Some horses do relax in stalls, some don’t. It depends on what works for you and your horse.

[findeight]

No set in stone answer, depends on a number of things. Have done it both ways and years back, hacked a couple of miles each way to one day shows-though that needs an arrangement on getting the stuff you cant carry on the horse there.

Just pick what works best for you, your situation, your horse and the facility you are showing at. If other exhibitors have any opinions, let them keep them to themselves or stuff it. Do not give them a listening ear or the impression you want to listen to their opinions or feel you need to defend your choices.

[rulex]

Yes each overnighting horse needs to have someone responsible for them. This doesn’t mean one person per horse, one person could be the contact for several horses, so like a groom or trainer or even fellow competitor. At this particular venue there does happen to be ample hookups for camping, so that’s not an issue. And plenty of folks do travel from a couple of hours away and do stable overnight. For larger, multi ring h/j shows, day stalls are sometimes not even an option because they are limited and priority is given to those overnighting.

[Montanas_Girl]

Do you mind sharing what facility this is? That’s a very unusual policy, and, again, I have no idea how they’d even enforce it. I’m familiar with several facilities that have rules against grooms sleeping in tack stalls and rules against tent camping, but I have never, ever heard of one that requires someone be physically present on the facility grounds 24/7 for every horse. Nor have I shown many places other than the KHP where that would even be logistically possible, even if the poor person stuck on the show grounds 24/7 was a groom caring for 10+ horses.

The facility I’m headed to today, for example, only has about 60 RV spots, and there are over 500 stalls.