How far do you travel to events?

[CollegeEventer1]

I used to be in Area 8 and had to drive 4+ one way to school anything above Novice and/or compete. There were also no eventing trainers closer than 2 hours so I had to ride w/ hunter/jumper trainer and a dressage trainer. It was doable but exhausting trying to manage between school and working full time. Plus the gas $$ is a fortune at that point.

I transferred w/ my job to Florida specifically to make eventing more accessible for myself, and I am about an hour and half from Ocala. Makes a huge difference. I’ve schooled XC more this year than my entire eventing career in Area 8. I love and miss Area 8 but it can be tough to manage depending on where you are at.

[BWP]

@headbrickwall

UK, so brace yourself

Also uk though not in prime eventing country. One event within an hour (national and FEI classes). Several others within 3 - 4 hours. Need to go even further afield for Intermediate + and for the FEI horses/ young horse champs etc.

[HereComesZach]

Area II, the closest to me is about 10 minutes away, so I go there frequently :lol:

I will pretty routinely travel closer to half an hour or an hour away for some other events. It’s also about an hour and half/two hours for me to get to some larger venues, but I/my horses are not there yet.

[Training_Cupid]

I don’t really event with my current horse, but I’m in Area VI. There is a large venue <30 minutes that hosts through CCI 4 star. There are 4 more venues within 3 hours that host rated competitions (though sadly one of those is for sale, let’s hope it remains an event facility)

[leheath]

I was in Area VII and there were 2 events (first and last of the year) that were 15 minutes away. Everything else was 5-7 hours. I discovered my maximum reasonable distance for horse show travel is 4 hours unless it is something special and/or spectacular.

So I moved to Area VI. My horse lives 20 minutes from Galway - a large venue which hosts at least 4 recognized events per year. Within my 4 hour “limit” I can do a recognized event pretty much once or twice a month year round and that’s in addition to a reasonable selection of schooling events throughout the year. I also show recognized dressage so I don’t have the money or time off work for more than 1-2 total shows/month!

[pegasusmom]

Area II. Three minutes to closest venue, three hours to Aiken, three hours to TIEC, four hours to Lexington Va. Eight hours to Ocala, which we usually make as at least a week long trip.

[beowulf]

@Chouteau

& I’m envious of you! my closest event is 4 hours away - I consider a “regular” event to be under 7 hours, but will travel up to 11 - more than that I try to combine it with training & go a week early.

Oh no, that puts it in perspective for me… :no: So sorry!! Under 7 hours, ugh! That’s a multi-day affair for you…

[Xctrygirl]

FWIW, a reining friend of mine regularly drives @12-15hrs to get to various competitions in Texas, OK and Arizona. Admittedly there’s a TON more prize money, but still.

When I was based in Burbank, CA and evented (Not a ton but some)

We had Moorpark nearby (1hr ish) and Flintridge (35 mins ish)

We had Galway pop up in Temecula, during it’s first year and that was about a 2 hr drive.

I went to Ram Tap in Fresno, 6 hours.

I didn’t compete but watched at Woodside. 8 hrs.

Now I am in Pennsylvania in eventing mecca and I have to drive a while to get to my jumper shows. Easily 2 hours to get to the ones in Jersey or VA, since for whatever reasons we don’t have many here in Chester county. We have a few but most of the year I am on the road.

And add to that that I have to go to A or AA shows to do my level with Cudo and we had looked at going 10 hours to Ky this year, 15 to Michigan, and are still contemplating going to Tryon at some point. And WEC has been in our sights for a while, that’s 9 hours.

It’s all about what you’re willing to do.

I could be an eventer and never have to drive more than 2 hours.

I just prefer to do and go where what I love takes me.

Em

[solarflight]

I’m in Ontario, Canada. Closest event is 2 hours away. I go up to 3.5 hours away regularly.

[Chouteau]

@beowulf

Oh no, that puts it in perspective for me… :no: So sorry!! Under 7 hours, ugh! That’s a multi-day affair for you…

I traveled to an event last weekend with a rider who is new to the area - she is from out east & couldn’t believe the “production” involved in going to an event - she had never spent the night before (I’ve never been to an event where we don’t spend - usually 2, sometimes 3 - nights)
I don’t even mind the need to travel to compete - the hard part is lack of local schooling, if you want to school a water complex, you have to travel at least 4 hours & then you are going to school the last course they had set for the horse trial. We don’t have “schooling” venues out here - you know where you can school a bounce @ training or novice height - if you are schooling prelim questions, they are prelim height.

[woodhillsmanhattan]

Two in-state recognized events are 1-1.5 hours away. Next closest event is 8 hours away. Furthest I have traveled is 11 hours. Area IX

[horseshorseshorseshorses]

In area vii the closest was 20 min away and the furthest was 10-12 hours. A good chunk of UL riders would travel to California for the late winter/early spring shows.

Now I’m in area iii. The closest is about 1.5 hours away and a good chunk are 4-6 hours. I can do a show schooling or rated at least once a month but more likely 2-3 times a month if I wanted.

[OTTBs]

Area IV. With Catalpa no longer running. we officially suck the big one. I have one local event (where I can stay at home) that I don’t really enjoy anymore, one an hour away that I won’t go to, and one in MI that’s 3 hours away. Hoosier is about 4.75 hr away, 6 to KY HP, about 6 to Queeny. I want to try Otter Creek sometime, think it’s around 5 hours. Oh, one more around 3 hrs away with such a scary Novice drop that I don’t want to go there. My ideal max driving time would be 3 hrs, sometimes staying awake is a problem.

[BWP]

@BWP

Also uk though not in prime eventing country. One event within an hour (national and FEI classes). Several others within 3 - 4 hours. Need to go even further afield for Intermediate + and for the FEI horses/ young horse champs etc.

I only posted this a couple of days ago, but unfortunately our nearest venue has now said it won’t run again in the future :mad: We have lost so many prestigious events in the UK in the last few years.

[MsRidiculous]

Area V - closest is 2 hours, regularly travel 5-6 hours.

[Chouteau]

@OTTBs

Oh, one more around 3 hrs away with such a scary Novice drop that I don’t want to go there.

totally off topic sorry - but what event has the scary novice drop? I’m guessing Dunnabeck? Heritage had a decent drop at Training last weekend (https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10219313174594292&set=pcb.10219313224595542) but that never even made it onto my list of jumps that kept me awake on Friday night!

[amb]

Wow! Some of these answers make me wonder how dedicated I’d be if I had those kind of drive times.

Looking at Area 1 in the 2020 omnibus, UNH, Apple Knoll, Groton House, GMHA, Huntington, Hitching Post, and Valinor are all in the “easy day trip for an event” range, which I call under two hours. 15 events. That list was several entries longer a couple of years ago.

To dovetail into the various threads about losing events: probably some of the Connecticut events are within that range, too, but I the run to Vermont seems nicer and it feels like there’s no shortage! Personally I feel like a bit of extra travel time for a nicer event is neither here nor there compared to the cost and fuss of getting organized and getting on the road in the first place, but declining entries in now-departed western Mass. events suggest that other people don’t agree with me.

[beowulf]

@amb

Wow! Some of these answers make me wonder how dedicated I’d be if I had those kind of drive times.

Looking at Area 1 in the 2020 omnibus, UNH, Apple Knoll, Groton House, GMHA, Huntington, Hitching Post, and Valinor are all in the “easy day trip for an event” range, which I call under two hours. 15 events. That list was several entries longer a couple of years ago.

To dovetail into the various threads about losing events: probably some of the Connecticut events are within that range, too, but I the run to Vermont seems nicer and it feels like there’s no shortage! Personally I feel like a bit of extra travel time for a nicer event is neither here nor there compared to the cost and fuss of getting organized and getting on the road in the first place, but declining entries in now-departed western Mass. events suggest that other people don’t agree with me.

We’ve lost a lot of (recognized) events. Is there even one out in western MA anymore…? I was peeking at the Omnibus this morning because of that other thread about soft BNs in Area I, and boy the pickings sure looked slim for 2021 and none of them even being one I’d describe as soft. Maybe AK now that it’s under different management…? But I remember AK always seemed to have jumps deliberately placed in the lookiest way possible.

[leighbo009]

I feel like I should have made this a poll.

I am in area 3, but my closest event is close to 4 hours away, but only offers 1 event a year and only through training level. 2 within 5 hours, and everything else 6+ hours away.

Besides that, our closest schooling with water/bank/ditch (not even asking for prelim questions, but just somewhere to get the young horses out) is 4+ hours away. So struggling to feel like it will be worth it to go to a show 6+ hours away. But I know I am not the only one in this boat, but makes it difficult to feel like I will succeed.

[leheath]

@Chouteau

I traveled to an event last weekend with a rider who is new to the area - she is from out east & couldn’t believe the “production” involved in going to an event - she had never spent the night before (I’ve never been to an event where we don’t spend - usually 2, sometimes 3 - nights)
I don’t even mind the need to travel to compete - the hard part is lack of local schooling, if you want to school a water complex, you have to travel at least 4 hours & then you are going to school the last course they had set for the horse trial. We don’t have “schooling” venues out here - you know where you can school a bounce @ training or novice height - if you are schooling prelim questions, they are prelim height.

I know how they felt! I started eventing in southern Ontario - we never travelled more than 2 hours and almost never stayed overnight (everything ran as a 1-day event) and we could event pretty much every other weekend throughout the season.

I moved the PNW (but not right on the coast) and couldn’t believe that everything was run over 3 days, requiring at least a 4-day commitment if travel was required (so 2 days off work), house sitters, accommodations, etc. even for the lowest level riders. It really was a shock both mentally and financially and I switched to dressage for quite a while because I just couldn’t handle the cost and complexity of both schooling and showing in eventing.