You need to consider the basics before you consider showing. You have to have a horse that will be able to do what you want, in the kind of competitions you want to “play” in. Sure you can take “any horse” and go to a show. They will take your money, watch you ride, but if horse is not GOOD, CAPABLE, you won’t win. Is winning important to you? Do you LUST for first or is any placing fine with you? Or are you just having a good time improving yourself and your skills, getting good comments from the Judges, hanging out with friends at the show?
Deciding on the above is what will help you decide on the horse you ride, shows you attend, progress needed to rise in skills and kinds of shows, to be VERY good and win if that is what you want from your showing experiences.
You need to decide about your horse. Going for a fun time means you can ride almost any horse that can do what your discipline requires in the ring. If you want to win or place well, horse needs to be attractive, capable of good gaits, obedient when asked to do things required in the show. Needs to travel well, eat and drink in strange places, stay calm, not act like a fruit. No fun traveling with a nut, takes all the fun out of going. You may already own this nice horse or you may need to upgrade from what you own now. You and horse have to mesh, get along, or there is no use going. You might need to try a number of horses to find one that you like and who will be what you need to win with.
We couldn’t find or afford horses suitable for our discipline, so we had to breed them. Then wait while they grew and learned their jobs. BIG time investment this way. Plus side is we KNOW them and they know, trust us in all situations, even scary ones and halt from a gallop, stand when asked. That alone has probably saved all of us from getting hurt more than once. They respond when asked, no fighting, try their hardest when asked. They are probably 5 figure horses with training, sure would be hard to replace without going to Europe to buy another.
Getting out to show means you need a dependable truck big enough to handle the trailer and a solid, reliable trailer that horse is comfortable in to travel near or far to the shows. Gas or diesel is priced each day, but always has to be figured in to expenses. This year it has been low compared to other years. A bonus if you travel far and truck gets 15 to 20 MPG pulling the trailer. I don’t know what you have to spend. We got our big truck at an Auction, was DEAL of the year at almost 1/3 the price it would have been any place else. Low miles, fairly new at 5 years old. AND they threw in the big trailer because that truck was the only one with hitch that matched the trailer. No one else bid on the trailer at all. You can hunt for bargin trucks and trailers, they are out there, just far apart. Sometimes you have to “know people” who know others wanting to sell their vehicles, going out of the horse life, to find a bargin. Other times there are no bargins, you have to just pay. How much for trucks is variable, depends on what you can live with or MUST have as options on the vehicles. Newer, all option trucks cost more. Older, plain trucks cost less, but may need repair as parts wear out with use or age. Trailers can be simple, 2 horse bumper pull. Or more fancy, gooseneck with living quarters to camp in at shows, save hotel costs. What can you manage with, what is a MUST HAVE to make you happy at the show and on the road? Costs for vehicles will cover a wide span of prices. So hard to be specific! What I can get along in is minimal, but other folks I know are driving outfits that cost almost 6 figures and think they are “roughing it” at the show!
We usually camp on the grounds, both to save expenses and be near the horses. We bring food in the LQ trailer which has a refrigerator and the BEST bathroom with a full size shower. Great for hot days! This is the trailer that came with the truck, not something I would have bought otherwise. It holds all our gear, rides well for the horses, hauls nicely. It is OLD, but well built, unique in it’s layout, in great shape. We get asked for tours, everyone is interested in how it works for us! Kind of funny, we meet a lot of people this way, asking about the trailer.
Entries with all their fees and charges run about $1000 to take 2 horses to a CDE competition. We take our own hay, bedding, saves buying at higher show prices, no change of hay to get horse sick. We compete now in Combined Driving with a Pair, at the Prelim level as horses gain experience. We have competed at Advanced and are working to get back “up there” again. Driving takes a boatload of equipment that must be hauled to the competition. If we did riding things, we could have a much smaller trailer for sure!
