You can rent mats for $55 through Dever. You don’t have to strip before you leave.
You should have heard what the olympic grooms had to say when they arrived in Atlanta to stalls with dirt floors. Without exception they bought carpet to bed on. You should be thanking KHP for providing a nice level surface that won’t effect your horse’s legs, and bed appropriately.
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I have arrived to messy stalls everytime I have been there for PF. Used for the prior week.[/QUOTE]
Not saying this is the case with you…however, speaking as someone who doesn’t have ponies - I have been there showing the week before PFs and still have horses going when pony people have shown up demanding we leave our stalls so they can move in - literally hours before we have to be out. It can really be a clusterf*** trying to get out of stalls there with pony people rushing in, and so it wouldn’t surprise me if you were moving into stalls that had literally just been vacated.
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You can rent mats for $55 through Dever. You don’t have to strip before you leave.[/QUOTE]
I have to say that’s a pretty brilliant idea by Dever.
Though if you show there often enough, it would pay to just buy your own mats and bring them, provided you have a way to transport them.
And on a slight tangent, does anyone know of a decent, reasonable hotel nearby that allows dogs?
Yeah, there is no real off day between those shows and Ponies do start coming in earlier then requested and horses in classes that wrap later then expected don’t vacate when expected.
Nonetheless, if your stall is not clean, complain and they will get a crew out. Probably take awhile with stalls flipping from outbound to inbound the same day, but they will get there.
Think the mat thing is a little over the top, like I said, never had them despite doing hundreds of shows. Should think they would be harder to clean with stuff from all sorts of horses from all sorts of places sifting into the seams and getting under them around the edges…like bacteria. Hard floors are more practical in that regard. We just got 10 bags of shavings to start, never had problems.
But besides DC - this is the only place the stalls are on asphalt, that I have seen. - hard to understand that an FEI/International venue would have this. Who else has stalls bedded on asphalt?
Fairgrounds and multi use facilities have asphalt or concrete. Lots of places across the southern tier of states where it rains more also have some type of paving. A lot of places have just dirt or packed clay. No mats.
But F8 - this is a facility that hosted WEG - Rolex once a year, NAYRC and other shows that have $$$horses/ponies stabled there. We show at Brownland, Atlanta, Gulfport, Ocala, OK and some other places and these stalls are the worst. Would rather be in a tent on grass than in these stalls on asphalt - like I said - why do they spend all the $$$ for the people and horses are shafted at “The Kentucky Horse Park”?
Glad to know that Dever is now renting mats. When I was there for Nationals last year there was a gal who would rent them for $100. They put them down for me and I called when I left so they could come back and pick them up. She even called me at the start of show season this year to remind me she would bring them by.
I stabled in on of the Alltech barns and loved everything about it but; the asphalt.
Just called Dever. Yes, they have mats but you can’t preorder them. You have to stop in when you get there and if they have some they are happy to rent them to you. If not…
Don’t forget KHP is a state owned and operated facility that has benefitted from an exceptional level of private donations. The state (one of the poorest)is not going to buy and maintain mats for 1000+ stalls or knock them down to redo the floors and rebuild. They have far worse issues, now they are losing Altech in all but name.
I honestly never had a problem despite being there up to 2 weeks at a time 6 times a year for quite a few years with 4 different horses.
Some of the other permanent facilities mentioned are privately owned, owned by a show management company or affiliate or are quite a bit newer. And I have had trouble in tents no matter what they are raised over.
