We do a lot of one day schooling shows and did a one day recognized in Iowa. I love them! I would assume it is for smaller venues.
Ugh!! I WISH we had more one-days. We have one. And that one just started last year. There are 7 events in Alberta, at 5 venues. For me the venues range from 1 to 4 hours away, if I stay in Alberta. Of those 7, 3 (yes 3) are 3 day events. And in order to get a decent parking spot, which does matter when you are staying 3 days & pretty much everyone camps, you have to arrive early the day before early on Thursday.
My job includes working weekends, this means I need to schedule anywhere from 2-4 days off from work. Or that I need to trade shifts with my co-workers which means any weekend I’m not at a show, I’m probably working. My husband loves this.
I can’t complain this year because my greenie will be too green to get out this year. I was hoping for later in the summer, but this may be unrealistic. I also do my best, and will continue to do my best in the future, to go to every one day in order to support and encourage them despite the only one day being the furthest away.
I agree that one days can be hectic, but it does encourage independence, time management skills and focus. All good things when eventing!
I did one days with one of my horses. I think the key is to really know what your horse needs to be ready for each phase. This will take experience at one days to find out, but you can get a baseline at home.
How long do you need to ride to have your horse ready for a dressage test? Mine needed 20min, and the current one is also 20min. Schooling dressage shows can help you figure this one out. The timing might change depending on how many tests you do, but it can help you find out what the sweet spot feels like so you can warm up enough without overdoing it.
How long do you need to warm up, and how many jumps of what type do you need before a stadium round? A XC round?
I found each subsequent phase needed less warm up time, and even less if they were close together. Mine can do a full jump school at home in under half an hour. Including warm up and walk between rounds. He is very clever over fences and gets it right on the second try (assuming he actually got it wrong the first time). Doing anything more than three times correctly will result in him attempting to make it more interesting. There is no point in pushing him so far as to make him be wrong and then keep going to “train him right.”. The same applies to jump warmups. Is he listening? Did I find my jump canter? We’re good to go.
I see people almost having a full lesson before each phase. I think this is too much. At the event is too late to fix anything. Get loose, get listening and get going.
What else does your horse need to be ready to show? Mine needed, and I mean NEEDED five minutes before his dressage test to walk around on a long rein and gawk at whatever caught his eye. No matter how late I was running if he had his gawk he was listening and trying, but if he didn’t get his gawk he was distracted. The young fellow needs five minutes on the longe to settle his brain.
Make a plan, carry it out and see what happens. Alter the plan as needed and try it again.
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I find that if you have “grown up” doing one days, like a lot of us who’s eventing careers have been mostly on the east coast, one days are no brainers. They definitely require good organization and can be early days, but they can make life super easy. And since, at least here in area 2, we tend to run xc directly after show jumping, you can make it a really short day…just early. Sometimes REALLY early (3am wake up calls are not hyperbole. Hell, I have been getting coffee and a breakfast buscuit at a Sheetz at 3am, wondering what the girls in the car next to me are doing up and dressed up so much that early…only to realize that their night wasn’t only wrapping up! :lol:). But, they can be great. Helped the kid riding my horse at a one day a few weeks ago, and still had time to meet friends at a winery! And didn’t have to get there until about 11am!
Our local unrecognized are all one days, and since my greenie and I are still doing the 2’ division, we’re often done by 11am! (most of our events are scheduled with the lowest levels first, then the jumps ascend in height). Dressage around 9am, showjump around 10, XC right after show jumping. There are days it takes longer to score the division than it does to ride.
Of course, we still go the day before to school…because we’re green. But theoretically, at some point we should just be able to roll in and out in 4 hours! Something to look forward to, at least 
I do one days all the time…and get up at the crack of dawn or even earlier. Nothing like being in the local 24 hour convenience store filling up on gas and grabbing coffee and ice for the show that day with people who are still out from the night before! 1.5-3 hours is our typical drive. It isn’t the going early that it hard…it is driving home after you are done and are tired…and there is more traffic on the road.
Only con for me is walking the course. If you are not given enough time before or after your dressage time. I have had some events where I had early times, and from the start of dressage to I was done with xc was 1.5 hours. I’ve walked xc in the dark in the morning because there just was no other time.
But around here…events through Intermediate and even a few Advanced are all run on one day.
The only 1 days we have around my area (NW WA) are derbys, a mix of xc/stadium jumps and a dressage test. Most are put on by area pony clubs. There are no true 3 phase event on one day, although I would love it if there were. Also, on the same note, in this area, events are run over 3 days, dressage on Friday, XC Saturday, and stadium Sunday. Therefore, it necessitates taking 2 days off of work to arrive on Thursday. I see no reason why dressage and stadium couldn’t both be held on Saturday and XC on Sunday. As there is a cut off on the number of entries it should be do-able. For example, at my next event they’re holding dressage and BN XC on Friday. If they could move both those phases to Saturday, it would be perfect. Now, I have a whole day (Saturday) to hang around waiting for Sunday.
I grew up in Ontario, Canada where everything was a 1-day events and it was great. But the furthest we drove to an event was 2.5 hours (and we typically went overnight to that one). I now live in the PNW where there is one event around the corner and the rest are mostly 5-6 hours away. A 1 day event is not practical if you have to drive 10-12 hours roundtrip. It makes everything more expensive and difficult for work schedules, but it is the reality of where I now live.
However, I think spreading the 3 phases over more than one day is beneficial for young horses. Mine sometimes need more warmup/time than is practical in a 1-day event. She also tires mentally much quicker than a more experienced horse, and this works against us at a 1 day event.
Thank you all for all the responses!! As most of the responses seem really positive, I’ve decided I’m just gong to go ahead and do it. The event takes place on a Saturday and we will likely haul up on Friday (which defeats the purpose of saving money on stabling, I know), depending on ride times. It’s not super far away, but far enough that if my coach trailers me she will want to go the day before. It’s on September 2nd, which seems so far away but it’s really just right around the corner! Time to work on my dressage skillz :lol:.
This seems so silly!!! It’s great to have two phases on one day, but such a pain to have one day “off” in between. I haven’t encountered that here, and I hope I don’t have to!
