Showing by myself...stall drapes?

[Alterration]

I figured this would be the best forum for this question. I am showing my young horse at his first rated breed show by myself. This may or may not be the wisest idea I’ve ever had but my entry fees are paid so I’m doing it. I ordered a tack stall, because it’s just too annoying not to have one, but it is the kind of breed show where all the stalls are decked out with fancy stall drapes.

I’ll probably do this quite a bit, so investing in some cheap drapes would probably be worth it…but does it seem pretentious? I’m not putting a barn name on them or anything, I’d just like a place to stash my stuff neatly and change when I need to.

I’m probably fretting way more than I need to, but being an amateur owner trainer is a little nerve wracking anyway so I’d like it to be clear that I’m not trying to do anything other than have a fun experience!

[skydy]

I know nothing about breed shows so keep that in mind, but I wouldn’t worry about what other people think. If drapes will make showing easier for you, use them. Make sure you are familiar with putting them up. If you are on your own you’ll not want to have them become more of a pain than they’re worth.

Concentrate on your horse. Be concerned about giving him/her a good experience, good grooming and turnout. Don’t worry about what people may think about your drapes. Sounds like you know this and just need some positive reinforcement.

[meupatdoes]

Unless you have staff you can deploy with pieces of wood, zip ties, and a staple gun, you’re going to have better things to do showing a horse by yourself than hanging stall drapes to keep up with the joneses.

Seriously pouring yourself a mimosa and having a seat in a camp chair would be a better use of your bandwidth.

[Lucassb]

Drapes don’t have to be difficult or expensive. Here are a bunch of options to consider: https://www.sstack.com/stall-drapes/c/5404/

If you are going to do this often, the easy up stall drape hangers are worth checking out!

[Alterration]

Does my husband count? I’ve put up stall drapes for my old trainer aplenty, so I am familiar with the errr pleasure of putting them up. It’s a multi-day show so I need a place to store the cooler

I appreciate the sentiment though. I may need a trillion of those (mimosas, I mean) on my way to the show grounds!

[Alterration]

Thanks @skydy. I am sweating the details just because the horse part is the only part I know I do pretty reasonably well. It’s all the other “stuff” that freaks me out.

I won’t be completely alone, I just won’t be “with trainer”, which is pretty unusual for these shows. It’s of a breed where people put up fountains and all kinds of crazy stuff so I’m feeling a little intimidated by that part.

Thankfully I know a lot of really nice people who will be there. With any luck we won’t make complete fools of ourselves!

[Alterration]

Thanks Lucasb! Those are the ones I was looking at! My trainer had a very neat frame for the two by 4s, but I’m thinking the easy ups will work well.

I am not likely to be under the tutelage of a breed show trainer ever, since my horse’s main focus is dressage, but I like to support the shows and show a different kind of horse. But that means the curtains will work for a dressage show as well if we get to the point where we are doing multi-day shows there too.

Overall if they are neat and well hung it doesn’t sound like anyone would think it was a no no to have them.

[skydy]

I get it, but don’t worry about what other people may think of your curtains. Present your horse well and focus your attention there.The people that make fools of themselves are the people that care more about the incidentals than they do about the horse.

If curtains are helpful, use them. They don’t have to be fancy, just functional. You’ll be fine.

[skydy]

@meupatdoes

Unless you have staff you can deploy with pieces of wood, zip ties, and a staple gun, you’re going to have better things to do showing a horse by yourself than hanging stall drapes to keep up with the joneses.

Seriously pouring yourself a mimosa and having a seat in a camp chair would be a better use of your bandwidth.

It doesn’t really take a “staff” to hang curtains. It just helps to have experience. It sounds as if the OP has the experience.

[Renn_aissance]

When my sister and I were kids, we would sometimes go to a show on the weekend away from the rest of our barn. We would help each other and my mother would come to the ring with us. We made the joke that we should get drapes and a banner saying “Home Again Farm,” after the wooden sign my mother has at the front of her driveway reading “Home Again.”

(When I got married in mom’s backyard, the invitations did read “Home Again Farm,” which is definitely not what her home is called. My sister had a good laugh.)

All that is to say that if you want to get drapes you should get drapes. I like not changing my clothes in the middle of the aisle amongst strangers, too. And if you want to put a banner up with a farm name you just decided on yesterday, that wouldn’t be pretentious either. We do this to have fun so in matters of aesthetics you may as well do what you like.

[Willesdon]

In a world of fancy and bling, clean simplicity can be very effective.

In a totally different sport, I once watched top level motorbike racing on TV. All the competitors were in white combined with really bright colours - orange, yellow, red, fluorescent green - except one rider who was in plain black. He was the most visible in the entire pack.

I would like somewhere private to change and gather my thoughts before going into the ring.

[mbv]

When I was a kid I mostly showed h/j but sometimes would go to breed shows on my own/with my family. I found that I usually ended up getting stalled at the back or at the awkward end of a shedrow where there were 1-2 extra stalls left over from the big barns. I never decorated and no one really noticed/cared. This is including at National finals level shows. If you like the drapes look, go for it, but if you’re already a bit of an anomaly as an independent person showing without a big barn, the drapes aren’t really going to change your experience!

[clanter]

@Alterration

I just won’t be “with trainer”, which is pretty unusual for these shows.

my daughter does shows by herself, sometimes. But usually she will gather a few others who are in the same position and they will all stall together forming what appears to be a single barn’s effort.

She really does not have a trainer, she trains her own horses under the guidance of a respected trainer who recently moved into the area. For her, the arrangement has worked well.

Breed shows, if attended over a period of time, you will develop a relationship with management that helps in stall assignments otherwise a single entry with two or three stalls is stuck in outer Mongolia.

[clanter]

@mbv

This is including at National finals level shows. If you like the drapes look, go for it,

drapes do make a pretty backdrop for your championship ribbons that you have won with your single horse that you hauled in by yourself against the hundreds of others attending the show

To me, it not the drapes are required but what will be remembered

[mvp]

I have a show set up composed of custom trunks, a saddle rack and horse clothing hung on a blanket rack. I am an ammy who has always show by myself or, if with a pro, at the end of her block of stalls.

I stopped short of drapes for a few reasons. 1. I’d only have a tack stall if I brought more than one horse and that wouldn’t be often. 2. I’ll usually get out-of-the-way stalls, being that singleton. 3. I don’t think a single stall or even two look that awesome with drapes. 4. What Meupatdoes says: It adds another layer of work to setting up and tearing down for me. I don’t have any help when I go to a horse show, so really, it’s more work with less payoff than makes sense to me. I wish I could attach a picture. I think you’d see that my set up looks OK without drapes. But I did customize in other areas, so I get the job done that way.

Do what makes you happy.

[trubandloki]

If having drapes makes your tack stall more useful to you then for sure get drapes. Do not let the worry that your drapes will not be fancy enough stop you from getting them if they are something you want to have as part of your show set-up.

[clanter]

@Alterration

It’s of a breed where people put up fountains and all kinds of crazy stuff so I’m feeling a little intimidated by that part.

well sometimes the horse is surprised at what it sees as normal at a big-time show, I guess often we were just the Beverly Hillbillies at some shows.

My daughter took her two year old to a national show where every thing was set up “pretty”. He was very interested in the use of flowers, as if he had never seen any before

we just had to buy this photo

[Alterration]

I am sure your setup looks lovely! I’m definitely not criticizing anyone who goes without drapes. I wish I had nice custom trunks. I don’t think I have time to get any of those.

My fear is actually that drapes will look like I’m trying “too hard”. I want to strike a good balance of “we belong at this show” with “but we’re not trying to set ourselves up as a trainer”. In the end, it really doesn’t matter and I’m sure people will be lovely about it either way. I’m probably fretting over the easy details because I have a fair amount of social anxiety, particularly around etiquette, and the horse part is the easy part. The human part is the much much harder part for me.

I think I’ll order the plain drapes, worry about embroidery later if and when I’m sure I’m going to do this a bunch (e.g. that we get around, have a pleasant experience, and don’t die). I wanted to attend some more schooling shows for this breed (we did one the year before last) but COVID ruined those plans last year and some of the smaller shows aren’t running, we have to jump straight into the big leagues if we want to do it.

And yes, it’s a total waste of money to buy the box seat and buy the tack stall, but we had no shows last year, the breed doesn’t have a ton of shows within driving distance this year, and I enjoy sitting ringside and enjoying the whole show with my friends & husband when I’m not feeding/cleaning/schooling and I appreciate not changing in the aisle. I’ll have to wear makeup in the ring (a terrifying thought, honestly) and having a private place to apply said accoutrements would be nice!

[Alterration]

Beautiful pictures! Yes, when we took him to school the year before last, the most interesting thing in the arena was actually an electrical box. You’d swear he’d never seen one before (there’s one that he walks up to on the daily to turn on the indoor lights…)

[Alterration]

I don’t really care about being in Outer Mongolia (it might actually be easier for me with my anxiety to not be in the middle of things) - I fully acknowledge that even my box seat is probably going to be somewhere undesirable and near the end of the ring. That will likely be a-ok too

I only know the big barn people in this breed, so it will be interesting to see if I can locate other anomalies like me. I guess the good thing is that I am showing in a discipline I know well, just not the breed I know well. I’ve attended shows for the breed for the last 3 years in an effort to figure it out, as well as gotten to know a lot of big barn people. So I’ll have friends and colleagues.

I appreciate the support! I’m hoping we’ll have a really good experience and those stall drapes will be well used