I am confident that you will represent the breed well, hopefully others will see that they if they wanted could compete equally with the big named barns as once in the ring it is supposedly the horse that is judged
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I’m with the others and say why not? Set up your curtains, I think its always so nice to walk down the aisles seeing everyones drapes and set ups 
My husband and I also do some breed shows and do not show with a trainer nor do we teach/coach. We usually bring 1-2 ponies to a show and will do a big set up for our year end show. It takes a long time but we love the way it looks. We also have a room for changing, it makes things so much easier (with a mirror, fridge and food too!).
This is our set up. Husband made everything except the drapes. I had a good friend make them once I gave her the measurements and idea of how we wanted the curtains to work.
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@DiamondJubilee, this looks lovely! I want to be your groom!
@Alterration, I say do the drapes purely because it will make your show experience more pleasant - having a convenient, private, and relatively clean place to change is important!
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I agree- it’s a level of effort! If the OP thinks it’s bearable and will pay off, she may as well. For me, the drapes may serve a functional purpose- if you feel better having your stuff concealed from immediate gaze by passersby, for instance, or if you want a quiet place to duck into to change your clothes or take a nap. The kind of thing you’d typically do in your trailer if the trailer were close enough to the barn.
OP, no one will judge you on what your setup looks like, unless you sign up for the tack room decoration competition. You are signing up to be judged on your exhibition of your young horse, and people walking through the barns will simply see that you have drapes. That is a normal feature of tack stalls and no one will think “Oh, but who does she think she is, that amateur with her drapes?”
@DiamondJubilee Your setup is very pretty! You are brave to have all of that foliage. When I went to away shows my horse was typically only allowed to exit and enter the back of the barn for continued sins of flower-eating.
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Your setup is gorgeous!!! I love the idea of the aisle chains and the ferns and foliage are beautiful. Are the boxes terrifically heavy? I like the turf too - a lot of people I’ve seen put out mulch, is your turf real? If not, that’s the best artificial turf I’ve ever seen
I like the idea of bringing a fridge. We always did a cooler at our barn, but I do have a mini fridge that is just sitting in the garage. The cooler can be awkward to manage, get ice, and drain every day of the show.
Ok, now I’m getting nerdy, no wonder people do this, it’s fun!
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You have exactly put my fear into words 
Thanks for the encouragement. I really do appreciate it. And yes - I’d like to hide my stuff. The way these show grounds are laid out, the trailer would be far too far away to store much. I’ll likely be just taking my (relatively inexpensive) expensive tack home - just in case, and leaving the rest.
And yes, that foliage would never survive with my guy either. EVERYTHING goes in his mouth still at 8 years old. I keep hoping he’ll grow out of it, but I doubt it. It’s beautiful though!
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Yes, the sod is real We bought some rolls from a local sod company.
The boxes are not that heavy, just awkward to store. We use mulch around the tack boxes with artificial flowers. The ferns are real but ponies don’t go near them or they wouldn’t last!
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You guys will get a kick out of this…I was showing my husband DiamondJubilee’s lovely examples and he misunderstood my anxiety about it too and after I cleared it up he said:
“Yes, only you would think you were pretentious at a horse show”
I’m dying. Thanks again all. And if you have more examples of beautiful setups I’d love to see them!
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That is a lovely, stylish set up, especially the lighting. But I presume am I the only person who looks and thinks “OMG, what about emergency evacuation? What happens in a fire? Horse breaks out and runs around? Don’t you need clear aisles?”
I never realised I’m such a worrywort.
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Ha ha! Yes, but good points! Those door are almost impossible for a horse to open (latches at the top and bottom of each door attached at one handle - they are a pain to open and close as they are so tight!), unless they’ve been left open of course. The set up does not hinder door opening at all and I can easily bring the ponies in and out of the stalls and I “dress” them up in the aisle way. There is lots of room there Aisles have to have tractors go up and down them as this is upstairs and we all use wagons and tractors to get everything up the ramp. So aisles have to be clear down the middle to fit a big tractor down them at any time as people are moving in and out at all hours of the day/night.
My husband is also a firefigher so we have extinguishers everywhere and the building has over head sprinklers/fire alarm. Not that those are foolproof of course…
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It depends on your reasoning behind the curtains.
Keeping up with the Joneses? Presenting an air of “fitting in”? No. Trust me, the big competition at the show is more worried about how their horses are going that seeing who brought curtains.
I showed top breed level for a long time, and I’ve shown by myself. I will bring curtains to stock shows and to multi day shows.
Stock shows - AQHA/APHA/etc have breed shows at Fort Worth during their annual rodeo, where thousands of people pour into the facility and have full access to the barns. Curtains are a MUST - I also put up solid plastic panels on my horse stall(s) because the one year I didn’t - there were so many random, well meaning people roaming the aisles and trying to stick their hands into my horses stall to “say hi” that he didn’t get any rest. I want to block all of my “stuff” and my animals from the general public.
At most big breed shows, or the year end H/J shows - the benefit to curtains is to act as a barrier for wanderers … IE - most of the random folks walking around aren’t going to wander down an aisle where they have to go through a set of aisleway curtains. Usually we bring either a cot or in some cases, a full on couch, that is also surrounded by curtains so that when we’re waiting for the “open arena” from 2 - 5 AM, there is a quick, quiet, darker place to catch a nap.
They are a huge PITA so you truly do need to have a reason for them. A show where there isn’t likely to be general public and it’s not such a crazy schedule that you’ll mostly have a full nights sleep? I wouldn’t bother. But a big public venue, or a schedule like World or Congress – I’d consider it.
@DiamondJubilee the stall setups are one of the best things about the Royal! We likely would have been there last year for the Cups…but Covid 
Will have to wait a few years and try to breed our own to qualify. Or open a secret bank account and qualify one in the A/Os without SO knowing 
OP, do whatever makes it fun for you! I don’t have drapes for showing alone, since we don’t always get a tack stall. But I do have custom wrap bags and I keep meaning to order trunk covers.
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^
THIS!
For cheap drapes, consider bedsheets.
They come in solid dark colors & you should find some that come close to “your” colors.
You can hang with the Velcro that comes in long strips: staple one side to stall top board, use sewing glue (Stitch Witch) to attach the other to your sheet.
You could add monogram, most sewing supply/crafts stores carry pre-embroidered letters in a variety of sizes.
I showed solo at H/J shows where 99% of the exhibitors were there with trainers.
Same for Dressage, Eventing & now Driving shows.
I usually find like-minded people & end up making friends.
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Hi Arelle, I want them for privacy, not to fit in - I don’t really care about the latter. In fact, I was worried about the opposite. That it would seem like I was trying too hard just with plain curtains In fact, I was toying with the idea of calling my barn “No Pretense Farm” instead of my actual barn name from years ago
I probably won’t put full curtains on my horse’s stall, but on the tack stall I want them to keep my stuff out of sight but also provide a place for me to change. I DO like the idea of keeping passers by away from my guy (he’s a nibbler) and may consider full curtains in the future just to give him a bit of peace, although he’s one that can get almost anything into his stall to destroy, so I’ll have to figure that one out. I like the solid panel idea, how did you rig those up?
It is a large breed show - not an early season H/J show or a schooling show. We may likely have to spend some early mornings or late nights to get room in the warmup to avoid the saddle seat and the in-hand crowd - not that there is anything wrong with them, but those horses and their warmups can be a bit zesty and my guy needs to be more relaxed. He already gets a bit tense with people snapping whips within his earshot although he’s doing a lot better with keeping it together than he was year one. I’d like to have a fighting chance of surviving the warmup arena or getting him to chill out before they show up.
The reality is, I want to make it comfortable and fun for me and anyone who comes to visit me. I have some horsey friends who don’t do the breed show who I’d love to sit with and chill, and I’d love to just have a blast with it. Last year was supposed to be our first year really showing him, and COVID just wrecked our plans, so this is all about making it our year to come out and see if we survive
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clanter, love the photo. I would have bought it, too.
You know what, to be honest, MOST folks will not look at your stall drapes and immediately count how many stalls “belong” to that tack stall. I don’t think any passersby will notice that you are a single-stall ammy. And if they start counting stalls, who cares. Enjoy what makes YOU happy! Plus, what if you need to take a nap? Haha. Privacy is good.
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@DiamondJubilee
I want to show ponies with you!
My Hackney turned 21 today.
He is strictly decorative, but bred well - local BN - & might (
) show well in-hand.
If I could find a crashtest dummy to show him 
My useless knees would leave me dirt-surfing 
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Tabbed blackout curtains may drape better, depending on the width you’re looking for. (Bedsheets aren’t known for their opacity.) Cut off the tabs and add velcro. But if you have a sewing machine, the fabric isn’t expensive. My mom made our former trainer’s drapes pretty inexpensively- she waited until she had a 30% off coupon at JoAnn’s. I think she used cotton duck but you can also get Sunbrella if you intend to hang them outside. She added trim and piping, too.
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Love stall drapes even if they are a PITA to look up. I’m assuming a saddlebred/Morgan/Arabian breed show and honestly no one really cares as long as your area is neat and tidy.
When I showed by myself I added a stall curtain to get changed and some quiet, plus a curtain in front of horses stall and left it alone. Took me 20 minutes to hang and looked neat enough for my two stalls.
Sstack has good options and Radon sometimes has not perfect stall fronts for super cheap if your not crazy picky on color.
Good luck!! I’m sure you will show wonderfully even if you don’t hang stall fronts.
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Yep, you guessed it. Saddlebred & Morgan show and you know how those big barns show up Their custom trunks probably cost more than my horse did when I bought him! Some of them are just super-ogle-worthy.
I just bought a “set” from Sstack for at least the tack stall. I might buy a valance for my horse’s stall to “continue” the tack stall onto his stall although I’ll have to find a way to rig it so that he can’t get to it. He has an amazing tendency to be able to reach everything. I think though the set I ordered has enough pieces to add a drape to his too, depending on where my tack stall is and how much coverage I need.
I have the bridle hooks and all the assorted other pieces and sundries from years ago when I ran a small hunter/jumper program, so I’m covered there. I wouldn’t mind having something to roll out onto the floor to keep things clean. My old trainer used to sprinkle water on the floor every morning to keep the dust down, but a piece of nice-looking artificial turf or something might be nice to have in order to keep oiled hooves from collecting dust while drying etc. since the floors are dirt. And if I’m going to go the whole way to a floor covering I might as well make it look nice and not like a trailer park
I’m inspired now!
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Ooh - super good idea and a way to add “extra wall” if you don’t have enough, or extra darkening.
I’m really loving all of this!
