So I’ve never been to a rally before, but I volunteered to be a stable manager at the upcoming show jumping rally. There is a meeting before to go over everything but what should i expect? Attire? Stuff that I should bring? Thanks!
Congratulations! I’m sure you’ll have fun… you’ll be very busy, but you’ll have fun.
Is the rally being held over multiple days, or just one day? Either way, make sure you are well-established beforehand. Bring healthy snacks, possibly enough to share, and make sure you eat and drink plenty of water all day. Bring sunblock and rain gear, as appropriate for the weather–but better to have something and not need it for your personal comfort, than to be sunburned or soaked and miserable.
As a stable manager, you should wear khakis (breeches or work pants would be a fine substitute, if you have no khakis) and a polo. If your club or RC has club polos, wear yours. Add under armor and jacket layers as necessary. Remember to ALWAYS wear your arm band over your outermost layer, and put your PC pin in your arm band so that you are always wearing that too. Wear non-cotton socks with paddock boots or work boots.
Does your club have an already-assembled rally kit? There is a whole list of things that the team needs to bring, and often the SM is in charge of checking over the team supplies & bringing anything the team still needs. Since this is your first rally, I would ask someone more experienced with rallies to help you with this process. Hopefully, your team is already mostly prepared 
In our region for summer rallies, stable managers wear shorts (along with club polo and paddock boots, armband and pony club pin).
Pre-rally responsibilities can vary from club to club, so ask your DC what you need to do (such as checking the rally kits, or making the team sign). When you arrive, help set everything up, and think about taking on tasks such as making sure everyone has their stall card updated with things like their pinney number and chaperone name/number, or making sure all horses’ halters are labeled (when in doubt, label everything).
You will assist all team members with getting ready for turnout, then you will go to turnout with them, carrying a brush and a rub rag, at a minimum. Be sure to give the rider’s boots a last minute polish with the rag before their turnout. Watch the turnout, and learn from it for your next rider. Before going up, check each rider over for the simple things that are sometimes forgotten, like armband, pin, belt, etc. The most important thing is to make sure you get them to turnout ON TIME. There are stiff penalties for being late to turnout, so get them there a few minutes early.
In the stable or trailer area, you are just an extra set of hands. You are not a slave to the riders, just there to help them. They should be responsible for their own mounts/equipment, but you should do your best to make yourself useful to everyone on the team. Some will need it more than others. Some things that need to be checked on throughout the day are trash in your team area (often a problem for our club), manure being picked up if horses are tied to trailers, make sure horses have hay and water available at all times, and be familiar with all of the required equipment, because you might be the one there to go over it with the horse management judges. Horses and bits should be clean and free of sweat marks after their rides (there will probably either be a turnback inspection, or they’ll just walk around the stable/trailer area and check).
It sounds kind of stressful, but there will be plenty of time to hang out with your team, talking and eating snacks, and having fun.
Thank you for volunteering to be the SM! I used to always end up with SM when I was in PC, mostly because no one wanted to do it. I had fun though
First, your attire: echoing what everyone else said but BRING warm clothes - I don’t know where you are but whenever I was SM it always seemed to rain. Underarmor gear, a waterproof jacket, etc. Don’t forget the armband and pin, make sure you have those easily visible at all times. Bring snacks and drinks to keep yourself going (try to bring enough for teammates, if you can).
I would ask your DC to introduce you to someone who has been an SM before, they will have good advice about your specific group of pony clubbers, what their strengths/weaknesses are, etc - in my day, my group always seemed terrible about punctuality. I would always make sure we were ready at least 5-10m before inspection.
You are the overseer - you are NOT the personal groom. Remember that. When you get there, help set up (make sure the night before that the team as a WHOLE goes through the rally kits/extras). Once you are set up, bring out the whiteboard and write everyone’s times on there. Everyone should, at maximum, only need 20m to tack up for formal inspection. Everyone’s horses should already be clean, all tack should already be clean, etc. I kept a very detailed time-table and would announce to each rider their times, when they should be tacking up, etc - this kept things going very smoothly. AKA 5 minutes before I expected them to start tacking up I would remind them “Becky, you are up at 11AM, it’s 10:25 now - you’ll need 20m to tack up and 5m to walk down, and you’ll want to be 5 minutes early. Are you just about ready?”
Some teams are better than others… but I always tried to foster an environment for everyone helping each other. It can be frustrating when Susie doesn’t like Sally and won’t help her get ready… some teams are all for pitching in and others, you might have to coax them into it a little. One year I had a group of kids that were much younger than me and IMHO they were much easier to manage than the 15 y/os I was usually with.
Turnbacks sound scary but are usually quick and painless - as your teammates are untacking, be ready to help/assist them - if they need help wiping down tack, cleaning the bit, currying girth marks out, etc, help them - but don’t do it all yourself! It’s their responsibility too. I always kept a few wipes on hand and a rag looped through my belt to help with last minute touch-ups to things like getting a little scuff off of a boot, bridle, etc. For untacking, I would help them pull their tack while they groomed/cleaned off the horse - once the horse was taken care of, I would make sure they attended their tack, I would go over to the horse and eyeball it to make sure it was perfect, and then go help them wipe down the rest of their tack. I did this with every rider and it was a very good way to keep everything neat and tidy.
One thing I always remember my teams getting penalties on was gunk on the bit and dirt on the girth - it helps if you wipe these down immediately after you pull them from the horse. There is usually at least one team member who does not have a good eye for detail - you may have to remind them that they need to brush off the corners of their horse’s mouth, or get that last girth mark off the flank, etc.
Do not be afraid to be “bossy” - if you see someone is shirking a duty, speak up and remind them, and if they need it, help them. Your attention to detail and “bossiness” will make a big difference. Do not let your team members leave the horses unattended in the stall with tack/boots/leadrope/brushes on - if no one is in the stall, all items need to be cleared (except halter) from the horse/stall. My team was SO bad about this, on so many occasions.
Good luck and have fun! I’m too old for PC now but I do really miss it. Let us know how it goes.
Definitely be on top of time management. Have the schedule for everyone’s turnout, ride times, and turnbacks. Work back to what time your riders have to start prepping, and as said before, make sure they don’t miss the little things while they may be anxious about the bigger things. When horses are out, pick and tidy stalls, keep the tack room and aisle tidy. Sit down with your teammates beforehand to make sure your rally supply list is complete, including making sure if you have a big horse and a pony on the team, there is spare tack in the kit to fit everyone.
When I hit the big leagues grooming, I wished I had taken better advantage of being stable manager at rallies; there are a lot of parallels. A watch, notebook, and whiteboard to track times are essential.
You are MOM for a day. Most clubs, at their organization meeting, discuss things such as team turn out, equipment boxes, and all the good things on the “bring to rally” list. Your job is to make sure the riders are on time, and organized, to give their boots their last rag flick, & remind them to pickup after themselves. Some riders are great, others not so. Try not to get testy with them, this is supposed to be fun. Remember HM judges can be your friend. If you have a question , ask!
It is far better to ask than to lose points.
Yay! Thank you for doing this! The stable manager is key to ensuring a successful rally with a minimum of points! Appropriate turnout for you is khakis, your PC polo, and freshly polished paddock boots with your armband/bracelet and PC pin. Make sure that you bring layers and wear sunscreen! As SM it won’t hurt for you to have a groom bag ready, extra rub rags, people water bottles, a granola bar or two, copies of the courses, mane/tail brush, and baby wipes. Basically a kit to do final touches before your teams formal inspections and talk them off the ledge ringside.
From my perspective as an Assistant HM Judge(working on becoming qualified to Chief!)…
- Make sure that your antibiotic creams(both horse and human) aren't expired!
- Ensure that your anti-everything is actually a SCRUB. There is a difference between betadine solution and a betadine scrub!
- Before rally, remind your team members to ensure that their grooming kit is up to standards. Don't forget the rub rag and baby wipes.
- Double check that you have UTD copies of the HM Newsletter and rulebook. Electronic copies are fine, just make sure that you can show them to us when we do required equipment checks.
- Try and scrounge up a few extra PC pins, it seems to be a universal truth that your kit will be short the two spare pins, and that someone will forget/lose theirs.
- Label halters!!!!! Use duct tape and include your riders name, rally #, etc. Make sure that we can identify who the horse belongs to if that take a walkabout!
- Don't make us chase you down for your turnbacks. Please come find us as soon as you are ready!
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