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Tips & tricks for shows

What are your top tips for making your time at events more efficient?

Some things I’ve incorporated this year:

  1. After xc, when saddle and bridle are off and horse has had a drink and pulsed down, take horse straight to the wash rack and hose off legs with boots still on. Then remove and finish washing horse etc. Saves a step of taking muddy boots to the hose to wash.

  2. Similarly, when taping boots folding back the last 1/2” of each stripe of tape to make a tab for easy tape removal after xc.

  3. You don’t need an armband anymore unless you have a medical condition. Really!

  4. Most excellent collapsible cart for transporting all your gear at events: MAC SPORTS WTC-111 Outdoor Utility Wagon, Solid Blue https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BUUUIGK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_NGMQ1HMMW7VEE7H0TCFM?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

  5. For braiding with bands, three bands is exponentially better than two. One for the end, fold and band again, fold again and put in the third band. They each grip each other. Blessed be the fruit!

These might be old news to you but somehow they evaded me over the years!

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Upper level groom here. I would really not recommend the first one. Based on tendon research, it is a best practice to remove the boots as soon as possible to cool down the tendons. Repeated heating and retaining of that heat weakens the tendons. In any 10 min box after XC, we try to remove the studs and boots as soon as the horse has caught its breath and while we are cooling. It also really clogs up the wash racks if there aren’t many available. I would recommend cleaning the boots while your horse is chilling out by the trailer before you leave or after XC has ended to be courteous to other competitors.

I find it to be faster to just end the tape in the same place for every piece, then I don’t have to fiddle with it to fold it back. That may just be helpful though if you have many horses!

Having groomed 5-6 horses by myself at competitions, my main suggestions are to create a plan and to do jobs that build up throughout the day instead of all at the end. For example, it’s a lot easier to pick up that pile of poop in your horses stall just after they poop it than it is to pick it up when it’s all buried into the shavings. Same with waters and cleaning tack. I do all these jobs in the small breaks throughout the day.

I always sew-in braids and can take them out with one cut of a seam ripper. It is faster than band braiding for me, looks nice, and they are easy to take out.

In your plan, try to take the least steps possible and multi-task. For example, if the area to purchase shavings is near the packet pick up, do it all at once.

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I doubt a horse will break down from overheated tendons in the 2-3 minutes between getting off and walking to the wash rack, but I do understand wanting to keep tendons cool. :+1:

And I do start and end tape at the same place but folding the last 1/2” back really helps whip off that tape after xc and get those boots off. Saving probably a whole minute, to your earlier point. :joy: but also for me quite a bit of annoyance trying to lift the tape end.

Happily at our events we can have shavings paid in advance and delivered to the stalls before arrival so that’s a big time saver. I didn’t know you had to pick them up yourself elsewhere!

Don’t know why I didn’t see this thread until today - it’s a good one and fun during the off season.

I’m no professional, but packing an empty (ventilated) laundry bag is a game changer. Anything fabric that gets pulled off you or the horse gets thrown in the bag - Kool Coat, shipping boots, saddles pads 1, 2, and 3, bonnet, show shirt, grooming towel/sponge, horse boots, wraps, etc etc. When you are unloading, the bag goes to the washing machine, everything else goes back where it came from.

The truly organized people I know clean tack between phases so they only have one phase left to clean at home, but that’s a level of greatness to which I don’t even aspire.

Besides that, consistency in your packing. Use the same list to pack the same items in the same places in your bag/trunk/trailer/truck/whatever show after show after show. Takes the guesswork out of it for you, and much easier to direct hands on the ground too.

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I started wrapping tails and using tail bags this year and it has changed my life. This was also my first full season with a gray horse…

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To piggyback on the doing jobs that build up during the day, I use a small flexible tub (the type you can find at Target, etc. that can be picked up with one hand) to pick stalls during the day instead of a big wheelbarrow. It minimizes the mess for the end of the day, and prevents horses stepping in or laying down in poo while you are trying to keep them clean!

I also recommend putting a piece of tape on the horse’s halter to write the competition # on instead of trying to use the paper number you’re given all weekend (it inevitably gets wet/lost/forgotten).

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Yes! My horse has a white tail and once it is washed and dried, it goes in a tail bag and doesn’t emerge again until I am mounting for warm up. No more rewashing when they poop in the trailer or endlessly picking out shavings.

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Yes! I’ve also got one of these and it’s become a favorite at shows among my team: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Suncast-15-Gal-Portable-Resin-Gray-Lawn-Cart-LC1250L/303269254

If I don’t have time to remove a new pile of poop, I’ll at least scoop it to the back corner of the show stall. I leave 1 of the corners unbedded for this purpose. I’m fastidious about keeping poop either picked up or banked in 1 corner so my grey horse can’t lay on or trample it, making it harder to pick up.

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Absolutely. I made a google sheets list with check boxes so i can keep track, divided into phases, and horse vs human items. With items that live in the trailer (and need to be cleaned/repacked) in a different color. It also has space for my ride times, link to event info etc.

I think the Reminders app on my phone could do same really well.

This is brilliant!
If you (general) are the type that does not want your horse’s stinky stuff with your show shirt then get two laundry bags.
So smart!

I am not used to events that have wash wracks available. Since cooling sponge down happens at the trailer the boots come off at the same time and washed when the horse is 100% taken care of.

I used to take water with me to day shows (now no need as places I go have water my horse drinks) in a 5 gallon bucket with a screw top lid. After xc or hunter pace, horse would drink his fill then I’d put muddy boots in the bucket with remaining water and screw the lid on. Get home and boots were pretty much clean. Kept the mud contained, stopped it drying on the boots, and saved a bit of water too. I like the laundry bag idea!

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I have started using something like a packing cube system. I keep all of my clothes and boots in a garment bag. Saddle pads for all phases in a clear zippered bag with a handle. My body protector, number holders, watch, gloves, sunglasses, and helmet in another clear, zippered bag with handle. Tack, brushes, and horse boots go on the rolling saddle cart. With everything organized this way, I can get the competition necessities from the trailer to the stall in one trip and know that I’m not missing anything. Very helpful if you are running late or prone to misplacing or forgetting things.

The Epona April Power Shower (sponge on one side and tiger tongue scrubber on the other) is a great multipurpose tool that can streamline your grooming/bathing kit. I use it both wet and dry and it works well for getting stains out quickly.

Pack a really good food and drink kit. Bring extra of everything. Nothing kills your schedule like having to wait in line at the food truck or driving 20 minutes to the nearest store for a Gatorade.

I wear a ROAD iD wristband instead of a medical arm band. It is waterproof silicone so I just put it on when I leave for the show and don’t take it off until I get back home.

Bring a couple big blue Ikea bags along. You’ll find uses for them. I collect dirty laundry and horse boots in one and the other collects random bits and bobs that need to come home with me. They brush off or hose off easily when you get home.

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A magnetic tray or wristband for studs. Makes life so much quicker for putting in and removing.

Everything has its own bag so it can be found quickly and put away quickly - saddlecloths, hats, boots, girths, etc

I have a plastic basket with handles for lotions and potions so can be pulled out quickly to spray tail, quarter marks, dirt etc rather than rummaging in a grooming box. Also if they leak they just go through the holes rather than ruining brushes.

We don’t have hoses in the UK unless attached to a lorry so its always buckets and sponges. I always use a washdown potion like NAF cooling wash as gets rid of the sweat better and saves having to rinse the horse like you would with shampoo.

We tend to only have 30-45 mins between phases so you get used to getting a move on especially if by yourself.

I keep three pairs of scissors- one in grooming tote, one in a pouch with other small essentials (sharpie, scissors, xtra hair tie, duct tape, xtra clips, snaps) and one in the bathing bucket. When one pair inevitability vanishes I always have more!

I always keep one string of bailing twine at all times, when I use most of it I grab another. I also use a clean bag and dirty bag for my clothes and one for pads- the bags horse blankets come in work great!

I have a magnetic tray for studs and [all my studs] would be lost without it, but a magnetic wristband you say?? Tell me more!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=magnetic+wristband&crid=76FQ8DGDUKXS&sprefix=magnetic+wri%2Caps%2C250&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_12

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