My barn’s IEA team is getting ready to host its first show. Although we show at other barns’ schooling and IEA shows, we have never hosted one of our own. What are the minor and/or surprising things that you wish you had known before you hosted your first show? (Or that you appreciate when you go to other barns’ schooling shows?) Handy tips? Interested in anything from back-end paperwork to tips for smooth sailing the day-of! For those unfamiliar with IEA format, it’s an equitation show for middle and high schoolers where each rider randomly draws their mount for each class and competes in a catch ride format. While we will be borrowing some horses for the day, trailer parking, warmup space, etc. will therefore be less of an issue.
For me, the biggest challenge is doing right by your horses. Some horses are going to be pulled, so you’ll end up using others more than you intended to/want to. You’ll have to be very judicious when agreeing to substitute a horse. I think this is the most important. Coaches are going to complain about some of your horses and if left to their own devices would have the best ones in every single class. Be firm, or you’ll wind up using the same few horses for everything and they’ll be dog tired/dead lame. Some are just going to be fancier and easier than others; that’s the luck of the draw.
And prepare your kids to hear mean comments made about their beloved school horses. Unfortunately. They should be encouraged to speak up if a rider or coach is doing something they shouldn’t be doing, like cranking up the girth or whacking a horse with a crop when they get on to wake them up. Most kids and coaches act nice, the few bad apples will spoil the day.
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What Punchy said. And…have a firm but kind (but firm) person who knows what’s what running the in gate. The in gate person almost single handidly sets the tone for the show - both with timeliness and attitude. That person needs to be hyper aware of what is going on overall, in the ring, who is on deck, who is one away, what horse is being subbed, letting the kid pause at the in gate to go over the course one more time with the trainer yet getting them in the ring so there are no lags, knowing what class is up, when there is a course change, when there is a scratch, good communicator with the show manager and the judge and the exhibitors and the horse holders and the coaches etc. etc. etc. A firm but kind (but firm) saint is what you need here.
Best of luck and take comfort that what feelis like a scramble and at times chaotic to you running the show - to your visitors, it will all run along much smoother than you think it is running. (Unless you do not have a firm but kind (but firm) in gate person - then you are doomed. Hehehe.
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Great advice thus far. I would also say in my experience helping run IEA shows is that our riders do all the horse care and grooming and get horses to the ring before the classes. So make sure you have a barn manager helping keep riders and horses on track! Often I’ve had a few so busy wrapping horses or getting tacked up that I have to stop them and send them to the ring so they don’t miss their class!
our kids always pitch in and do a great job but get more volunteers than you think you’ll need. Even for little things like going to find a spare set of spurs or a number left behind - having a few volunteers not assigned a “duty” really comes in handy!
good luck and happy IEA season 
For IEA/IHSA shows put the name of the horse on both sides of the saddle pad at least so it is visible across the ring for warm ups.
It saves a lot of questions for horse handlers and coaches if people are 100% sure which horse they saw do what in warm ups!
Have fun!
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Also remind the ingate person to never, never, ever tell the course to anyone. If someone asks them - send them over to where the course maps go. You don’t want to have them be remotely remotely responsible for anyone going off course.
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Make sure your radios are charged, and have extra radios and extra batteries, just in case.
Think about where you are going to have your judge sit, and make sure that spot will have some cover from rain/sun/wind/etc. Also be sure the judge has a good view of the whole ring.
Put plenty of trash cans everywhere. Make it easy for people to do the right thing.
Edited to add: And separate cans for recyclables.
Assign someone older, preferably an actual adult who knows the horses and will not be showing, to keep track of things back in the barn. Otherwise Dobbin will come to the ring wearing a girth six inches too big and a bridle you haven’t seen in seven years. When you go back to the barn it will look like the site of a nuclear war with fifteen blankets everywhere, six sets of nametags that never made it onto saddle pads and two ponies untacked on the cross ties who are definitely supposed to be in the flat class that started five minutes ago but you had a full class so who even knows who the middle schoolers are riding right now. Organization is key 
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This is all such good advice; thank you guys so much! Keep it coming!
We used to assign one non-showing team member to each horse (or if a horse was only going in the AM then one person to that horse in the AM and another in the PM). The horse had his name and a color (usually a border around the name) pinned to the saddle pad and the person responsible wore a shirt that color and had a name tag on with her name and the horse’s name. That way as soon as “Slugger” came out and needed to stand-- “Mary” could easily be identified as Slugger’s person. That team member was responsible for everything from tacking the horse up, to walking him to the ring, to holding him between classes, to taking him back down and untacking/hosing when the horse was done." It was much easier than having a group of people assigned to “all the horses” because there would be additional confusion over who was doing what. The colors made it easy for everyone, even people not on our team, to know who was the right person responsible for each horse.
Mark the parking CLEARLY. Put it in a place where if trash “falls” out of someone’s car, it’s not in a pasture where a horse is going to eat it. Assign your bossiest team member to parking.
We had a scorecard to keep track of what horses had gone and when. It helped us keep an eye on who was getting used too much and who needed a break etc. Horses were coded by “type” (suitable for W/T, only for advanced) so you could try to more thoughtfully do subs when necessary. If you don’t you’ll end up subbing your most versatile horses in too early. One person was responsible for this. No horse went into the ring until she had marked it on the card. no exceptions. And then the trainer would periodically review the card and make adjustments for upcoming classes.
With COVID, hopefully get a portapotty? Not IHSA but every time we would host ANYTHING I would be surprised at the, um, septic load we’d receive. I also think it’s nice if you have a canopy or two you can set up away from the ring and maybe a cooler of waters. As much as possible you want to keep people OUT of your barn. If you have a portapotty and some shade, there is no excuse for anyone to be trying to get into your barn.
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