Just curious. Does anyone else NOT ride their horse the day before a show?

[LR1976]

Everyone I ride with seems to think I am a bit odd for not riding my horse the evening before once we get to the show grounds. I have found that I am much better to saddle him up and take him for a hack around the arenas and warm up area, let him get used to where he is and just chill. Sometimes I don't even ride him...just take him for a walk and let him graze. However, this is the horse that does not DO dressage 2 days in a row. Ever! So again, I'm curious. What do you do?

[mjrtango93]

For me depends on the horse, I am typically on a bunch of either high energy sorts or green beans that need the work to bring them back into this orbit. However, I have had several (including my advanced horse, and my dressage horse that evented for fun) that would just go for a meander around the show grounds and hang out. I always rode them, but its not like they needed to work on anything on the flat. If your horse does well with it, who cares what your barnmates say?

[luise]

With my last horse, who was incredibly lazy, I would either not ride, or ride very lightly. We were in energy conservation mode.

[FoxChaser]

My previous eventer did well with three or four solid days of work, then two days off prior to a show. I almost never rode him once I got to the show, the exception being the first time we went to River Glen and I thought he'd better get a look/ smell of the river since the dressage rings and s/j are right next to it. He could have cared less! My green bean however needs as much time to cope with the new surroundings as possible, so I always ride him at the show the day before. I'm even stalling him at the KHP when we show (I live 10 minutes away and have always hauled in) so that he is more acclimated. Hopefully he'll be over it next year (much more $$$ when we have to get a stall everywhere!). I think you just do whatever suits your horse and good on you for knowing what he needs :)

[purplnurpl]

I do whatever.

One of my most memorable dressage tests was at a HT where I didn't get on the day before because of the wind and rain.

Sometimes I just hack my grey horse around.

My little Trakehner mare that I rode would appreciate a nice gallop around the day before. I'd put on my jump tack and let her scoot around and ring her tail.

There is no point in drilling. It's not college where a last minute cram is going to help. And believe me, I was a terrible student and 'cram' is the only way I opened a book.
But with the horses, if you don't have it by the time you load up and leave then don't plan on having it in your test. ; )

Also, I was a competitive swimmer for 10 years before burning out and switching to horses.
We would 'taper' before the big meets. For the really big stuff, like Junior Nationals and Zones, our coach would not let us participate in gym at school and we were to either be with him in the water or sitting on the couch watching TV. About a 6 weeks out we would be worked to exhaustion and then gradually the practices were easier and easier to where the week 'of' we would just float around. Then we went to the meets, put on our special suits that were so tight if you bent down too quickly it would rip right up the butt, dive in the water and improve our times by several seconds.
So the theory obviously worked.

I have always tapered my horses.
The one time I did not was before the AECs 2007. I worked the pants off my horse and his butt tied up a little. So I had to take a very very stiff horse to Lamplight. Nice place to screw things up eh? He was so sore by the last day for SJ.
I learn't my lesson, and it was a very expensive lesson.

[Janet]

I almost never ride the day before, because of logistics. By the time I get home from work, get the horse and tack cleaned, and get everything loaded up, there is no time left to ride.

If the event is on Sunday I COULD ride on Saturday, but I usually don't, unless there is a very specific isue we need to work through before the event.

[fordtraktor]

If I have a green one that needs to see the jumps, etc. I will ride the day before, but my seasoned competitors generally don't work the day before a show. They know their jobs, and I think the extra energy helps them maintain brilliance and keep fresh. They usually go for long hand-walks and get groomed to within an inch of their lives. If the show is local, I try to keep them out as long as possible and save the bathing/grooming until evening. Cleaning horse is the last thing I do, after packing, etc.

It is very horse-specific, though. If my horse performed better being ridden the day before, then I would ride it.

[LR1976]

So I'm not the only one who thinks less is more going into a show. :) Good to know.

[Meredith Clark]

I grew up doing eq/hunters and we never rode the horses the day before the show. That day was reserved for grooming, tack cleaning and trailer packing. The ONLY reason we were allowed to ride is if we had a really previous ride and even then we were allowed to do like 1 jump or one canter lap just to get our confidence up.

Then.. when I got to college and rode on the Intercollegiate team it was totally different. We rode the horses to death the night before! It was ridiculous!!! We would seriously ride them over the exact course they were going to do the next day 3 or 4 times which was so stupid because it was their home ring with the jumps the were used too. It really made me loose respect for IHSA.

Now that I do the lower level event stuff I might ride my dressage test the day before but I usually don't have time; I just groom and pack and what not.

[sisu27]

The weather is a factor for me with my current horse. Cool, windy day? Better get on and give him something to think about other than launching. Hot and humid? He can just get hand grazed and relax.

Venue can be a factor too. If it is new to him and he is noticing things I will likely get on.

[Catalina]

I am very weather dependent with my grass arena, so I don't have a set in stone game plan. If I do ride the day before, it is usually just an easy dressage school.

[yellowbritches]

I don't like not sitting on the horse the day before, however, I have found, at least with Vernon, that a simple hack is just what he needs. I know that by the day before a show I'm not going to make a miraculous breakthrough on the flat, and I rather not do a big jump school (especially since we do so many one days), and I want him to arrive at the show happy, relaxed, and feeling good. So, he goes for a walk...prior to Redlands a few weeks ago, when I attempted to take both boys, I had been at Redlands all day with another horse the day before they went, and I was so exhausted by the time we got back and had so much to do, that I threw my saddle on Vernon, through boots on both boys, and ponied Paco off of Vernon around the farm. One of our clients, who goes into panic-I-must-school-the-daylights-out-of-my-test the day before thought I was crazy. Guess who had the better rides (at least on the flat)? ;)

[Camstock]

If it is a true three day horse trial, with dressage one day, xc the next and then showjumping the next and I am going Prelim, I actually do a moderate conditioning day the day before we leave, then a hack and light dressage work when we arrive the night before the test. I have found that what I do the day before we leave is actually more important for my horses than what I do on the showgrounds. If my horses are fit, they need to move their feet the day before we leave, because travel day is a lot of standing around and the hack the night before doesn't even register on their workout scales.

However, greenie or training level or below, I plan an hour hack, including light dressage (really, mostly just bending and easy confidence-building transitions) for each, and a tour to look at rings and get the lay of the land. There is a lot of time on a slack rein and (horrors!) I will even let them graze under saddle with their bridles on (real grazing in a halter happens later too). Agree with yellowbritches and others that if it isn't installed at home, it can't be installed at a show, so no drilling, and my pulse and respiration are disciplined to stay low no matter what drama may be being produced by folks or horses around me.

To the OP, I suggest that you consider your friends' advice because some might have some good insights at times, but in the final analysis hear your horse. You seem to be doing a good job of that already. Go you.

[LR1976]

(horrors!) I will even let them graze under saddle with their bridles on

To the OP, I suggest that you consider your friends' advice because some might have some good insights at times, but in the final analysis hear your horse. You seem to be doing a good job of that already. Go you.

:lol: Glad I'm not the only one who lets them graze under saddle!

And thanks. We're feeling rather unprepared going into this weekend but I'm looking forward to having a good time and then on to Otter Creek! LOVE that event!

[HollysHobbies]

I do the same thing LR. Hack around. On a green nervous baby, I walk the show grounds from the ground first, then get on and do the same, then work a little--something easy I knew he could do without incident--then bag it up. I don't make a problem when there isn't one. But on my schoolmaster, we just hack around once we get there.

[ne900]

To me, it depends on the horse, the work the horse did leading up to the day before the event, the amount of time the horse spent on the trailer, the time of arrival and the format of the event. I do what I think is best for each specific situation. It might be nothing, a hand-walk/graze on a lead, a hack, or a light dressage school.

I rode one horse that absolutely had to have the day before an event off or he would just be "flat" the day of the event. I have ridden other horses that just won't settle away from home without a short hack and/or quick school.

[MintHillFarm]

Just me but I have always ridden the day before a show. Even though my horses have access to 24 hr turnout. I am a hunter person and not an event rider. It is usually just a light hack as I am not a fan of jumping unless they get out and move around under saddle the day before. In addition, I would never have a lesson if the horse had off the day before.

[Carried Away]

Looks like I am the minority here, but I've had a few horses in the past who have needed to be worked the day before dressage, and one in particular I would get on an additional time before the actual test. He just seemed more relaxed and rideable when the "edge" was taken off. My current OTTB will probably be just the opposite though since he is very lazy. I think you just need to listen to your horse and let him tell you what will produce the best result.

Good luck!

[deltawave]

Depends on when we arrive, the horse, and the footing. :)

If a show starts a bit later on a Saturday and I'm leaving that morning, usually my horse will NOT get ridden the day before because unless I take the day off Fridays for me are very busy.

But they're all turned out 24/7 so I don't worry if they miss a workout, really. All my schooling had darn well better be done before the Friday preceding a show! :lol:

I do like to hack around after a long trailer ride, but usually don't do any serious "schooling", especially if the horse seems quiet and relaxed. It's more to stretch legs than anything else.

[enjoytheride]

I will ride lightly the day before we leave then school as hard as I need to the day before at the showgrounds. It depends on my horse. If she drops her head, chills, and goes to work we make it a short school. If she's spooking and snorting we make it a longer school of 45 minutes or more. I need to be able to work her enough to get her to focus on me in the new scary place and it helps establish a better show day.

[2ndyrgal]

Doing our very first ever BN. We are probably under prepared, and underfit (knee injury (mine) in March still very twingey). Our goal is simply to complete all three phases with no jumping penalties. My horse, though certainly fit enough to canter around for a few minutes and jump BN is a roarer when it's humid and he canters. Should I tell the folks in the start box so they can tell the jump judges so they don't think I'm gorking the big boy? His wind and enthusiasm don't seem a bit impaired by it, I certainly have never run out of horse.

[scubed]

I've always had the sort that needed ridden the day before (and sometimes the day of before the test). And while, you can't "cram" for dressage, you can remind them that they need to work and be polite regardless of where they are and what is going on and I've had some that could really use that. I've also had 2 ottbs that got a 30 minute canter with some galloping the day before (or the morning of) and they were never tired for the event (that was throught training level on those two).

[Bobthehorse]

I would never NOT ride the day before. Typically I have done a light hack 2 days before, and a light flat the day before. Keep them supple and listening. I have one horse that tends to be stiff the day after a day off, and one that tends to be fizzy and/or not good with listening the day after. I think most horses are nicer to ride the day after SOME kind of work, even if its just a walk hack.

[LR1976]

I would never NOT ride the day before. Typically I have done a light hack 2 days before, and a light flat the day before. Keep them supple and listening. I have one horse that tends to be stiff the day after a day off, and one that tends to be fizzy and/or not good with listening the day after. I think most horses are nicer to ride the day after SOME kind of work, even if its just a walk hack.

Not mine! :lol: Most of the horses I've had have been that way but the one I'm eventing now is so much better after a few days off. Some of my best rides on him have been after we've been away on vacation and he's being playing pasture pet for a week. I would certainly prefer to put in a good ride on him the day before to calm my nerves and make sure I've got it all down.

[Bobthehorse]

God my 6 year old morphs into a different animal after more than 1 day off in a row. I really mean a different animal. Once it was a kangaroo, sometimes its a dolphin. Not cool for dressage!

[LR1976]

God my 6 year old morphs into a different animal after more than 1 day off in a row. I really mean a different animal. Once it was a kangaroo, sometimes its a dolphin. Not cool for dressage!

I would think that would classify as extra credit and get you some extra points from the judges!

[mythical84]

I have a general rule against schooling my horse the day before the show. This is more because if something goes wrong, I'm more apt to panic. So I like to hack them out, maybe let them hop over a log or two. At most, Harry will get a very very light "school" about bending and yielding to my leg. Some of my best shows with Harry have been after I've taken him on a long trail ride the day before.

My sister's horse was so mellow that I often gave him the day off before a show.

[piccolittle]

My TB isn't particularly lazy; in fact he can be a right cheeky beast when I'm trying to warm up for dressage... we've had crowhopping episodes, bolting, the works. But I find he's so much happier if we just go for a long, quiet walking hack the day before dressage (or the event if it's a one-day), preferably on the show grounds. I believe it's good for their brains and helps them keep their muscles loose without being too sore the next day from the trailering or heavy work.

[wildlifer]

I VERY rarely work my horse the day before a show. If I ride him, it usually a trail ride. I have found in the past that overpreparing for me just creates more tension in my horse and it's better for us both to come at it relatively fresh the day of the show.

[SpruceLane]

I don't ride the day before a competition (as others have mentioned, I am too busy doing the last minute packing and cleaning of tack and horse - damn greys ;))

Once we arrive at the show grounds (one day horse trials), I get our equipment set up, then unload the big guy and give him about a five minute lunge. He doesn't need this to gather his marbles or blow off steam. He uses it to survey the territory (and I am certain, the competition) after which he saunters back to the trailer and hangs out tied their with his hay net and water.

I agree with what a few have said about having that little extra pizazz. Nothing ruffles this guy's feathers and if he gets worked the day before or even too long of a warm up before dressage our test is 'flat'...like fizzy pop that has lost its fizz.

What a fine line we walk. :D

[evans36]

I always hack out for a long ride at low speeds on days when my horse is stabled - whether at a show or for other reasons. He's used to 24/7 turnout and he gets really stiff when in a stall all day, not to mention nervous. We don't really work on anything... just really walking out and stretching, maybe some trot. If I feel like the trailer ride was a lot, we'll just hand walk, but I think he likes it better when I ride. He gets pissed at me if I'm leading him around and he's not allowed to graze all the time.

[Ritazza]

I don't ride the day before a show because I totally freak myself out if I do!! I've found that just handwalking makes me feel better, and conserves her energy for the coming day(s). I put way too much pressure on myself to do well for her sake and I don't think it's fair to subject her to that - it always dissapears when I get on for my actual tests, but it's raging the day before!