Using Studs

Some horses go well with the added traction of studs (little cleats that screw into horse shoes) while others are happier on good footing without them. The decision to use them in the show ring should be made based on the advice of your coach, taking into account the footing, your horse's movement, your horse's confidence and other factors. 

The key to using studs is to be prepared. That means having your horse shod with stud holes in all of the shoes. Some horses are able to compete perfectly well barefoot, but if you choose not to use shoes, you will need to control the footing. I have seen horses slip and fall while competing barefoot on damp grass and I do not wish that upon anyone. If you compete only on sand, you will probably be okay going barefoot. If there are any shows on grass, however, be prepared to scratch for the day if the footing looks less than ideal.

I always trailer without studs in and then make decisions about using them when I get to the horse show. This keeps the horse safe on the trailer because he won't step on himself with the studs, and it also allows me to make a more informed decision about which studs to use by seeing and walking on the footing first.

It's a good idea to always bring a stud kit along with you to every show, whether you think you will need them or not. It's not always easy to predict bad footing and it doesn't hurt to bring them along just in case. You don't need to have every stud imaginable in your kit; having a few different size choices should allow you to get by in most situations. Make sure that your wrench fits all of your studs and bring along a cleaning tool (I like a wire brush and nail) and a T-tap to re-thread the holes if needed.

If you have never used studs before, it's a good idea to practice ahead of time since it requires a certain amount of technique and a good deal of coordination that are difficult to achieve the first time!

For a more in-depth description of the different studs and how to use them, see Studs 101.

On-Site Farrier

Imagine that, as you're warming up for your class, you feel your horse pull a shoe. Does this mean that your show day is over?

Thankfully, 'A' circuit shows have at least one on-site farrier for shoeing emergencies such as these. If you can find the shoe and bring it with you to the farrier, you should be back in action in no time. If you can't find the shoe, you will have to spend more time at the farrier, but you'll still have a chance of being able to return to your class before it finishes.

On-site farriers are not limited to the 'A' circuit. Some farriers do attend 'B' circuit and schooling shows but you cannot generally assume that there will be a farrier at those shows.

The prize list for an 'A' circuit show will usually list the name of the on-site farrier on the same page as the officials. To find out where the farrier is actually located on the show grounds, ask the show office. Sometimes they use a special tent, sometimes they use a regular tent stall and sometimes they use an aisle-way or grooming area in a permanent barn. To avoid wandering around the horse show for hours looking for him, it's best just to ask!

In addition to replacing lost shoes, the on-site farrier can also drill threaded holes into your horse's shoes for studs (it's best to have your regular farrier put stud holes in your horse's shoes in advance to avoid such emergency farrier visits). He can also put new shoes all around on your horse or do a reset, but beware that most farriers will charge a premium for regular farrier work done at a horse show. In some cases, having your horse's feet done at a show can give you the opportunity to use a particularly good farrier who does not travel to your area, so you must weigh the pros and cons.

Grooming for Yourself

For those of us who show on a tight budget, hiring someone to groom for you is not always feasible and it's not always possible to have a friend help you out. Is it possible to do everything yourself?

The answer is a definite yes! It will be tough, and you and your horse might not end up looking as spotless as you might like, but you can get away with doing everything yourself if you work hard and plan ahead.

Hold your horses

If you ride in the jumpers, you will probably have more problems with timing than you would in the hunters because you need to walk your jumper courses. On days when the order of go is sign-in rather than posted, this isn't much of a problem. You will learn how much time you need to get ready after walking the course and put yourself later in the order to accommodate that. If your horse doesn't roll in tack, you can often put everything on except the bridle while you go and walk so that there is less to do when you get back.

When it comes to posted order, you are likely to run into the occasional problem. Odds are that you will sometimes be put near the beginning of the order, requiring you and your horse to be at the ring and ready to go before the course walk. If you do have a friend who is willing to come out every so often to help you, ask him to come out on the days when you are likely to be under posted order so that he will be available to hold your horse. You can also ask other riders from your barn who show in other divisions to hold your horse for a few minutes. One of the least stressful ways of dealing with going early in a posted order is to check whether any of the earlier classes in the day are using the same course as yours. If you can walk it ahead of time, you can ride your horse during your own class's course walk.

Keeping clean

One of the most difficult parts of grooming for yourself is not getting dirty! When you're doing stalls, bathing and grooming your horse, you're bound to get some dirt on your clothes. The obvious solution is to change into your show clothes at the very last minute, but this isn't always possible  If you can, do the dirty chores early in the day when you can wear jeans. This includes bathing and grooming your horse. Hopefully your horse will stay clean until your class and then all you will have to do is pass a towel over him to remove dust, keeping your clean breeches free of flying dirt and hair. Some riders wear sweat pants over their breeches to keep them clean, but that can get hot in the summer.

I suggest not putting your field boots on until the very last minute. I put mine on just before I bridle my horse. Walking around in a stall will put dust on your boots, so minimizing that will keep those boots as shiny as possible. Try to have a towel waiting near the mounting block so that you can give the lower part of your boots a quick wipe right before you get on. It's always a good idea to clean and polish your boots during a quiet part of the day so that you have one less thing to worry about when getting ready for your class.

I also keep my jacket off until the last minute, usually right after I put the bridle on (as long as I have somewhere clean to put it near the stall). If you're grooming for yourself, you probably won't have the luxury of having someone hold your jacket for you while you warm up.

Your horse

Luckily, horses tend to stay pretty clean in the barn. I find that if I groom all of the horses first thing in the morning, most of them don't need much more of a grooming before they head out to the show ring. I always run a towel over them before tacking up, though, because a lot of dust gets kicked up in the barn.

The earlier you can oil your horse's hooves, the better it will stay on. Dried hoof oil won't attract as much dirt as wet hoof oil and therefore won't need to be re-applied as frequently. This is easiest if you have some sort of grooming stall or cross-tie area where your horse can stand on clean ground.

If your coach is willing, hand him or her a towel before heading off to the ring so that they can give your horse a quick cleaning at the in-gate. Make sure that you always apply plenty of fly spray at the barn since there won't be anyone at the show ring to put more on if the flies are worse than expected.

Your warm-up

Before going to your first horse show, make sure that your coach is comfortable setting jumps alone in the warm-up ring. Some coaches like having one or more grooms to do that dirty work, so it's best to know ahead of time what will be expected. A considerate coach should be willing to set the jumps unaided.

If you are showing without a coach and have no one else on the ground with you, you will need to ask another rider if you can share their jump. Be polite and be prepared for them to potentially say no; another horse could slow down their warm-up or disrupt their routine, especially if they like to take the jump back and forth.  

Grooming for yourself is tough work. The days will be long (the professional grooms will give the morning feed between 6 and 7 am and your horse will expect to be fed then, too) and you will need to be very organized, but don't feel that you need to hire a groom. You can do it!

Jumper Course Diagrams

Understanding the course diagram is very important because it tells you how the class will be judged as well as which jumps you should take. I will walk you through a typical course diagram and explain what everything means.

The course diagram is a single piece of paper that is posted beside the in-gate at least half an hour before the start of the class. Most of the paper will be taken up by a diagram of the ring, showing all of the jumps. The jumps that will be used in the class are numbered and have arrows indicating the direction in which they are to be jumped.

The rest of the space on the page will be devoted to a list of information, which should include most or all of the following:

Class name: This lets you know that you're looking at the correct course diagram.

Article: This tells you how the course will be judged.  Examples include FEI ARTICLE 236 TABLE A and FEI ARTICLE 239 TABLE C. Check the rule book of your national federation to learn the names and descriptions of each article.

Course length: This will be a distance in metres, measured by the course designer walking an ideal track around the course with a measuring wheel (or calculated by a computer program).

Speed: This is the speed that the time allowed will be based on, usually around 350 m/min.

Height: The height at which the course is set.

First round: The numbers of the jumps in the first round, such as 1-13.

Time allowed: In seconds, it is calculated based on the course length and the speed. It can be adjusted after the first three riders in the class have gone, so pay attention for any changes. Going over it will result in time faults.

Time limit: This is the maximum time that you may take to get around the course before you will be eliminated.

Jump-off or second round: This section will list the jumps, in order, that constitute the jump-off. An example would be 1-3-11a-11b-12-6-13.

Jump-off length: This is the length, in metres, of the jump-off course.

Jump-off time allowed: This is the time allowed, in seconds, of the jump-off course as calculated by the distance and the speed. Going over it will result in time faults.

Jump-off time limit: This is the maximum time allowed before elimination from the jump-off.

Course designer: The name of the course designer, which you should take note of so that you can remember that course designer's style when preparing for the next show that they will be at!

Hay and Shavings

If you're staying overnight at a horse show, you might want to order hay and shavings from the show office rather than packing them in your horse trailer, taking up room that you might not have to spare. Ordering from the show is also convenient because you can order small amounts every couple of days rather than having to find somewhere to store one or two weeks' worth of hay and shavings.

Keep in mind that there will be a significant mark-up on the products sold at the horse show. Expect for hay and shavings to cost at least $6 to $8 per bale/bag.  

When you order from the horse show, your hay and/or shavings will be delivered right to your stalls. If you want to have them waiting for you when you arrive at the horse show, make sure that you order them ahead of time on the stall request form (there should be a section for it or an additional form).

Once you're at the show, you can order additional hay or shavings at the show office. Find the hay and shavings order pad (different shows use different forms so it's best to ask the secretary for it) and fill it out with however many bales of hay or bags of shavings you would like, the date and your barn's name (make sure that it is the same name that is on the stabling map). If your tent or barn has an identifying number or letter, include that on the order form to make things easier for the delivery person. Also write down the stall number where you would like the bags left. If the order is for a specific few horses rather than the entire barn, mark those horses' names on the form so that only they will be charged for them.

Once you have filled out the form, ask the secretary what you should do with it. Usually, there will be two copies. One will go to the secretary so that the order can be put on your bill. The other copy is for the delivery person to reference. At some shows, the secretary will take care of both copies while at others you will need to attach the second copy to something like a clipboard. Ask the secretary what the show's policy is so that your order doesn't go missing!

If you order late in day, you might not receive your hay and shavings until the next day, so try to keep on top of things in order not to run out before the delivery. The show office will often have a policy posted about delivery hours.

Bath Time

If you own a grey horse or a horse with any white on its body, you will have to spend a lot more time cleaning it than you would if you owned any other colour! Unfortunately, it is all too easy to tell when a white-haired horse is anything but perfectly clean and entering the show ring with a yellow-tinged horse will give the judge a negative first impression of you.

Thankfully, cleaning a grey horse is far from difficult and will just take a bit of extra time and scrubbing.

Would you believe that the very clean horse in the photo above got that way through a shampoo bath alone? It doesn't take any special tricks!

Preferably, you will bath your grey horse the morning of the show rather than the night before. If you bath the day before, you will end up with some dirt on the coat even if you blanket most of the horse. Bathing the morning of the show ensures that your horse will be as clean as possible, unless you are unlucky enough to have your horse lie down after its bath!

I like to use a whitening shampoo on grey horses. There are lots of different kinds out there and which one you use will just depend on personal preference.

To give a good shampoo bath, first get the horse completely wet using a hose. If your horse has a yellowed tail, massage some shampoo straight from the bottle into the tail and let it sit while you bathe the rest of the horse. Pour some shampoo into a bucket and then fill the bucket with water.  Use a sponge to cover the horse with soapy water, rubbing it in as you go. Once you have covered the entire horse (how much of the head you can do will depend on the horse), use the hose to rinse all of the soap off, making sure to rinse it out of the tail, too. Once you have rinsed everything off, check the horse over for any stubborn stains (the legs and belly tend to be the worst). If you find any, pour some shampoo straight from the bottle into your hands and scrub it into those areas.  

If it is cool out, bring along a cooler to the wash rack and put it on your horse right after the bath to keep him warm.

Towel off the legs and try to let them dry as much as possible before putting the horse in anything more dirty than a stall full of clean shavings. Wet legs will attract dirt! If your horse likes to roll, consider tying him safely or keeping lots of hay available.

If your horse lies down after his bath and you don't have time to give him another one, you can remove the dirty spots in a few different ways. One option is to wet the area with a sponge and then scrub in a drop of shampoo before rinsing it off with the same wet sponge. Some grooms swear by diluted alcohol for removing spots, while others use a commercial spot-remover. Figure out what works best for you and stick with it!

That's all that you need to do to make your horse sparkling white. There's no secret product or method; clean hair is clean hair!

Your Ringside Kit

If you will be paying a professional groom to help you at the horse shows, you don't really have to worry much about what you will need to have ringside. If you are having a friend help you or if you will be grooming for someone else, it's important to prepare a ringside kit to be brought to the warm-up and show rings.

Obviously, what you decide to include in that kit will depend on your own needs and preferences. I will tell you what I like to bring in order to give you some ideas.

You can use whatever container you'd like to pack things in. Small buckets, bags and grooming totes all work well.

Here is a basic list of what you might want to include:

• A towel or two: This is the item that I use the most and never go to the ring without. The towel provides the finishing touch as the horse is about to enter the ring. First, wipe off the rider's boots to remove any slobber or splashed mud, and then run the towel over the horse to smooth the hair down and remove sweat, slobber and dirt. Be sure to wipe the horse's mouth, too, and bring a large enough towel so that you are always using a clean section.
• A lead shank: Leather looks best, but anything that looks respectable will do. You can use it to lead a horse to and/or from the show ring, or use it for holding a horse for a course walk. You can lead a horse using the reins, but it's much easier and faster to just clip on with a lead shank, especially when the horse is wearing a running martingale.
• Treats: A nice reward upon exiting the show ring for a job well done. If you plan on feeding any treats before the class, try to stick to white peppermints or anything else that won't create colourful slobber!
• A stiff brush: This is very useful on muddy days when there is just too much dirt on the legs for a towel to handle. Brush the mud off and then finish with a towel.
• Spurs: If you aren't using spurs, you might want to bring a pair along anyway so that they're at the ring if you need them. If you already have spurs on, bringing along a smaller or larger pair can be handy if your warm-up doesn't go as planned.
• A whip: If you don't start off with one, consider bringing one just in case you need it. Some riders like to have a couple of different sizes available, too.
• Fly spray: It can come off with sweat so some horses will require a second application. Horses not wearing fly veils might need an extra spray near the ears if the flies are worse than expected by the ring.
• Hoof oil: Try to do one coat as you're tacking up (the more time it has to dry, the better it will stay on). For the best turnout, especially in the hunter ring, re-apply at the in-gate.
• Studs: Some riders like to have a stud kit at the ring in case there is an unexpected change in the footing. I, personally, don't like changing studs ringside, but it's something to consider if you do use them often.
• A spray bottle of water and alcohol: Useful to clean the saddle area of hunters that will have to jog soon after competing.
• A cooler: Put on the horse after competing on cold days or use it in the warm-up ring to make a spooky practice jump.
• Any spare tack that you might want to use

Also remember to bring along anything that the rider might need to wear if he or she doesn't leave the stabling area fully dressed up, as well as water on warm days. Check to make sure that the jacket and number are on to avoid having to run back to the barn for them later!