How far to travel in one day?

[millitiger]

I have a dressage competition this weekend, just over 150 miles away and expected travel time is 4 hours.

I had booked an overnight stable for Friday, however I’ve just had my time through for Saturday and it is nearly 4pm…

Horse is a good traveller and majority of travel is on motorway or duel carriageway.

it be unreasonable to travel Saturday morning instead and plan to arrive 2.5 hours before my dressage time, so he has time to have a rest, drink, wee etc before riding?
Or would you still travel the night before?

I keep changing my mind!

 

[milliepops]

depends on you and your horse i think. after a 4 hour journey me and all of mine would be a bit pooped but other people do this all the time. all of mine had stabled away quite well and so it's been better for me to have an overnighter for a trip like that.

 

[millitiger]

Thank you.

I have been to camps with him and he settled ok but not done just an overnight.
My concern if we overnight is what to do with him Sat morning as a long wait before our time.

 

[ihatework]

Depends on the horse.
If I had a jolly/fit/normal one I’d travel up in morning and use the stable as a day stable.
If I had a slightly more laid back kind of horse that tired easily, I’d probably still go up the night before

 

[milliepops]

Is there an arena walk? can you give him a stretch in the warm up? hand graze etc?

 

[Leandy]

It depends on the horse I think which will be better. Which will he find less tiring? Staying overnight in a strange stable or travelling in the morning and doing it all in one day? Generally, I would expect that doing it all in one day would be less stressful (and therefore tiring) given it is less time away from home but it depends how well he travels. Also consider there may be a hold up on the way. If you go the day before you have more leeway to actually get there and compete if something goes wrong. As to what to do with him in the morning. He will need a leg stretch of some sort but again depends on the horse how much work he will need.

 

[humblepie]

We have done further than that and competed the same day but were then staying overnight following the class so he wasn't travelling that long twice in the day. As others have said, does depend on your horse and also if you can ride him on the Saturday morning which may depend on where you are going. Have just looked at route planner and with previous horse did that mileage and competed/travelled both ways in the one day on a few occasions.

 

[RachelFerd]

I regularly go eventing ~120 miles away in one day. If roads are easy ones, I wouldn't have a concern about a good traveller coping with a 4hr drive and doing dressage. I would tend to stable overnight with that distance purely because I struggle with driving that far both ways in one day. When I was working with the racehorses we wouldn't have hesitated for a moment about going that far and racing in one day.

 

[millitiger]

Is there an arena walk? can you give him a stretch in the warm up? hand graze etc?

there is an arena walk but it’s at 8am… no other arena walks all day.

he is generally very laid back and easy to travel, also very fit as done a winter of hunting and was team chasing last weekend and barely broke a sweat.

Gah, I cannot decide!

 

[j1ffy]

How about travelling in the morning and staying over on the Saturday night (particularly if there are classes on later / in the morning so there's a bit of activity)? That way you could pop him in the stable during the day, do your test, then have a glass of bubbles and some dinner to celebrate and relax

 

[GreyDot]

I would arrange a day stable, travel up early to avoid any Saturday traffic/road closures, aim to arrive at lunchtime and give him a rest in his stable, then hand-graze, have a mooch about with him, back in the stable for a rest then plait up and have a good 20min walk before warming up.
I presume this is a big event, not just a regular show?

 

[millitiger]

…
I presume this is a big event, not just a regular show?

Yes, BRC National champs

 

[Red-1]

When I was eventing regularly, my cut off was a 4 hour journey, compete and 4 hours home. They were fit and used to travelling, the horsebox was comfortable and it just never seemed a bother.

So, I would say it depends on how fit for the driving you are, how fit for the travelling the horse is.

I would always un-box after the journey, have them have a pee, a drink and a hand graze then pop back on for a haynet. They were in the routine.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

We travel the racehorses up to 4hours one way on a race day before we stay over night. The horses do have stables to chill in all day though and we tend to arrive 3 hours before our first race.

If the horse is used to travelling and you are used to driving that length of time in a day - both ways don't forget! Then I would just do it in a day.

150 miles is 3 hours travel with a stop somewhere. Obviously boxes are easier than trailers to drive.

 

[humblepie]

If it’s Arena UK then you should be able to hand graze and go for a hack around the stables outside of rings and possible even into by the grass rings.

 

[Afon_34]

& theres me, can’t be bothered to travel more than 2 hours (absolute max) try to keep it around 1- 1/2 hours max if I can, must be lucky with the area I’m in.
Good luck op in your competition!

 

[millitiger]

& theres me, can’t be bothered to travel more than 2 hours (absolute max) try to keep it around 1- 1/2 hours max if I can, must be lucky with the area I’m in.
Good luck op in your competition!

I'm the same normally but we have qualified for a National competition and my view is, you only live once!
I don't know if we'll qualify again so we're going for the experience.

 

[rara007]

Either sounds fine to me

 

[fawaz]

I have a dressage competition this weekend, just over 150 miles away and expected travel time is 4 hours.

I had booked an overnight stable for Friday, however I’ve just had my time through for Saturday and it is nearly 4pm…

Horse is a good traveller and majority of travel is on motorway or duel carriageway.

it be unreasonable to travel Saturday morning instead and plan to arrive 2.5 hours before my dressage time, so he has time to have a rest, drink, wee etc before riding?
Or would you still travel the night before?

I keep changing my mind!

I travel mine to stud or shows for up to 6 hour each way same day. Often only staying at the location for 1/2 hour to an hour in the case of covers.

Just drive carefully so as not to knock them about and offer damp feed and water regularly.

 

[millitiger]

Little update...
We went there and back in one day and it was all absolutely fine ?
Managed a 6th place, just 1% off the winner, so very chuffed as everyone in the class was an area winner.
Not bad for not having done a test for 5 months and spent the winter hunting instead!

 

[Red-1]

Little update...
We went there and back in one day and it was all absolutely fine ?
Managed a 6th place, just 1% off the winner, so very chuffed as everyone in the class was an area winner.
Not bad for not having done a test for 5 months and spent the winter hunting instead!

Congratulations!

 

[neddy man]

Little update...
We went there and back in one day and it was all absolutely fine ?
Managed a 6th place, just 1% off the winner, so very chuffed as everyone in the class was an area winner.
Not bad for not having done a test for 5 months and spent the winter hunting instead!

WOW. Well done to the pair of you

 

[HashRouge]

Well done! I'm seriously impressed you managed all the driving in one day, that would have been the kicker for me, I just couldn't have done it. But I'm not a fan of long drives at the best of times!

 

[Nicnac]

Congratulations!

 

[GreyDot]

Well done! What a great result!

 

[humblepie]

Well done, super result

 

[Lady Jane]

I couldn't have done that much driving and competed in one day! Fab result