Leaving early for a competition (dark!) - tips?!!

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lucky7

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My dressage times are quite early - considering the venue is an hour away!!
I need to be there for 7.45am as my first test is 8.20! means leaving at 630 am - in the dark!! Argh!!
Plan is to pull the trailer out today and have it all ready to hook up and leave in the morning. Horse will have a through groom today and have a rug with a neck on tonight, she lives out as stables are not ready yet. Then plan to wizz up, change her rug and put her on the trailer. I have an outside light which will be okay but it wont be light til around 7!! hoping she will go on the trailer, in the dark!
Any tips would help please!!
 
Echo what was said above really! Make sure everything is ready so all you need to do is change a rug and pop her on the trailer! I would have all your tack and everything loaded into the car/trailer and also have your travel gear sitting out somewhere. the amount of time i have had to try and look through a box in the dark trying to find one boot or a bandage!!
If she loads fine normally i don't think there will be a problem loading in the dark. Really to the horses its no big deal, i have done it a few times. i put the light on in the trailer so i can see where the clips etc need to go and also so i'm not blinding my horse with a head torch if i turn to look at her! Other than that i'm sure it will be fine! Good luck at your competition!
 
as above. I load mine in the dark quite often, it's fine and they can usually see better than me :)

Have fun and good luck !
 
I think my horse must be the only one who can’t see as well as me in the dark :D I march out confidently to his field to turn him out & he is having a stress about everything :D

I loaded him in the dark for the first time yesterday, no head torch for me, he was exactly the same as usual. That is, stubborn and pig headed....!!!
 
I've never had a problem loading in the dark, if you can, put an internal light on and act as normal!

Could you hitch car up tonight and get a lift to/ from the yard? that would be my only other time saving . . .
 
I would hitch up the trailer the night before, it is one less thing to do in the morning. Then a good groom tonight and straight on the trailer in the morning (after breakfast!) and sort out straw in the tail in the daylight when you get there.
 
I'd say no head torch. They completely freak my lot out. Mine are all fine loading in the dark, they don't seem to care at all.
 
Bob the notacob has his own head torch so is quite cool about torches anyway . What he is not so cool about is being woken up in pitch darkness to go cubbing. It took me five minutes to get him to stop trying to hide in tha back of his stable.
 
lucky7 said:
My dressage times are quite early - considering the venue is an hour away!!
I need to be there for 7.45am as my first test is 8.20! means leaving at 630 am - in the dark!! Argh!!
Plan is to pull the trailer out today and have it all ready to hook up and leave in the morning. Horse will have a through groom today and have a rug with a neck on tonight, she lives out as stables are not ready yet. Then plan to wizz up, change her rug and put her on the trailer. I have an outside light which will be okay but it wont be light til around 7!! hoping she will go on the trailer, in the dark!
Any tips would help please!!
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Have you got any of those torch lights like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Battery-...hash=item43fd7c4c91:m:md9CtEcbMb6CyDgSzedpFCg or maybe someone stand by jockey door with phone torch on. As others say have everything ready by the stable for travelling and everything else either in the car or by the trailer.
 
Mike007 said:
Bob the notacob has his own head torch so is quite cool about torches anyway . What he is not so cool about is being woken up in pitch darkness to go cubbing. It took me five minutes to get him to stop trying to hide in tha back of his stable.
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Bob Notacob requires due notice if you wish him to rise early, how very dare you disturb him early.

I find it is breaking the routine that upsets horses far more than asking them to start early or load in the dark. They are such creatures of routine they can get suspicious and worried. My old boy retired in 2011 and now gets himself in a stew if his breakfast is late, yet throughout his career he would adapt to anything he was asked to do. We regularly left home at silly o'clock, stayed away and he was no different to ride at 10pm under lights in championships than he was at 8am outdoors.

He has cushings now and was suffering in this mild weather so on Tuesday at 6am I put the lights on, dug him out of bed and clipped him out. He was convinced he was going out somewhere and starting dancing prancing and sweating, silly old fool. None of that would have happened if I did him at 9am !

Good luck at your silly o'clock competition, my tip would be organisation. Load the truck and double check it. If you plait the night before put tights over the plaits and don't do the plaits too tight. Bandage white legs and ask the horse not to sit in SH one T over night. Put your comp kit on and pull a pair of joggy bottoms over your breeches to keep clean and most importantly put the keys to the truck where you can find them !
 
Hah A A please could you have a word with Finnegan. I ask him very politely not to sleep on his poo pillow. What do I get next morning - poo encrusted eye, ear and massive stain on his belly. Grubby man.
 
FfionWinnie said:
What so you can dazzle both the horse and the loading person at the same time?! You want the light from behind or above or not at all -certainly not coming in the jockey door.
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This.
Don't dazzle him with a light in front or he may not be too happy to load.
You'll be fine. I think you'll be surprised that it's not as difficult as you think. And plaiting with a head torch is dead easy !
 
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