Your first time...

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Good evening!
Would like to know a bit of your experiences in such a personal and emotional moment...
Obviously I mean first time you took your horse to a show :)

This Saturday is my little chicken's first outing and I'm feeling like a nervous dad before my child's first school play!

Any tips to keep both him and me calm and focussed?
He is a stallion, so would like to know what people think about stallions in shows, also any stories of your first outing experiences...good or bad ;)
 
can't remember my first show but I can remember the first show's that my youngsters have been to.

I usually take them somewhere before a competition - hire a local arena so that the horse has been out and about to a new place without the hustle and bustle of a competition.

then on the comp day I arrive very early - I usually take them somewhere that I don't mind withdrawing and coming home if it all goes wrong. I plan ahead and take everything that i may need - feed to load and definitely an extra pair of hands just in case.

once there you have plenty of time to get your numbers, have a cuppa, play with the horse and get out with enough time to allow the horse to settle.

usually if you allow plenty of time and are well prepared, you shouldn't be stressed and if you are prepared to load up and go home if it all goes pair shaped then it should be fine. plus if you have been somewhere new already you will know how he travels, stands in the lorry, tacks up etc etc.

most people have discs on stallion bridles and as there are so many of them around now I think people just give them a wide berth.

I think for my gelding's first show I plaited a red ribbon in his tail just so people kept away!
 
I took my previous mare to her first ever show - I got on and I may as well not have been on top. She just - danced for the first few minutes. Nothing bad or dangerous, but wow. I didn't feel like she knew I was there. It was a really fun feeling!!

Tips: I wore a body protector (but I was doing clear round XC as well as SJ). I also stayed really relaxed and didn't fight to make her settle. I let her dance through the lorry park and into the warm up, then she started to work normally.

I also picked teeny dinky tiny jumps, so she could trot over them. I knew water wld be an issue on the XC, so I cleared it with the secretary that my dad would be there with a lunge whip to chase me in. I didn't want to try and do it on my own and have a fight.

Identify your weak areas in advance and come up with a plan to cope with them.
 
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