Curious about Horses and Eventing/ShowJumping

[NeighNeighAndthrice]

If you have a child/teenager who does eventing or show jumping, please can someone tell me a bit about moving horses to UK competitions?

So if you own your own horse (for your child) and you stable it somewhere, how does it get moved to the location of the competition which are all round the country?

Do stables offer this service?
Or are you expected to have your own horse box and move it yourself for the child?
Or are there specialist horse moving companies?

How does the teenager/child get there? do you have to take them every time or does the stables/horse moving let them go in the car towing the horse box?

How much does it cost to move a horse?

why do people do this if they are very amateur? I mean I understand the principel of doing something for fun but the hassle of moving a horse from near London for a five hour drive seems crazy to me. Why not just do it closer to home?

I saw a random instagram feed of a 16 year old who does this and it blew my mind how often they seen to be off at different events round the country.

Do your parents need to be loaded to do this?

Horses don’t sit down. They also wouldn’t lie down by choice when travelling.

Some horses like being partitioned into a narrower area and some prefer space. We have one who has to be travelled in a larger area.

You’d be surprised how well top competition horses adapt to travelling around the world. Provided they’ve got hay and have regular water breaks they are generally fine. There was a news feature about it when they were flying horses to one of the Olympics, you might find it on YouTube some where.

Like others have said, horses are just like people about travel really. Some are seasoned pros, as happy on the lorry as in their stable and will just kip or eat their way through any journey, some don't love it but put up with it fine for the sake of the destination, the minority really don't travel well at all and get worked up and anxious, some opt out entirely by point blank refusing to get in the van or trailer at all - the latter group really would be ruled out of any serious competitive endeavours as they simply just wouldn't be able to perform to the standard required if they've expended all their energy stressing out while travelling - I've known several really talented horses retired from competition simply because the travelling took too much out of them. Even Frankel, arguably the best racehorse of all time never raced outside England because he was a stressy, nervy sort of horse that wouldn't have taken well to the rigours of a ferry journey or flight. So rest assured that the horses going to the Olympics on the plane will be proven to be on the chilled out end of the spectrum and well used to travelling as well as being very well cared for on the journey of course.

Even at the much lower levels than the Olympics you will very frequently see 'good traveller' or 'good to load' on horses for sale adverts, it's a big plus point even for an amateur if your horse is relaxed about or at least tolerant of travel, sometimes it's really important to be able to travel them easily e.g. to a veterinary hospital if they're injured.

A big factor in me being allowed to loan my current horse from his owners is that they wanted him to not have to travel and I'm not really bothered about going anywhere anymore. He'd had a long and varied competitive career with them and was never a bad traveller as such, but they noticed signs of stress creeping in when he was put on the lorry, sweating up, calling, loose poo (sorry TMI!) etc and they rightly decided he was saying he'd had enough (now it could have been the competition he was going to worrying him, or the lorry/travel itself, who knows, they can't talk) but they decided to semi retire him with me, we just hack about and take part in stuff on our own yard so no need for the lorry really. He gets quite excited and worked up still if he sees the lorry being brought out for someone else so it definitely has a psychological impact on them for sure, it's important to be vigilant and careful regarding travel as horse owners IMO.

@maxelly makes a good point about knowing their stress signals. DD's first pony would literally drag me across the yard to get on the trailer... Genuinely loaded herself and was a very good traveller. There current pony is not quite as enthusiastic about loading but once on her is very relaxed. A friend at our yard has started to notice her pony displaying some stress signs when she gets out the travel boots so she's also made the decision not to travel.

We watch and listen to and learn from our horses.

I saw this on a for sale ad today and thought it was a good example of how little is horse travel area even in a more basic lorry. Only the 3 windows to the right is for the horses (this will take 2/3 depending on the stall set up, you can adjust it) the tall side door and everything to the left is living area including a bed above the drivers cab.

Simple answer is it costs all your time, any spare money, and your soul. That's what my husband would say anyway.

I'm a horsey mum. Did a few years with dd and one year with ds dragging ponies to shows. Luckily neither do was particularly serious about it all. Now I have a retired kids pony and a big pony for me. We go competing a few times a year if that. Dh actually does enjoy it for about 3 hours, then wants to come home. I have a trailer and a car big enough to tow it. Trailer was 3k. My limit distance wise is about an hour away. We usually do showing, but may dabble with dressage and endurance next year.

There are now some trailers around which have a living space at the front - I think EquiTrek do one. Obviously having a designated bed, especially if you're a child, is nowhere near as exciting as kipping in the straw in a sleeping bag on the floor of a trailer or lorry but then it was also fun to travel in the back of the lorry whilst it was being driven which is highly illegal but was a regular occurrence in the 70s.

Here's mine in his lorry. The flaps at the top are closed when we are moving but that's what they look like inside. There's another horse the other side of the partition. There's a haynet to munch on & camera so you can keep an eye on them while driving. He travels really well & loads himself.
My other horse finds travelling stressful & I only do it if I have to eg for vet. She doesn't seem to understand how to balance herself.

this is all so interesting. It's another world.

Thanks especially for the lorry photos @liveforsummer and @Serencwtch

i guess when we step back to look in, it really is another world!!

Yes it's a bit mad really when you think about it! Reminds me of when I was spieling on to my non-horsey best friend (to be fair with my tongue slightly in cheek) about a really terrible day out SJing me and one of other friends had had and how awful and embarrassing the whole thing was (it was pissing it down with rain all day, the box got stuck in the mud in the car park and we had to get towed out, friend's mare turned nappy as soon as she set foot in the ring and was eliminated for 3 refusals (at 60cm cross poles ), mine was going well but I had a brain fart and forgot the course so also eliminated ) and BF said: 'Let me just stop you there. Are you seriously telling me that the two of you, grown women with successful corporate careers, family responsibilities and adult children, were hugging each other in the rain in the car park and sobbing because of your failure to make a large hairy herbivore jump over some painted sticks? That you were trying to do this in order to win a colourful piece of cardboard and ribbon made in China and worth approximately 20p, despite you spending at least 10 times that much in the overall endeavour? And you're telling me now in all sincerity that this failure is the worst thing that's happened to you in months if not years? Have you considered that you may have entirely lost your mind?" 😂It did make me think that the horsey world might be one of the harder things to explain about humanity if aliens ever invade!

@maxelly mad isnt it!!!
We've all been there though and it feels like the end of the world 😂

I got towed in to Hampshire County show in 2007, it was so bad mud wise. Tacked up, got the pony out, went to mount and he spooked and i went straight over the other side of him landing in the mud in full show gear. Ee just loaded and went home again and that would have cost £350+ just to do that 😂

I remember one year hickstead was a complete mud bath. Having travelled a long way to spectate I wanted to see all the rings. I bought a pair of wellies from a trade stand and headed off. Then when we took our seats in the main stand we ended up just in front of the Bunn family box. They looked me up and down like I was a muddy monster from the blue lagoon 🤣
We stayed onsite in our caravan and when everyone else was being towed by tractors our trusty jeep got us off no bother.
I still have the wellies, best pair I even bought.