Why a Written Timetable Beats a Mental One

Show days have a way of running away with you. You arrive with good intentions, then discover the lorry park is a fifteen-minute walk from the collecting ring, your class has been brought forward, and your horse has decided that today is the day to grow eyes at every white plastic chair on the showground. None of that is a crisis on its own. Stacked together, it becomes a rushed, tense experience for both of you.

A timetable written down the day before removes most of that friction. It gives you a sequence to follow, a way to spot when you are drifting behind, and — crucially — an honest picture of how long everything actually takes. That last part is where most riders go wrong. We plan for the ideal version of the day, not the real one.

Start with Your Class Time and Work Backwards

Everything hangs off the moment you need to be in the ring. Write that time at the bottom of your page, then build upwards.

• Class time. Know which class number, which ring, and whether it might run early or late.
• Ring-side and warm-up. Allow 20 to 30 minutes of ridden warm-up for most disciplines. Add five minutes for the walk from the lorry park to the warm-up area, and five more if the ground is busy.
• Tacking up. Around 15 minutes, plus 10 to 15 minutes of grooming and plaiting or quarter-marking if you are doing them at the show.
• Arrival and settling. Give your horse 20 to 30 minutes to stand, look around, drink, and pick at a haynet before you start working with them. A horse that has just stepped off a box needs that time.
• Unloading and paperwork. Ten minutes minimum, longer at big venues.
• Travel. Add 25 per cent to your normal journey time. Traffic, roadworks, and getting lost on the final mile are show day staples.

That usually means leaving home around two to two and a half hours before your class for a local show, and considerably more for a championship fixture. If the number looks shocking, that is useful information — better to know now than at 6am.

The Night Before: Packing, Feeding and Rest

The timetable starts the evening before. Pack the lorry or trailer while you are calm, not while you are trying to catch a horse in the dark. Use a checklist and keep it in the cab so you can tick items off as they go in.

• Passport, vaccination record, and any entry confirmations
• Body brush, dandy brush, curry comb, hoof pick, mane and tail comb, sponges
• Plaiting kit, quarter markers, coat shine, hoof oil
• Full water container plus a spare, and a clean bucket
• Haynets for the journey and stabling area
• Studs, stud kit, and a hoof pick for removing them
• Rider's layers, spare gloves, hairnets, boot polish wipes
• Basic first aid kit for horse and human, including a hoof bandage

Feed as normal unless your vet or trainer has advised otherwise. A sudden change of routine on show day creates more problems than it solves. Get an early night — the horse does not know it is a competition, but you will feel the difference.

Arrival, Settling and Grooming

Once you are parked, resist the urge to start grooming immediately. Give your horse water and a haynet, open the box up for airflow, and let them stand. Use those twenty minutes to walk the route to your ring, find the steward, confirm the running order, and buy a programme if numbers have shifted.

Then begin grooming in the order that suits your discipline: feet, body, mane, tail, then the finishing touches. Keep everything you need in one tray so you are not opening and closing the box repeatedly. If your horse is inclined to get excited, keep a light rug on between grooming and tacking up, and avoid too many people crowded around the box.

Warm-Up, the Class and Cool-Down

Aim to be mounted with time to spare — not so early that your horse is tired before their class, but not so late that you are trotting straight into the collecting ring. Twenty to thirty minutes of structured work is typically enough for a horse that is fit and used to the job.

After your class, do not simply untack and load. Walk your horse off for at least ten minutes, loosen the girth gradually, then sponge them down if the weather is warm. Offer water and a haynet. This cool-down is part of horse care, not an optional extra, and rushing it is one of the most common mistakes made by riders keen to get home.

Build In Buffers and a Plan B

Whatever timetable you write, add fifteen minutes somewhere in the middle. It will rarely stay unused. Show times shift, plans stretch, and warm-up areas get congested.

• If your class runs early: your buffer absorbs it, and you ride as planned.
• If it runs late: keep your horse quietly occupied rather than working them in the warm-up for an extra hour.
• If the weather turns: have a rain sheet and a spare set of gloves accessible.
• If your horse is unsettled: give yourself permission to withdraw. A relaxed horse at a smaller show next week is worth more than a stressed one today.

Write your timetable on a single sheet, sticky-tape it to the inside of the lorry door, and put the key times in your phone as alarms. After a couple of shows you will know your own realistic timings, and the whole day will begin to feel far more like something you are managing and far less like something happening to you.