competing with a 24/7 out horse

[Remi]

Okay, does anyone keep your horse/pony out 24/7 without rugs and still compete him/her. What do you do about grooming? Preparing them? Plaiting?

Do you put them in a stable as a one off or just leave them out as normal?

Thanks

Remi x

[CurlyWurlyRach]

i used to and i tended to leave her in the night before but my friend never bothered and it always worked out fine for her, she plaited in the morning and loaded the lorry, sorted tack etc the night before.

[Remi]

thanks for the reply :D

What grooming did you do? Was just a dandy brush sufficient enough to make your horse 'presentable'?

[Iron Maiden]

My horse lives out 24/7 apart from about coming in at night for a bit in the dead of winter. We did lots of shows over the summer, the effort I went to in turnout depended on what we were doing. If we were showing she got a full bath & tail wash the day before, then I got to the yard on the day in time to give her another quick wash if need be & to plait her up. If we were show jumping she just got tailwash the day before & a quick bath on the day. For xc she just got brushed I'm afraid! In winter it's harder because I don't like to bath her & wash the oils out of her coat so we don't show, we did some dressage recently & I cleaned her up as best I could and plaited her up (badly). I've never kept her in the night before a show, I'd avoid doing this because she gets stressed when she's stabled & knowing her she'd probably spend the night kneeling in poo anyway :rolleyes:

[jemz]

My mare lives out with stable open for a field shelter, she is rugged but is grey and loves nothing more than getting filthy, before we go anywhere i usually do a tail wash and leg wash and just groom the rest as best as poss, I only compete unaff so dont usually plait for sj and not done dressage in winter yet. I agree with Iron Maiden about bringing in night before as Rosie would turn out in the morning worse than if i'd left her out with poo stains galore!