Preparing for show season: some tips?

Hi everyone,
So I'm preparing for the show season this year. This time, with Murray, my own horse. Also, this will be my 2nd time showing, so I'm still a newbie. Haha.

Any ideas in preparing Murray? Also, he's headshy, so is there anything I should try when clipping him or anything?

Right now, he's a shaggy boy. He use to be a trail horse, so this will be his first show too. Thanks everyone.

Can you please be more specific about "getting him ready"? do you mean performing wise or get him ready as physical (grooming)

About him being headshy: with my mare, i start by giving her a good workout (she usually has a better mind set after a good workout) and then just take it nice and slow....i start by rubbing the horse with the clippers not even being on. start by letting the horse sniff the clipper and lip at them (no biting though lol) then just rub the "non vibrating monster" all over his face and body. once he get comfortable with this turn the clippers on and do the same thing (careful to not take a chunk out of the horse) then what i do is turn the clippers back off and pretend to trim the horse, once my horse has accepted that, i turn the clippers on and take it really slow

Hope this helps!

Oh sorry, grooming-wise.

And thanks for the advice. =]

You probably know it, but no showsheen in the saddle and girth area. That's a recipe for disaster!

If he is a stock horse and you are banding his mane DO NOT put any conditioner in his mane!! The bbands will fall out.

For things like white I use quicksilver shampoo. It works wonders and gets stains off of the white really easily. Just make sure you dont leave it on for more than 3 minutes! It will turn the white purple! You wouldnt want to go to your first show with a purple horse!hah

If you have any other questions I will try my best to answer. But I hope this info helps

When is your first show? will it be in the early spring or late spring?

If you have an early spring show, I would suggest you start blanketing him (it will help to make him shed) and I would also curry him a lot (it will help get out any hair that's already coming out) You can also use a shedding blade too. Or if you feel comfortable and are good at it, I would clip him.

If you want to, you can put his tail up in a tail bag so it stays nice and clean. (Just make sure to take it down once a week to take the braid out, brush it, re-condition it, re-braid it and put it back up).

Depending what you want to do with his mane (this will depend on what type of show you're doing) you can either, band it, braid it, or let it go naturally. You might want to shorten it if it's long.

To make him stay cleaner, you could put a blanket on him when he gets turned out.

To prep for show season with my horse(s) I usually don't body clip unless they are really hairy indoor horses. Usually for the coat I just feed a balanced diet and blanket properly and they have a shiny, short winter coat. What I will clip is the legs from the knee/hock down and the head. If a horse is clipper shy or head shy I just take it really slow. With their legs I'll do a bit every day and usually I end up in some strange crouched position to keep their leg up and keep them from twitching or leaping. With the head, it can be really tough with a head shy horse to use clippers, so I will just use scissors. I only cut off the long hairs under their jaw, and do the bridle path. I will also cut some hair out of their ears if is sticks out. Then because I do dressage I'll also clip the top of the tail, I don't braid it for shows.
I'll also put shoes on the horse just because their going to be on unfamiliar footing at shows. And while the farrier is out I'll get her to rasp the hooves so I have an easier time sanding them later. And if the horse has ergots I'll get her to nip those off. And if their chestnuts are really long I'll get those nipped off too. And then I put vaseline on the chestnuts and ergots.
And then all that's left is grooming at the show! For that I bath, clean the white parts of the horse, rinse with water and baby oil, condition the tail and put silicone spray on the white parts. Then I'll braid, sand & polish the feet, groom the body (I use "Miracle Groom" on their body because it doesn't cause anything to slip!), brush out the tail and then oil them.
I'm instense about grooming though... :)

I use the same method for feeding that Anebel uses as well. I will also keep a light turn out sheet on mine during the summer to help keep the lusterous colors going strong so that the sun wont fade the coat.

Another trick I use is the baking method for the coat after a show clip, a week before a show. I lather em up in mayonaise and cover them us in a sheet. I leave it on for a couple days. Then pull it off after the second or third day, and wash them. The coat is really slick, the color is really bright and sharp. This also helps the show shampoos I use when it comes time to show, in that you dont have to put in as much color revitalizers.

WOW!! I asked this question ages ago and dint get too much response because this years show season is ot due to injury so I will aim for next years.

Mayo!!

a realy good one for white socks is either talcom powder or shaving cream just the white basic stuff its really good then cover the sock with silicone spray to keep the dirt from sticking . .