April 21, 2016 
Let’s get one thing straight. There is a serious difference between being “poor” in the real world and being “poor” in the horse world.
Waiting to course walk. (©Sixteen Hands)
Poor in the real world is being able to barely afford food and rent. In the horse world, “poor” is being able to afford to pay $1,000 a month in board and maybe some entries here and there, but not being able to buy a horse for $250,000.
To the average person these numbers probably seem insane, but in the horse world, this is normal. We are competing against people who can spend $100,000 without a second thought. The people at the top of this sport are the Jessica Springsteens, the Jennifer Gates’, and the Georgina Bloombergs of the world. This is what we “poor” equestrians are up against.
When you’re the “poor” kid at the horse show, it goes a little like this.
Horse Show Day
4:00 a.m. – Alarm goes off… you want to hit snooze… but all you can picture is the manure stains on your horse and the time it’s going to take to get those white socks clean…. JERK!
4:15 a.m. – Dressed and out the door. Coffee in hand and headed to the show grounds.
4:30 a.m. – Yup, still dark out. Arrive at the barn to find only the guys there. No clients. No trainers. Just you and the guys. They are mucking and feeding while you pull your horse out and dust him off.
4:45 a.m. – You’re tacked up and ready to go hack in the rings. Still dark… hopefully your night vision is good.
5:00 a.m. – Your trainer joins you in the ring to hack one of the clients’ horses.
5:30 a.m. – You ride back to the barn and untack and throw a cooler on your horse.
5:35 a.m. – You jump on one of the kids’ ponies to hack it around the ring.
6:00 a.m. – Time to check in all the clients at all of the rings… Pray that you get the spots you want so your day works out as planned.
6:30 a.m. – Time to give your horse a bath before your day gets too insane… Hey look! The sun is finally up!
Riding back after schooling. (©Sixteen Hands)
7:00 a.m. – Your horse is clean, you take him back to his stall.
7:05 a.m. – Take a minute to breathe and make sure you’re not forgetting anything… Oh yes, the horses would probably like breakfast.
7:15 a.m. – Time to make sure the Pre-Green horse is getting ready.
Clover waiting to show. (©Sixteen Hands)
8:00 a.m.– Pre-Green horse is at the in-gate. You paint feet, wipe the slobber off his face.
8:45 a.m. – Pre-Green horse is done showing. You go check all of the rings and make sure the day is running according to your plan.
9:00 a.m. – Have to get the Short Stirrup pony and kid ready—obviously management thought changing the Short Stirrup rings would be a fun wrench to throw into your day!
9:15 a.m. – (Throw the kid on the pony. Somehow we make it on time.)
10:00 a.m. – Thank god. Short Stirrup is finishing up. One Walk Trot Canter class and it’s over.
10:30 a.m. – Back at the barn. Time to make sure all the horses have hay and water. Throw Dengie in their buckets while you have a few minutes.
Slowly melting to death while reevaluating the plan for the day. (©Sixteen Hands)
11:00 a.m. – You have the four Junior Hunters getting ready. You make sure their kids are down at the ring.
11:15 a.m. – You send the Junior Hunters down with a couple grooms and the other working student.
11:30 a.m. – Time to fix dinner for tonight for the horses. Despite popular belief, this will take longer than 20 minutes….. supplements, a million SmartPaks, crushing up meds, scooping grain, pouring new bags of grain into the bins….
12:15 p.m. – Grain is done. Time to check the rings again…
Checking rings in the rain. (©Sixteen Hands)
12:30 p.m. – Junior hunters are back. They are getting untacked, bathed and unbraided. Guess what? It’s finally time for you to get ready to show! Maclay day!
12:45 p.m. – You pull your horse out and groom him. Put on his boots and his tack, and then get yourself dressed.
Waiting for the course walk (again). (©Sixteen Hands)
1:15 p.m. – You get on at the barn. Backpack on with all your grooming supplies, phone, and spurs.
1:30 p.m. – Check in with the in-gate guy. You’re 15 out. Right on time. What a miracle. You text your trainer to tell her you’re 15 out and then get a kind stranger to put your backpack down next to the ring and then start hacking.
1:45 p.m. – Your trainer gets to the ring with the three other Maclay kids. She grabs a jump and starts jumping you.
1:50 p.m. – You walk up to the in-gate. Hop off and move up your saddle. Paint your horse’s feet and wipe off his face. You get a leg up from one of the grooms.
2:00 p.m.– Your turn. In the ring you go. You put in a nice trip and end up on the standby.
2:15 p.m. – Still on the standby. You hang out at the ring with your horse.
Passion waiting to show. (©Sixteen Hands)
2:30 p.m. – Final standby call and you’re on it. You hop on and head in for the flat with two of the clients.
2:45 p.m. – They pin the class. You were 2nd. One of the clients won the class… on her perfect saint of an equitation horse.
Walking back to the barn. (©Sixteen Hands)
3:00 p.m. – Back at the barn. Time to untack, bathe and unbraid. The girl who won the class hands her horse off to one of the grooms and heads back to the hotel.
3:05 p.m. – You hear last call for the Large Pony Hunters. Great, your Large Pony is in his stall with a lovely manure stain on him…why would anyone else have thought to check the ring while you were showing? You quickly pull him out and help the guys get him ready and send him up to the ring.
3:15 p.m. – You bathe and unbraid your horse. Then you wrap him.
Rhett is thrilled about being unbraided. (©Sixteen Hands)
4:00 p.m. – Waiting on the Large Pony to get back so you can throw hay and check waters. Then you fill up Dengie buckets.
4:15 p.m. – Still waiting on the Large Pony…. You wipe off the board and start to write up the schedule for tomorrow.
Waiting for the pony to come back. (©Sixteen Hands)
4:30 p.m.– Finally, the pony is back. The guys start untacking, bathing, unbraiding and bandaging.
5:00 p.m.– You feed the horses with the guys. All the clients are long gone by this point.
5:15 p.m. – You make final adjustments to the schedule for tomorrow. Then you write up the braiding board and hang tails.
Lack of sleep has hit us… hanging tails on stalls or our heads? (©Sixteen Hands)
6:00 p.m.– Looks like everything is done. Oh wait, you need to fix grain for breakfast tomorrow morning.
6:30 p.m. – Okay, you can leave for real now.
7:00 p.m.– Back at the hotel. Cereal for dinner because you’re too tired to get real food…
Monday snuggles with Passion. (©Sixteen Hands)
7:30 p.m.– You text all the clients and tell them when to get to the show tomorrow.
7:45 p.m. – You set your alarm for 4 a.m. and you pass out.
Don’t get me wrong I love every second of this! I love that the horses are all happy to see me in the morning. I love Mondays, when I go to the barn to order hay and grain and I get to snuggle with the sleepy ponies. I would not change any of it for anything.
I would much rather have it like this than be on full service— something I don’t think I realized when I was a junior, but now I see what a better horse person it has made me.
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!
About the Author
Kaitlan Parker is a collegiate equestrian who rides for the Bridgewater College IHSA Equestrian Team. She has competed in hunters, jumpers, equitation on the ‘A’ and ‘AA’ circuit. In addition, she has been a working student for top professionals in the industry such as Nona Garson. Her blog, “Sixteen Hands”, gives insight into her experiences in all aspects of the horse industry.
