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Part nine in a series on preparing for your first three-day event.
In this series Ashley Adams, assistant trainer to Bonnie Mosser at Point Above Farm, offers advice to riders preparing for their first three-day event. Ashley is currently preparing her Thoroughbred gelding Vaunted for their second time competing at the Rolex Kentucky three-day event.
It’s roughly a month out from your three-day. Freaking out yet? If the answer is yes, good. If it’s no, good.
At this point in your three-day prep you have got a few shows under your belt and you have your farrier, coach, and vet on speed dial. Your horse looks great, you feel good, and you have made a few changes in your tack and your system. Now you must make a few extra changes in your equipment set-up and start to get your three-day stuff together!
If you have decided to do a long-format three-day you must make sure that you have a few extra items in your trailer. I always like to have one set of stuff like buckets, scrapers, and sponges that I can keep at the barn and another set that I can use on Saturday for the veterinary boxes. If you don’t want to buy doubles this means that you might have to go to your barn neighbors and ask to borrow a few extra buckets and scrapers. I also like to have extra halters and leads to travel around with the groom as they follow the horse around roads and tracks at the event.
The next thing is chatting with your vet and farrier to make sure that they are both happy with your horse’s shoeing. At the three-day you’ll want to have a spare set of shoes. Wait until the last shoeing before the event, which is typically 10 days before cross-country day, to get your spare shoes – you can just hang on to the old ones when your horse is re-shod. This set of shoes will be very close to what the horse’s shoes will look like at the event. You also want your farrier to make sure to “mark” the outside of the shoes. This will allow you to know which side is the outside, naturally, and then when your put your spare studs in you will know which one to put on the outside.
You want to make sure that you have your “ten-minute” or “D” box equipment packed and ready to go with the things that you will need before and after cross-country. I pack the following things in my box: a standing bandage, duct tape, 2 rolls of vet wrap, 2-4 baby diapers, (in case you pull a shoe, these are great for wrapping the foot), scissors, electrical tape, sticky spray, an extra watch, whip, breastplate, stirrup leather and iron, reins, and several towels.
Another recommendation is to have a couple coolers or scrim sheets that you may not be super fond of to throw in the box. Typically people lose stuff or forget to come back and get it at the end of the day, so if your sheets either get taken by someone else or you forget them there is no big loss. That being said you can often times come home with some extra stuff after the event if you raid the lost and found!
If I am doing a long-format three-day I like to have not only my spare shoes, halter and lead, bucket, sponge, and scraper travel with the horse around to the box’s and steeplechase start but I will also send a mini stud box. This will allow me to change my studs if I need to for steeplechase, as you typically have a minute or two before you start steeplechase; then you have the assistance box after you finish ‘chase where you can change your studs back to the ones you want for roads and tracks.
When packing for your three-day make sure you check the weather as you may need to bring rain stuff for your box as well as for your self. I typically have a tarp packed at the bottom of my cross-country box. This can be put over your area so your stuff does not get wet and then serve as a good way to roll up all the wet stuff at the end of the day.
