Horse Show Travel | Then vs. Now

By: Ambassador Elizabeth Noelk

How has traveling to horse shows changed since you were a kid? 

Maybe a lot....or maybe not as much as you'd think.

Let me explain...

It wasn’t until I was on the Florida State Equestrian Team that I traveled to horse shows. We traveled throughout the state of Florida to compete and into southern Georgia. Traveling with the team was always fun. We would find out who was in our car beforehand and all coordinate with snacks, music, etc. It was a great way to get to know the team and spend time together.

​Now, I’m traveling with a different team. The Grey Cedar Farm team. Much like the FSU Equestrian Team, we coordinate with snacks and music to rock out too, as we follow the trailer to the horse show grounds.

In order to entertain ourselves, we have conversations on everything and anything. Our favorite conversation topic revolves around us pretending our horses are a bunch of high schoolers. We assign them each a persona based on their personalities. Of course, Bud would be the popular older kid all the girls wanted to date. Archer would be the quarterback on the football team. The list would go on until each horse was discussed. Whenever Andrea rides with us, I turn the conversation to hear stories of when she was in college and competing. Or how she learned everything she knows about the competition world. Her stories are intriguing and very educational, if not entertaining. We obviously spend our time jamming out and snapchatting too. Because if it isn’t on SnapChat, it didn’t happen.

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When I was younger, I would entertain myself in long car rides with:

• The alphabet game
• Coloring books
• Actual books 
• Game Boy (remember those!?)
• The license plate game

Now as an adult, I find a lot hasn’t changed. I still can revert to the above methods, thanks to adult coloring books. And yes, I still have a game boy. They are great entertainment! However, we also play games.

• High school personas for our horses
• Ask Andrea (our trainer) about her early years
• Rock out to music
• Snap chatting (obviously)
• Scrolling through Instagram and Facebook 

However, there are still times when the games from my younger years come in handy.

To my Adult Ammy Strong community I ask, how do you entertain yourself on your way to horse shows?