Preparing your horse for a competitive career takes time. First you spend time at home teaching the basics, then the pattern. You add speed incrementally, staying at the same velocity until that pace becomes your horse's comfort zone. Then you add a little more speed and stay at that speed until it becomes easy. Then you repeat the process. At this point, you are teaching your horse the skills and reflexes it takes to do his job.
Simultaneously, we begin what we call "seasoning." Simply put, seasoning means we are getting the horse comfortable with all the variables he will face while being hauled to compete.
We begin by taking the horse to jackpots or playdays, simply because there's so much he needs to get used to and learn about, before asking him to perform at a show. We like to take a youngster in the trailer whenever we have an empty stall on the way to an event.
The benefits are many. Your inexperienced horse hauls with other seasoned travelers and gains confidence from their company and their relaxed attitude on the trailer. Once you get to the event, the youngster will be ridden around and get a chance to see the sights. Almost as important, though, is that your novice horse will be tied to the trailer. He'll learn to relax in the midst of the distractions, to eat hay and drink water away from home, before he ever feels any pressure to perform.
These trips away should be fun for him. Because we're taking the time to let the horse see the sights and sounds of being on the road, we're getting him comfortable with things that might be stressful for him later. In other words, he learns to overcome his fear or nervousness about being in strange environments at a time when he's not really being asked to do much. Later, when we begin to ask him to perform, he will already be accustomed to hauling, being ridden in different places, and eating and drinking on the road, so he will likely find it easier to concentrate on working.
Taking him as a tag-along is just the beginning of the seasoning process. In between trips with the "big boys," you'll continue to work your youngster at home-fine-tuning his job skills. When he's working well at home, consistently correct at the speed you want him to go, then you'll go to the next level of seasoning. Now, not only does your horse get to see different sights on these road trips, he's going to be asked to work his pattern in different pens, on different ground, with different noises.
