You may think that the purpose of a horsebox is to move a horse from A to B in relative safety. Think again THF novice. Your horsebox shrieks ambition, money and exclusivity. From paintwork to pop-out, satellite dish to showers (horse and human). they are a deliberate and massive statement: from the “mine is bigger than yours”, through “I may be a rubbish rider but wouldn’t the team love travelling in this” to” if Daddy can afford this just think what sort of horse/pony he can buy me”.
The long suffering THF may well wonder why it isn’t better to spend a fraction of the price of a luxury ( and probably illegally over-weight) horsebox when he could afford to stay in a 5-star hotel near the venues. Confusion is compounded by the fact that hardly anyone who has a really expensive box actually ever stays in it (that is for the grooms). So we are back to the statement that the box makes and a few key rules if you want to progress –
- A serious aspiring team member must have an appropriate box to help the team/selectors decide to select you.
- You don’t need ludicrous picture and statements – sponsorship shows you can’t afford it yourself. The expensive horse box speaks for itself.
- Make sure as a THF you cannot drive the horsebox ( however pricey). Experience suggests that an early scrape/crash avoids future calls on time (see also Reading Dressage Tests) and ideally can get you a permanent ban.
- If you have to watch a dressage show make sure you have flexibility to arrive as the test begins and leave before the (inevitably delayed and disappointing) prize giving. The “just in time” approach works as well for dressage as distribution.
thehorsefunder 
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