01/10/2026
Last weekend we went to a stay away party at the Cotswold Cup Championship.
Staying away for two nights gave a great opportunity to do a little research on weight whilst staying in a different environment and doing things slightly differently to a standard one day event.
The format:
- Arrive on Friday and stable.
- Saturday morning trot up, then we had our dressage and XC late afternoon
- Sunday was another trot up then SJ early afternoon, then home.
Robbie Williams gave some great insights 🧐
Weight at leaving home - 585kg
Weight on arrival after 100 miles and four hours on the lorry - 578kg ⬇️ 7kg
Weight on first morning 575kg ⬇️ 2kg
Weight after XC 565kg ⬇️ 10kg
Weight before leaving 574kg ⬆️ 9kg
Weight on arrival home after 3 hour journey on same route - 570kg ⬇️ 4kg
Caterpillar joined us for the weekend and showed a similar trend.
What this tells us. Travelling uses energy. Yes they also 💩 💩 💩 on the lorry but I always let mine have hay on the journey so they are refilling a little bit on the way.
Staying in unfamiliar surroundings perhaps keeps them on higher alert and they don't eat/drink as much.
Exercise uses fluid (sweat), and again they are pooing out stomach contents and not eating whilst they are moving whilst also burning calories.
Understanding some of these trends can help us manage our horses better before, during and after an event. Feeding strategically, hydration and trying to keep them as settled as possible.
Two days after we got home both horses were back to their 'leaving' weight.