I don’t need to pack. Really I don’t. Thanks to a mother that carries everything (including a sink) in her trailer and many many years of Pony Club rallies (shows) and ratings, I have everything I could need neatly organized in my trailer. Hence, I don’t need to devote a day to packing before heading to an event. Yet, last night found me in my trailer for several hours “packing” for our trip to Heritage at the end of the week.
So, if everything I need is in my trailer already, what was I doing? Ritualizing…that’s my word for it, others might say I’m giving into my obsessive compulsive streak. It just doesn’t seem right to load-up and go, not after all the years when I spent a week cleaning and labeling and organizing vet kits and first aid kits and cleaning kits and hardware kits, making stall cards and feed charts, weighing grain and supplements with a kitchen scale... It just seems too easy now and when things are easy, I tend not to appreciate them to their fullest. So, while I did give-up on the labeling with four different identifiers per piece of equipment, I always feel compelled to spend some quality time with all that “stuff” before heading to a show.
If you're wondering, what's the point? Here’s a humorous and hopefully educational look at what’s in my trailer… Part 1...
We’ll start by opening the door to the people part and heading left. Just inside the door there’s a handy dandy catch all. It’s got cookies (the horse kind), water bottles, clipper spray (who knows why), my favorite detangler, occasionally my keys (shush…don’t tell would be robbers-although I can never find them, so I’m probably safe), and an assortment of trash (I said it was organized – not clean). Behind that I keep a dressage whip, rarely used but sometimes necessary when loading Miss Nutmeg or other slightly reluctant passengers. It is also useful for fending off above mentioned robber...
My saddle racks are in that corner (it’s a slant trailer * sigh * oh how I wish I’d held out for a straight load) and behind them I tuck away the pitch fork (It’s blue of course. Blue even makes manure look better). I store my muck bucket and water buckets below the saddle racks and no, even when I’m only taking one horse, I don’t unload the extra set of buckets.
Next comes the “tack” wall. It’s almost like walking into a used tack store. There’s a hook for longing equipment, a hook for each horses bridle, breastplate, and girth, and a hook for each horse’s trailering gear (leather halter, lead rope, fly mask, and for Nutmeg a head-bumper). Then there are several hooks with spare equipment, bridals from past horses, girths from past horses, random bits, extra martingales, and my husband’s helmet, plus an assorment of polo wraps. In the winter my blanket bucket sits below the tack wall so it’s easily accessible. Right now, my shoes are there. You can never take to many pairs to an event. Walk around cross country once in a pair that don’t fit well and you’ll quickly be switching to a different pair. They may not fit well either, but at least they’ll hurt in a different place.
My show trunk is a doozey and this is where some of my ritualizing (obsessing) time comes into play. Depending on the show type and which horse or horses are going, I repack some of the items in the trunk and put the others into storage. Standing leg wraps and a sheet (blanket) are common items that are swapped out depending on the horse. I always keep my studs, stall guard, coggins papers and rule books, cross-country bat, stadium crop, braiding kit, and my bridle rack in my trunk. There is a removable tray in which I keep the show prep essentials like baby wipes, hoof polish, baby powder, ace bandage, baby oil and detangler. It also houses my Big Yellow Watch, cross-country helmet cover, a writing utensil and old halter numbers from past events. It’s not that I’m overly sentimental (actually I am, but that’s an aside), a friend of mine and eventer extrordinar showed me the trick of saving them and then turning them over at the next event and writing your new number on the backside. That way you can keep one number on your bridle and one on your halter and you don’t have to worry about switching them back and forth constantly (at Events, horses aren’t permitted out of their stalls without their number). This practice is becoming more difficult though, due to many events recollecting the numbers. At least they’re trying to keep costs down. If there is room, my helmet, boots and the horses grooming kit go in as well, but that’s a big “If”.
Whew…that’s a lot of stuff and I haven’t even scratched the surface. I think this is going to be a weeklong series. Feel free to ask questions if you are wandering why I have this stuff or are wondering what the point is. There is a purpose and probably a story behind every item. Until next time, happy packing and give your tack box or trailer a fresh perspective.
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