My Horse Show Essentials

This was originally posted on April 6th.

This week, I'll be sharing my show essentials! I'll be going all in, starting by what I keep in my truck, then my trailer, my tack and finally, what I keep in my first aid kit for the horses. Since I'm a pretty organised person, I've prepared my checklists a long time ago, so I'm sure to be ready on time when the show weekends come. I hope my over-the-top preparation can help you do your own preparation!

Let's start with the essentials that I keep in my truck for the road. If you're anything like me and you travel with a girl who becomes grumpy when she's hungry, you must have snacks! Granola bars, cookies, chips, or, if you have a cooler, fruit, yogurt, whatever you like, as long as it keeps you happy! Water bottles are also a must to stay hydrated, especially during the hot summer days of show season. I also keep sunscreen in my truck door, so I'm sure to have some with me (even though I often forget to put it on... oh well). Then, I keep a knife and a lighter, which can be useful to cut the bale twine or light a candle for example. I also always have portable batteries to charge my phone, and a USB plug to charge back the batteries in my truck. Lastly, I keep my show binder, in which I keep my checklists, the order of the different events in the associations I participate in, my barrel racing planner and sheets and pens, which can be useful on the road!

For my trailer, there is a lot of things I couldn't do without. An essential for a horse who likes to get out of his portable stall (mine likes to imitate Houdini sometimes...) is stakes and bender straps. This way you can tie up your stall so your horse can't try to escape to go make friends with the next trailer's horses! This takes away a stress we don't need to deal with. Then, basic tools can always be useful on the road. A jack for the trailer and truck in case of a flat tire are essential, but I also always have a sledgehammer, electrical tape, duct tape, pliers, screwdrivers and a leather hole puncher. I also keep a pocket knife, a lighter and a flashlight, which can all be useful at some point!

For the horses' part in the trailer, an essential for me is shavings, so that they are comfortable and also to soak up the urine. We also use it for the horses's stalls when we set up our panels at the show grounds. I also carry water jugs, since I don't have a tank for my horses in my trailer. I use jugs that look like the red jugs used for gas, so this way they have a handle which make them more practical to use and refill at the show grounds during the weekend.

Then, my most important tack essentials are having extras, such as a halter, a lead, a bridle, clips, etc. in case something breaks! I also keep the twine from my bales of hay, since we can fix or tie pretty much everything with it. I have a drawer set that I use to organize my stuff, so it maximizes the space we have in the tack. Other than that, since I have a pale horse, I always bring a fly sheet, that I use for the nights, so my horse isn't covered in brown stains in the mornings. Last thing I need is sand paper. I discovered this winter that using it on my saddle to restore my roughout leather does an amazing job. This way, my legs stay in place and I have one less thing to worry about in preparation for my run!

Finally, I'll share with you my trailer first aid kit essentials! Hope you find something useful in there.

· Hydrogen peroxyde

· Rubbing alcohol

· Hand sanitizer

· Scissors

· Gloves

· Tweezers

· Clean towels and rags

· Gauze (squares and rolls)

· Vetwrap

· Iodine

· Bag Balm

· Blu-Kote

· Plastic wrap

· Standing bandages and no bows

· Tape

· Swat

· Butazone

· Green cool lotion/3 in 1 liniment

· Seringes

· Clay/Poultice

So there were my horse show essentials! Hope you found some ideas in there and hope they'll be useful when your season starts. Do you have any other essentials you'd like to share? Feel free to do so!