When you have had some time off or if it is the beginning of the season, it is always a good idea to make sure you have all your bits and pieces with you ready for the season ahead. Nowadays we sometime have all year round competitions, but usually, in the winter because of the light and weather conditions we tend not to compete our horses as much.
If you are lucky enough to have your own lorry you can keep some of your kit in the lorry. Those of us that either have a trailer or don’t have our own transport need to keep our kit ready. It is a good idea to have your hat, hair net, gloves and any stock pins all together in a hat bag like the one below.
Hat bags are really handy as they come with added pockets where you can put a hair net, gloves, stock pins and if necessary spurs. This means whenever you want to go out you can take your hat bag with you and you will have everything you need for riding and competing. If you use a jumping stick make sure you have this with either your boots or your hat bag.
Above you can see a boot bag for small riding boots and half chaps. Again this is another great bag that helps you transport and keep your boots clean. You can also get these for long riding boots. These bags have pockets with zips on as well and you can put spurs, and cloths in them. This way everything is together and easy to put into transport when required.
Another good idea is to use an old rug bag and put your horse’s travel kit in it. You can have the tail bandage, travel boots, scrim sheet, and any other items like your platting kit or water brushes. The bags that you get for different rugs are really handy for this type of use.
The only other bags that would use is a sports bag for my clothes and also a bag for carrying the bridle and saddle. This way it is easier to pack everything and have it ready for your trip or competition.
The other items I will take with me are some polish and a brush for my boots, a traveling vetinary kit which we will cover in another blog, and any rulebooks, dressage tests, and horses passports.
It is also a good idea to take a spare set of reins, stirrup leather and girth in case something brakes at the competition. I also tend to keep some electrical tape as well, as you never know when you might need it.
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