Random thoughts and Tips!

A random collection of thoughts and tips - perfect topic as I tend to be a bit scattered brain as I leave for a ride!

A tip for not forgetting anything essential at a ride.....
Yesterday's post ended with the admonishment that everything will go fine as long as nothing essential is forgotten. Easier said than done. Since I live out of my trailer between rides, I'm proud to say (knock on wood...) I've never forgotten something "ride-ending". I've forgotten my champagne (heart breaking), my water bottles (frusterating), my jug of people water (not a diasaster because of the ride I was going to), and oil/butter that I needed to cook my potluck dish (irritating). BUT, before I used a trailer to store my gear in, I used this trick to make sure all my essential gear DID make it in the trailer. At the end of my last "real" conditioning ride (usually 2-3 weeks prior to the race), I put my gear directly into the trailer instead of in the barn/boarder tack room. Then at least, I was guaranteed the gear I used for a conditioning ride, even if I forget something silly like champagne, or butter.

A tip for shedding horses
My farrier showed me this on Thursday. Use the coarse side of a worn out rasp to brush the horse out. Use long strokes and be careful in boney areas like the hips. Works just as well as a pumice stone or a $50 de-shedding brush from the feedstore.

You are a real horse person when....
1. ...the doctor hands you your knee x-rays and tells you "here you can have these", and your first thought is "I wish these were the xrays of my horse's hocks", and your second thought is "where the heck am I going to PUT these", which then leads to the realization that if these WERE hock x-rays, there would be no question of keeping OR storing them.....

2. ...someone hands you the program you just wrote/updated (GMPs in this case) and asks you with a snicker whether we have to follow the program to the letter. And you reply (a bit indignanatly) "YES", because after all people have been complaining about the new program ALL DAY and it isn't really your fault at all - it's that silly audit that's coming up. And then they have the audicity to point out that I have insisted on all "horses" being hung up when not in use....(should have said "hoses"). *sigh*

Ride Binder
Have you checked out Karen Chaton's blog about putting together a ride binder with a section for each ride? No? Go over and check it out! It's a wonderful idea and I've started to put together mine. It will include ride notes, google maps to and from ride camp, whether I can get there on one tank and where to stop for gas if I can't, print outs of map and ride information etc. I found myself recalling little details of the rides even as I was typing their info page up. Stuff like: "only one faucet in whole ridecamp. Park close if you don't want to haul water..." or "ride runs light generators until 11pm at night. Park FAR AWAY from lights if I want any sleep" or "ridecamp is in a gravel pit...may want to put on boots overnight". You know - the little stuff that you usually don't remember when preparing for the ride the next year.