Harder Than Packing for Children!

Will someone remind me again why taking your horse somewhere overnight is fun? It had been quite a while (like maybe more than a year?), since I took Speedy anywhere for the night. As I was packing things up for the CDS Adult Amateur Clinic, I realized I was out of practice.

Since moving to the ranch in August, we haven't done any traveling outside of lessons and trips to the vet. That meant that I couldn't remember where anything was. I have bins for everything, so I had to drag them all out into the open to root around for stuff.

I don't think I mentioned that I did all of this on the hottest day of the year. Bakersfield's official high was 104℉ which broke the record of 101℉. The east end of town, where I live and where the ranch is, saw temperatures of 107℉, which was reported as the warmest temperature in the state!

Oh, how you lie weather app!

So I schlepped my stuff to the truck one cartful at a time, slowly remembering how to do it. Not long ago, I had it down to such a science that I could have everything loaded in about 15 minutes.

The only fun part to the process was hosing off blue truck. The truck stays parked with my trailer so it tends to get dusty, decorated with cobwebs, and this spring, layered in bird poop. Scrubbing poop wasn't fun, but getting wet made the job a lot more pleasant.

It looks clean from a distance!

After the first cartful, I finally found my groove and got things loaded fairly quickly. Packing things in a rear tack is a lot like working out a vertical puzzle.

I was dreading loading my hay, but I caught Reggie, our live in handyman/doer-of-all-the-things using the tractor. He gladly threw a bale in the bucket and dropped it into my truck bed for me. You gotta love men!

I love packing human clothes and have developed quite a system. Even when we travel outside of the country, I do it the same way. I pack one outfit at a time which includes undies to accessories. Come to think of it, I packed Speedy's clothes the same way. This pad for that day, this pad for the other day ...

Stacked and ready to pack.

As "fun" as packing things for an overnight trip with your horse can be, unpacking it all when you get home is a lot less enjoyable. Where's Reggie?