“Oh no! I forgot my ______ !”

“Oh no! I forgot my ______ !”

The Carriage Show Packing List

As a show season approaches, we start thinking about what we will need for the competitions. We start gathering our outfits together, maybe thinking about a new one. We might consider upgrading our turnout with a new whip, gloves, or a better spares kit. Or maybe if you are brand new carriage driver looking to enter your first show, you are considering all the items you might need for the event!

I have had a horse show packing list for as long as I can remember. It is a fluid, working document that gets updated as we change our practices and items. I have a different packing list for carriage Pleasure Shows than I do for Combined Driving Events. I print a new one for every show from my computer and check off each item ONLY as it gets put in the trailer. An item doesn’t get checked off the list if it is just sitting on the kitchen counter.

We try to have two of everything, so it makes packing day a whole lot faster. We have one set of brushes for the barn and a 2nd set of brushes for the trailer. We have different barn manure forks than trailer forks. Another strategy we employ is to color-code our items if possible. The typical stuff in our barn is forest green. The items that belong in the trailer are blue. That way, if we see a blue bucket in the barn, for example, we know that it isn’t in the trailer! If you travel to shows with other competitors, try to mark your items so they don’t get mixed up, or so they can be identified if someone grabs yours by accident.

We enjoy being able to help out our fellow competitors at the shows we attend with products we have for sale in the store, be it in a vendor tent or our own trailer. However, we may not always have something in stock, especially if we didn’t bring a lot of something and a bunch of people have already come running in for what they forgot. We try to pack as many as we expect we will sell, but sometimes we end up with a run on certain items. This may be the case with things like number holders. In our carriage collection, we try to have a number holder for each vehicle, and it generally stays on that vehicle. That way, we are sure that we have it when we load that vehicle in the trailer.

So, all of the above said, we have made our carriage show packing list available on our website. That particular one on the website is not our actual personal packing list, as again, ours is customized and fluid, but if you don’t have a packing list for yourself, that one may help you get a good one started! Take the time to type yours out and save it on your computer so you can print it out when you need to. It also might be a good idea to print it out a few days or a few weeks ahead of time so that you can make sure that you have everything on hand. With shipping these days, it may be hard to get something only a couple of days ahead.

By being prepared and organized, it makes the show or event be that much less stressful and more enjoyable!

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