LNT #1 Plan Ahead and Prepare – Make your plans for where you are going, for food and personal needs. Make sure you think about hazards and unexpected situations you or your animals might encounter so you can be prepared. Prepare for any weather conditions, Thunderstorms can cause fires in the summer, know an alternate way out? Weather can turn from being very hot to snow quickly, carry a jacket and raincoat. Do you know how to get emergency help from where you are if someone has a serious accident? When we are not prepared, we end up making choices that create unnecessary impact.
These Leave No Trace (LNT) articles were originally published in the OET Riders Roundup in the early to mid 2000’s. They were written by Bonnie Stockman, a long standing member and supporter of the OET Mission and way. Among her many talents, Bonnie was a Equestrian Leave No Trace (LNT) educator and wrote many articles for the OET Riders Roundup. Today as she watches over us, we honor Bonnie’s work, by reprinting the articles for everyone, so while we ride let’s do our part by leaving no trace and become a better steward of our public lands.
Planning ahead and preparing are one of the key principles of Leave No Trace (LNT). If you don’t have what you need to travel in safety and comfort you are going to leave an impact wherever you camp. Without adequate preparation and planning you can put yourself and your horse at risk. If you get into a serious enough situation, you could put other people at risk if a rescue effort becomes necessary.
And don’t think that just because you never camp in the Backcountry or go more than a couple of miles from a horse camp that you are exempt from the need to plan ahead and prepare. A night under a horse blanket if you forgot your sleeping bag – while being toasty – isn’t nearly as comfortable as your sleeping bag.
We won’t go into detailed planning this month – we’ll save that for next month. This month we’ll concentrate on listing the general sort of things that you need to plan to have fun this summer.
Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but something happens to my gear over the winter. It’s funny how I can go on that last trip, come back home with everything, put it away in an orderly fashion and in the spring, parts are missing or not where I put them. Let’s face it – camping gear has legs.
I’ll admit also that at the end of the season I may not pay attention to some details. Come spring, I’m always surprised by the dishwashing scrubby science project I find in its plastic bag in the cook gear box. There’s also the inevitable robbery by some other members of the household who “need” some of my toys for, say, a late season Boy Scout camping expedition. Of course “they” don’t put it back in the same place when they are done.
This year I had a practice run. I was recently asked to set up the “Camping Out of Your Horse Trailer Exhibit” at the North Valley OET 8th Annual Recreational Horsemanship Clinic. Sort of the affordable alternative to the $60,000 fancy setups in the parking lot. I decided to use this as an opportunity to get my stuff together for upcoming Mother’s Day Ride at Graham Corral.
Of course, the scrubby got me again. It was okay after a quick washing and trip through the microwave to freshen up. There were a couple of other things – a new piece of indoor/outdoor carpeting for the horse trailer, for example. Overall, however, I was mostly able to pull something workable together fairly quickly. I now know what additions I need in the food box and I’ll be sure and put in some fresh matches.
It helped last fall that I had put stuff into its regular storage place. While I’d cleaned out the food box in the fall, I’d left a list of what I’d removed that needed to be there. I won’t have to go through trying to remember what I need to have along at the last minute.
What are some of the other things that you need to think about or do to be ready for the summer?
- Figure out where you are going and when. Remember you’ll need reservations at some places.
- Get any necessary permits that might be required where you are going. Such as Brand Inspections and Health permits for out-of-state travel or Forest Passes or State Park Day passes if you go where those are required.
- Vehicle maintenance – truck and trailer. On the trailer, at a bare minimum, be sure to check wheel bearings, brakes, springs, lights, hitches and floors. Even a great loader may balk at getting into a trailer where the brakes “grab” or the springs are broken.
- Gear check – that hole in the tent or that ratty girth probably didn’t repair themselves over the winter.
- Horse training issues – it’s not too late to work on Old Paint’s backpacker phobia, but you need to do it NOW and at home, not on the trail (which we all know will be in an inconvenient place like a nasty narrow trail with a drop-off).
- Organize a gear check off list. A week or so ahead of time, go through and check off that you FOUND the item. Maybe even note where it is or move it to a central staging area such as your living room. (Okay, so my living room looks like the Special Sale Table of Returned Items at REI.) When you actually load the stuff, check off that it’s loaded.
- Put together a food box of staples that you like to have on hand – that way you’re not looking for a can of chili at the last minute or trying to remember to put the salt in. With a good basic food box set up, you can limit your food packing to fresh items.
- Plan shoeing appointments so they don’t conflict with scheduled departure dates and allow a little time for the foot to grow out if going into rocky country.
- Plan when you’ll need to transition to weed free feed if you are going to a sensitive area where weed free feed may be required. Make sure you have what feed you plan to use on hand. Remember food changes for horse are better if phased in over 10 days and that you should also allow at least 3 days for feed to work through the horse’s digestive tract.
- Line up any needed house sitters/animal sitters. Not a bad idea to have a backup plan, too.
- Don’t forget conditioning! Both you and your horse!
Enough of this! Let’s go camping!
May we always have Mountains and Rivers Without End.
Bonnie & Velvet
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