Packing for a vet gate - Vlog 230 - Beth Endurance

I decided to level Estrid up through the distances gradually rather than do the bare minimum of what is required for EGB and FEI qualifications. I'd always been of the mindset that I wanted to put the least amount of competitive miles on my horses legs but I think the experience doing more rides of various lengths gives will be invaluable for Estrid, and now I'm not sure if FEI is financially viable for us it seems less of a priority to work our way up through to 1*.

Our first ride of the season was always meant to be a 40+km so that we would have the opportunity to try a vet gate with her. Her heart rates are always high out and about, I don't think we've vetted under 50bpm yet but as I'm not concerned about Grades and trophy points, as long as it's under 64bpm it really doesn't matter. What does matter is how quickly we can get that HR under 64bpm and whether Estrid would cope with the slightly more rushed/stressy environment of a vet gate rather than a final vetting.

For the lower distances your crewing for the vet gate and your hold is usually at your trailer, which is slightly novel for me as I have historically only done vet gates for 80km + rides, which have a separate vet gate and hold area near the vetting. It essentially meant I needed to pack much less stuff than I would normally have on my 'vet gate list'.

So I took my usual crew car kit of human drinks, slosh bottles, water containers, crew car feed, plain water, electrolyte water and sugar beet water. My plan was to use the same drinking buckets for Estrid for the crew car and vet gate as we'd be able to park right next to the trailer and we wouldn't need that much water with it being a shorter distance. I added an extra plain water bucket at the trailer in case for any reason the crew car didn't get back to the venue but thankfully that didn't happen.

In addition I packed three water containers, two biggish water buckets, two small handled buckets, two sponges and a sweat scraper for the 'vet gate/trailer' crew area. Alongside three choices of feed: chaf, cubes and endurance mix, and of course a haynet. Then finally my 'vet gate box' which holds my spare shoes, ice boots, waterproof cover for the saddle, bandages, girth/numnah and boots for the second loop, HR monitor, lead rope and rugs.

There are things that stay in my trailer and crew car like first aid kit, tack spares, rugs, grooming box, stethoscope etc so I don't really have to pack them. Hopefully Estrid appreciates all the extra equipment we're taking for her and chills out for her first vet gate!