How is your horse trailer tack room set up for camping? I’d really like to get rid of the carpeted floor on mine as horse camping= lots of dirt. I have a bp with a dressing room. I know to bring water, tire changing gear, and human and equine first aid items. As well as extra halter, girth, rope etc. What have you done to set up your horse trailer for camping? Horse camping tips in general also appreciated.
- I got rid of carpet, put some sheets of styrofoam type insulation down (Lowes, etc.), then screwed plywood in, topped with vinyl flooring - a local flooring store let me have a piece of scrap for hardly anything and you can get flooring now that doesn’t have to be glued - it just lays there. You will like the insulation, wood, etc. if you camp in cold weather.
- I have a Hi-Tie for my horse. Pricey at about $250-300 but you park, swing the rod out and you’ve got horse area ready - so much easier than setting up corrals and it gives horse much more space to move than just tying to a trailer hook. Picket lines are cheaper but sometimes there aren’t trees around.
- I don’t have a refrigerator so I use a Coleman cooler that plugs in - you can plug it in the night before in your house, put 6 or so frozen bottles of water in along with your drinks and snacks, then plug it into your tow vehicle (comes with adaptor) so you’re cooling everything on your way to ride. Then I put it into the trailer, not plugged in to anything, and it has kept water, cheese, yogurt, Starbucks bottles (!) cold for up to 3 days. If you end up leaving it in the vehicle instead of moving to trailer, be sure to unplug it so it doesn’t run your truck battery down!
- If you have a steel trailer, magnets are your friends. You can get really strong ones at Lowes/HD, and can use them to hold lots of things to the wall, like paperwork and even a small throw or thin towel to cover window (if you have one in your DR) for dressing, etc.
- On Amazon you can buy a “Lugable Loo” (about $15) which is a toilet seat thing that fits on a 5-gallon bucket that you can get at Lowes. Put in a tall kitchen trash bag and either some kitty litter or shavings and you’re good to go (so to speak) great for those middle of the night pees when bathroom or Port-a-potty is just too far. End of trip, take out trash bag, dispose of (camp may have dumpster) and you’re on your way home.
- My horse will knock a water bucket over before you can even turn your back so I use another 5-gallon bucket and went to a local tire store and bought a used small lawn mower or golf cart tire; the hole needed to be a little bigger to fit the bucket so the guy even cut it to fit. No more knock-overs. I take 2 buckets so I’ve always got a spare I can refill from the camp’s hoses; most places I go do have water available from hoses at camp. For those 5-gallon buckets, you can buy special tops that fit on and have a screw-in lid. Thus you can bring horse water with you in those and they double as the horse’s drinking bucket, unlike bringing water jugs and separate buckets.
- Have flashlights including some lights you don’t have to hold: headlamp or camp style lantern you can set down outside. For early ride starts you’ll be up in the dark feeding and tacking up, not to mention if you hear something going on with your horse overnight.
- Try to be organized when you are putting your stuff in; horse stuff in one area, your clothes/meds anything else in their own area, paperwork, etc. Then try to really stay organized while you’re camping - once you let things get out of hand you’ll spend so much time trying to figure out where you put things it will drive you crazy.
- Mirror for putting in contacts, tending to facial scratches, what you got in your eye, etc.
- If your horse doesn’t currently eat any of his food wet, get him used to that and especially something like beet pulp so you can give him sloppy “slurries” of beet pulp, carrots and apple chunks mixed in. It sometimes takes a horse awhile to get used to drinking on the trail out of creeks, puddles, etc. Anything you can do to get water into the horse is good.
That’s all I can think of right now. But do a search in the Endurance forum and you’ll find LOTS of good information for camping and for setting up your living quarters trailer when you get to that point. Have fun!
Thanks for all the ideas gotmypony! We are actually heading out tomorrow for 5 days in the Redwoods. My goal is to get a photo of my mare and a banana slug. For the time being, I got some commercial carpet with rubber backing and put it in the tack room with the rubber side up. Easy to sweep and can remove and hose off at the end of the trip. The place we are going to has corrals- but bringing my electric fencing in case that would be better. Trailer is aluminum so magnets won’t work : ( Not sure how folks attach things in an aluminum trailer. BF and I will brain storm over the weekend. We have another horse camping trip at the beginning of August to the Sierras so hopefully will learn from our experiences as well as advice provided by COTHers. Thanks in advance to all!
I have carpet. It’s annoying. If I keep this trailer, I will replace it with one of the laminate wood flooring options. It just collects hay and dirt and there’s no good way to keep it clean.
My tack room and living quarters are one and the same. I have a 4 horse stock trailer that the wall got pushed back in so now its a three horse with a bigger tack/LQ. I have an inflatable mattress in the gooseneck. It’s quite comfy.
I have Sterilite modular storage drawers on the all opposite the door. They hold everything from extra tack pieces to fix something that breaks to human food to bug spray and waterless shampoo. The drawers all snap together and the whole thing is industrial Velcroed to the wall.
I have a big cooler that lives on the short wall between the door and the gooseneck. It doubles as a step up into the gooseneck. Just inside the door, above the cooler lives a storage clipboard that Velcros to the wall. It contains pens, a notebook, show bills, park maps, directions to various places, and bridle tags.
I have a bunch of buckets from a hardware store with lids that live in a stack. I use them to bring water to shows or feed camping.
In the corner, I have a bunch of totes stacked. Some of the stuff shouldn’t be in there, but I don’t currently have a better place for it. Ultimately, I will be getting a corner water tank for the otherwise useless tiny angle and most of the totes won’t be in there.
The wall to the left of the door has pitchforks, brooms and the like bungeed to the wall. I used a couple of those 3M sticky backed hooks stuck to the wall pointed away from one another. The bungees stay on perfectly. I have two pairs of them. One high and one in the middle. Everything stays nicely.
The saddle racks have a couple saddles that live permanently on them. The upper ones have bungees to keep saddles on them.
Had a great time. Seems like you can never have too many buckets! We only had one saddle stand, next time will bring two. Also next time will bring a slicker brush to remove burrs etc from fuzzy girth, saddle pads.
Good thing I brought the tire changing gear as I had the “Fun” of changing a trailer tire that decided to blow out as we traveled merrily down the road. Haven’t had to change a tire since the 80’s!!!
PM .username Guillerme. He has a very detailed list of items he & wife bring.and has a good knowledge of trailer mechanics-
