Staff 8 Day Trail Ride 2009, FreeRein HQ – Preseli Hills (Part 2 – Packing)
This post could be virging on OCD but for those who are interested this a complete list of what we took on the pack ponies. As well as some information on how the GG’s were prepped and loaded.
Our two pack ponies carried 2 panniers each. These panniers were attached to the horses using pack frames. Minstrel is fitted with a frame I bought from Callisters in Salt Lake City while snowboarding back in 2007 and carried back to the UK as hand luggage. It has a double girth or “sinch” as they call em in the US.
Minstrel & Pack Frame
Midge is sporting a slightly different design bought and shipped over from the Pack Saddle Shop Idaho It has only one sinch and a metal top frame. Both designs work in the same way with equally weighted Panniers “hanging” from the pack saddle frame. The breast plate and and straps (this must have a technical name – but I don’t know what it is – any feedback on this appreciated) around the back of the horse prevent it from moving forwards and backwards.
Midge fully loaded
Once we had loaded a pack frame a few times, and adjusted it there were very few problems. We also labelled everything in each pannier so that theoretically they were always equal weights. Amazingly we only had to adjust the packs a few times while travelling over the entire a trip. We think that the horses get used to the weight and how it moves so with correct packing very few adjustments are needed during the day (and sometimes none at all!). The weight of each pannier was around 20kgs (although this weight increased when everything was wet) this made a total of 40kgs per horse to carry which is alot less than a persons weight that Midge and Minstrel would normally carry.
Pannier 1 Contents
- 2x cooking stoves
- Food Box
- Fridge Box
- White Box (food)
- Blue Box (food)
- Tentipi Firebox
- 2x 1m chimney for wood burning stove (on top)
Contents of saddle bags
Pannier 2 Contents
- 2x collapsible 15L Water Carriers
- Axe
- Cuttlery Box – t-towels, scrubbers, 7x knifes, 7x forks, 7x spoons, 2x wooden spoons, whisk, tin opener, corkscrew, cheese grater, 3x sharp food prep knifes.
- Hardware Box – Cable ties, bin bags, strappy straps, mini carabeanas, string, spare lamp mantles, candles, cord, gaffer tape, spring weight (to weigh panniers).
- Folding Military Poo Shovel
- Folding Saw
- 2x Griddle Pans
- Fencing Tool
- 2x Gas canisters for Lights
- Kitchen Roll
- Toliet Roll
- 2x Gas canisters for stoves
- 2x 1m Chimney for wood burning stove (on top)
Contents of pannier 2
Pannier 3 Contents
- 14 person Gaise Tentipi
- Polls (on top)
Pannier 3 contents
Pannier 4 Contents
- Chopping board
- 3x Saucepans
- Woodburning Stove
- Stool
- 7x Plates
- 2x Plastic Trays
- Fire grid
- 7x Cups
- 7x Bowls
- Homemade tipi groundsheet (on top)
Contents of 4th pannier
Personal equipment
As well as the pack pony equipment each person carried their personal belongings on their own horses using our own designed and made FreeRein Expedition Saddle bags. Each person carried:
- Sleeping Bag, I used the Marmot Sawtooth Down Bag as it packed down very small and was very warm.
- Roll Mat, I use the Therm-a-rest Prolite as again its got a very small pack size.
- Clothing, nothing much spare here! pants & socks for each day, 1 t-shirt, 1 thermal top, 1 pair of shorts, wooly hat – everything else was worn or tied to the front/back of the of the saddle.
- Anything else we could fit in, including lunch, snacks, knife etc
Archie & Matt
With everything packed we were ready to hit the trail!
