equipment Details Ultra light
Horse and rider
camping
GPS / Garmin Explorer
It rains a lot more in northern Europe than in Colorado. So rain gear is essential. Waterproof socks, original Nato Poncho, and double S Saddleslicker are my preferences.
The Poncho is put on the horse in heavy rain, protecting the saddle and Bags, riding I pull the poncho around myself in addition to the slicker to cover legs and boots. The poncho will be used as a ground sheet with the tarp or as a cover over my sleeping bag if I don't use the tarp.
Double S and Poncho are functional but like all things, have disadvantages. You stay dry, but you sweat inside.
Fencing
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I don't carry any extra horse feed, so my horses have to feed themselves by grazing. Since hobbling them only provides limited security, mine took off for more than 10 miles one evening, I use a fencing system with a battery fence charger.
that lasts 10 weeks.
The fencing is done with fence wire and carbon poles in a square that is 60 x 60 feet, normally enough for 3 horses.
In the Rockies, I bring double the wire so I fence in a larger area. The whole system can be purchased at my store.
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Keeping my horses safe at night.
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Moose and Elk are often the reason my horses are restless during the night. To make sure I dont have to go search for them in the morning I have a three fold security system:
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3. Dog Tag tied to mane or halter.
The Tracker will give you the coordinates of your horse over 30 days. And it has a virtual fence function, that alarms you if he leaves the virtual fence. If you have cell reseption.
If not, you will have to contact the person that also has accss to the tractive website so they can let you know, where your horses are.
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My recommendation
Exped Downmat:
they are waterproof and you can lay on the snow, without waking up in a puddle. It keeps me warm enough so I can use a very thin down sleeping bag for summer, or a down quilt. I use both of them together for cold winter nights.
If you get a sleeping bag liner, you can add another 10 degrees of warmth.
My tarp is a 10x10 feet size fitting 3 to 4 people sleeping. and weighs 1.3 pounds. I need two tent poles additionally because I don't have always trees to tie the topline.
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Mini grill Platte,
Jetboil Stove for Coffee and freeze dried meals at night.
Haferl und Titanium fork additionally you might want to take a small axt and a storm lighter plus some firestarters.
Bearspray may be needed, depending on where your going.
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Agian my reommendation.
I use the Garmin GPSmag 64 because on long rides, I need my phone to be charged for emergencies. The Garmin map is very small and you will need to adjust, if you are used to your phone display. But if you know the purpose of the Garmin you can make it work.
Why Garmin 64 and not 66.
I want to have control over my battery life. I depend on it. The buttons work with gloves on at any condition. The letters behind the 64 stand for:
C = Camera, not needed
S = 3 axes Compass, needed. Some maps desplay the trail in a hight profile.
T= including topo map, you can buy the topomap eg at navitrack.com
Additionally to my Garmin I need a large map, showing all the area i am traveling in.
Preparing my ride, I locked at the trail on my online topomap, like Altrail.com or gaiamaps.com or Cotrex. There is also Garmin Basecamp you can use. On any of these online Maps, I have planed my track for the trail and checked it out on Google Earth for water and grazing. This planed track (I dont use route, cause the peeping or my garmin at every turnof, anoyes me) is now downloaded into my Garmin. It now tells me if at the next intersection i have to turn left or right. Maybe it shows me an alternative trail.
I can even look for a POI Point of interesst, to define a new track for me. But I will need my map, if i want so see where I am going.
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The Mini 2 I will use in Areas where I have no cell reception. It allows me to comunicate through satelites. I use it to send an all ok, to my family every evening. The person driving my trailer, has the same tool, so i can reach him any time.
Emergencies SOS:
The mini is also an emercency tool. It has a SOS funktion. But be aware, you need to see the sky outside of forrest and canons for it to work as described. That is true for all SOS Satelite communication. The advantage over other is, the two way communication, that lets you know if and when help will arrive.