- Four shoes on the horse, the route follows many gravel roads with stones. Front shoes where not enough and we had to call a blacksmith (beslagsmed) during our tour, who put on hind shoes on one of our horses.
- Use a draw rein as reins. “You can ride with a draw rein as reins, but you cannot tie up a horse with leather reins”. So spare some pack and use a draw rein as reins :-)
- Elastic band under the stomach of the horse, to keep the saddle bags in place and prevent them from bouncing too much. Test and train the use of saddle bags at home before going on tour.
- Remove the noseband from the bridle. It is important to let the horse grass on the tour. A horse grasses better without a noseband and you can easily ride without. Small grassing breaks of 3-5 minutes are important.
- Spare noseband, martingale and other equipment, you can easily manage without it. The less equipment and pack the better.
- Chance in tempo is important for the horse (and rider). If the tour is made in a monotone pace, the horse gets in our experience stiff and sore. Put in some intervals of trot and gallop on the longer stretches, to provide some more movement and prevent stiff joints and sore muscles.
