The practical side of yard life
What to keep in a yard bag
Quarry Stables · Practical guide
A small kit for the things you always seem to leave in the wrong coat.
A yard bag works best when you can find things in it with cold hands. Start with what you have gone back to the car or house to fetch in the past fortnight. That is a better shopping list than a picture of somebody else’s immaculate tack room.
Give the basics a permanent home
Use a small, zipped pocket for keys and keep a pencil and a few sheets of paper together. A spare pair of gloves and a dry pair of socks can live inside a separate pouch. If you use a head torch for late visits, give it a consistent spot and check its charge before you need it. Store a note of the yard’s contact arrangements in your phone and keep a paper copy somewhere you can find it.
Separate clean from muddy
An old washable pouch is handy for wet gloves and the cloth you used on a muddy latch. Take it out when you get home. Put drink bottles in a pocket away from paper and anything that needs to stay dry.
Reset it when you leave
Give the bag a minute while you are still at the yard. Put the borrowed pen back, take empty wrappers home and note what needs replacing. An empty pocket is easier to remember in the yard than the next morning at the gate.