At Pyrois Media I am very lucky that I live in a big equine area so most events I attend are close enough for me to return home at night. But those events also often last for days with little time to do more than sleep when I’m home so I pack like I’m traveling – even with clothes, but minus the tooth brush.
If you haven’t realized yet, I really like making lists. So of course I have one that reminds me of everything I need that isn’t as much a packing list as a “plan for the week” list. It is one that is in play this week as I spend the next six days at the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover Presented by TCA.
All. The. Things.
Okay, one part of this list is a packing list. I wrote a blog post about what is in my camera bag last year but for longer shows and race meets this list also includes a power strip (always important because you never know what you’ll find in a press box or what you’ll have time to charge at home) and a change of clothes (ditto on the importance, because staying clean around horses is hard), Ibuprofen and other pain meds (because it’s guaranteed you or someone else will be sore at one point), and other miscellaneous items.
Pre-Work Lists
Part of the “mega to-do” list includes sale previews for coming sales.
Just because I’m working one event doesn’t mean all other work comes to a halt. With that in mind, about a week before the event I put together what is jokingly referred to as my “mega to-do list.” This has everything on it that I can knock out early. It also includes the smaller pre-show tasks such as charging camera batteries, making sure gear is in good condition, etc.
For example, last week’s list had various sales previews for coming weeks, a few stories that are due during the Makeover, and other miscellaneous items that I don’t want to worry about this week. This time is a bit different as well because I have other things keeping me away from the office in coming weeks after the Makeover so the list was more packed than normal.
Week-Of Work Lists
There are things that can’t be done in advance so I make a “week of” list and keep it handy where I’ll see it every day (this is basically my normal to-do list just parred down to essentials). Most of the stuff on this are race recaps, sales recaps (if any sales are happening), and other tasks that I have to do on the day they happen.
Personal Tasks
Bentley’s motto when his routine changes.
My final non-show list is all the things I have to do around the house pre-basically being gone for days. My horse is on full care board so thankfully I don’t have to worry about her but I do have cats and fish at home. I try to make it so the day before everything starts that I clean all four of my fish tanks (I really like fish) because in general they won’t have to be cleaned the rest of the time I’m gone. The night before I also give the cats a fresh litter box (that I pick out morning and night as well) and give them more food than normal (they’re free choice eaters). Last is doing the tedious stuff like laundry and dishes because there’s nothing worse than having to do that when you get home at 8 or 9 p.m.
Even though I will be coming back every night, it’s nice not to have to worry about dealing with everything as soon as I get home when I’m gone for a long 12+ hours.
Show and/or Race Entries/Schedules
Last but not least are the schedules and entry lists for the show or races. I try to do this last of all just in case there are any changes or scratches. For racing the schedule is pretty much set with post times and entries days in advance (and sometimes post times come out more than a week in advance) and few scratches but shows can be more of a flowing target. Of course, because we’re working with horses, even the best laid plans can go wrong so I don’t expect the schedules for anything to be exactly right. Even so, I like to give myself the least margin of error by waiting until the last minute to do my print outs.
For example (if you’re reading this on October 11), after I publish this blog I’ll be going over the RRP schedules and the list of horses we’ll be catching to see if any have already scratched then making up our individual schedules for the week. Once the lists are printed, I’ll be crossing off any scratches on the physical version (I’m old school) of my list and I like to keep it as clean as possible so it’s better to be able to delete them on the computer.
All in all, this system is something that I’ve followed even before I had Pyrois Media and it’s turned into a mostly well-oiled machine. It is a constantly evolving system that changes to fit my needs depending on the event (especially if I’m going out of town for whatever it is) but the basics stay the same to make life much easier during these weeks.
Want to learn more about the Thoroughbred Makeover I’ll be working this week? Visit www.tbmakeover.org!