Reddit mentions of Stanley 037025H 50 Gallon Mobile Chest,Black

If you're going to be living out of a hotel room and moving around a lot, I would recommend buying one of These and packing it up. Practice living out of that box before you leave.

There's an art to travelling light. If you'd rather not join the Army to learn all the little tricks, the least you can do to prepare yourself is to do a "shakedown run" on all your gear. It takes a while to figure out what you really need and what's just nice to have.

There's three major things that you'll need to have in control before you go:

1. Family/friends/personal matters. Even if you don't have a wife or kids, it's unlikely that you'll be taking everything in your life with you (unless you plan to buy a one ton dually and a 31' Airstream trailer next month) What if there's a fire or flood while you're gone? Who has secondary access to your storage unit? Who can sell/sign the title on that old junk car you have sitting in the back yard that just got a city zoning violation notice? Long story short is that you'll need someone trustworthy to "hold down the fort" while you're away and an unlimited Power-of-Attorney is not a piece of paperwork you want to give to an untrustworthy person. Keep a written notebook (not a computer or phone) with all the contact information for every company, business, and/or person you may have to coordinate with in the event a problem back home arises.
   
   
2. Finances. Do you have a bank account with a small local bank or a nationally recognized bank? Direct Deposit? Can you cash a check on the road? Secure online banking? ATM fees? Credit card for late-night WalMart purchases? (You may only own a couple pairs of pants on the road, so be ready to emergency shop if you burn up a pair at work) Cash advance limit? Get everything squared away before you go, because I can guarantee there will be at least one time you'll need $500 in the middle of nowhere. If you will be driving a personally owned vehicle would also highly recommend getting AAA tow/road service coverage. Also make sure your license/registration is kept current. Don't get sloppy with your driving because having a clean motor vehicle record is essential to being a field tech. A DUI is a career ender. On that note....
   
   
3. Drinking & Drugs. Drinking related incidents are the number one cause of welders and field reps not showing up in the morning and/or winding up in county jail. If you show up late to work smelling like perfume n' pussy the boss might just crack a smile and overlook the fact you're 15 minutes late, but if you smell like a brewery, not many excuses are going to fly. Welders in general tend to be a hard drinking and rowdy crowd. Watch yourself! Having a cold beer after a long day of work is OK, but downing a six pack to calm your nerves isn't. Also keep in mind that 7 day work weeks and 14 hour shifts are another prime reason for the rampant substance abuse problem you'll see in field work (Weed is #1 drug test failure, but Meth is #1 problem I've seen).You'll need to find more positive ways to occupy yourself during your off time. Get into an exercise routine, start reading more books, check out local attractions to the area such as hiking and fishing. Staying positive when you're alone and bored isn't as easy as many people think. When you're living out of a hotel room, trouble usually isn't far away. Protip: Never drink to the point where you could not safely perform your job if you had to be at work in another hour. (Beer goggles make those girls at the bar look a lot more attractive, but they are not OSHA approved PPE.)
   
   Good luck, you're in for an adventure.

Weekend warrior here, I use a Stanley work box. Available at Lowe's. Cheaper than a proper road case, lighter and has room for tools.

An older version of this one: https://www.amazon.com/Stanley-037025H-Gallon-Mobile-Chest/dp/B000Q5LZT4

But, I got it on sale for $20ish off. Bit more professional than a tote.

My experience with plastic totes from my move proved to me the larger surface area, the more likely it is to bow and bend, and since most plastic totes are not made to withstand the pressures of water, I was afraid the 10g one I had would bust. After 30 mins of driving and my passenger seat getting SOAKED since it was nearly impossible to seal, I just put everything in to buckets. MUCH easier.

Of course this works a lot better with smaller fish. I know you have some larger ones, and I'm not sure how well they would do in buckets, or how big a bucket you could find...

I will say, when moving our koi and larger catfish, we used 55g foot lockers. They're sold at walmart and were fairly cheap, but they're made to take a pounding. Some are made to carry ammunition, and those are the ones you want! (it's what we got). They held up great for a 6 hour drive, and I now have two 55g quarantine tanks. :)

It was basically something similar to this

Assuming it's an English saddle, it'll fit in one of these trunks. They have a lock and I think they're cheaper at home depot.

Have you looked at the bags currently available? That might give you some sense of how people generally organize their gear, and popular features/designs. I've been very impressed with the Noble Outfitters bags, and I know a number of people who have purchased new grooming totes just because the Noble Outfitters one is so practically designed (sturdy mesh bottom that allows all hair, sand, dirt etc to fall through. Grooming bags can get pretty nasty pretty fast.) I also think their high end line looks really good for the price. The Tally-Ho bags are a good example of more traditional storage bags, although most major retailers carry their own house brand (Dover Saddlery, Schneider's Tack, Smartpak would all be good ones to check out.)

You might also want to go to some shows in the discipline(s) you will be catering to, to get a look at what's currently being done. You can also get a sense of what the market will bear in terms of cost. There are a lot of expenses involved with owning a horse, and showing is pretty expensive in itself.

Horse people already have a whole set of highly specific gear to buy. Luxury type splurges in the horse world tend to have a very functional basis - expensive equipment sometimes does affect the rider and horse differently than the cheaper versions, so the cost is (sorta) perceived to be a functional thing, rather than purely a status thing. For example, expensive show helmets are a status symbol, but they're also generally lighter weight, with much better ventilation (so much less sweating), with all around better design.

It used to be a very high status symbol to have a nice, custom wooden tack trunk. And, in certain disciplines, in certain areas, I'm sure it still is. But people are mostly moving away from those lovely, expensive, furniture-like tack boxes because they're a pain in the neck to move anywhere. And barns are not really great places to keep lovely custom furniture - they're pretty rough environments.

The only people I know who still use the old tack trunks have had theirs for 20+ years. Most people use Stanley-type plastic trunks. And the smaller rolling tool chests, like this are fairly popular for traveling away from home.

Another issue that you're going to run into is that the people who have the money for this type of luxury item are pretty much guaranteed to be showing with their trainer and a professional groom. The trainer and the groom will have their own system for how they transport and organize equipment at the shows. So the horse related equipment is not really their domain. Rider gear bags are always pretty useful, of course.

I bought this rolling chest. It holds my 2 speakers, amp, chords, mics...easy to move around with the wheels, sometimes need a little help lifting into the back of my van.