You need to take the equipment with you. A few days without expressing will not really affect your supply and your little guy is more than capable of building it up again afterwards. But being engorged and having blocked ducts is no fun at the best of times, and juggling around on a horse with engorged boobs sounds like hell.
So take the hand pump, and if you feel full express until you are comfy. Feel free to chuck it out. Even hand-squirting into a big towel can get rid of the excess milk and make you more comfy - or hand-expressing down the sink in a public loo.
Agree with Kmn - it won't have any long-term effects on your supply. The only concern would be if you missed the afternoon feed, that'd be 12 hours almost without feeding, so be careful if you are still out for that afternoon feed as that is when you might start feeling overly full and need to express a bit for comfort.
I will be home each day around 1.30 or 2 depending on traffic. So I hope I'll be able to feed the little bloke. If I miss the feed it will only be by about 1/2 hour so I'll just express that feed and save it for the next day when I get home. I don't plan to ride much except to "tune up" the odd horse, so I shouldn't be too uncomfortable.
If I take a little esky with an icepack and my hand pump do you think I could save the milk if I do feel the need to express at some stage during the day?
If you have an icepack you can save the milk. But if you have to express again then unless you manage to either keep the pump bits cold or wash them well between uses you shouldn't save milk#2.
Good point. I think I should be good with just expressing once. I hadn't thought of cleaning stuff up! I don't think it'd be much fun using a cold breast pump!
Thanks for your help. I now have a plan!
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