Ask me a tack or horse equipment-related question. Go ahead. Try it. I own everything necessary for eventing, and yet I’m always perusing catalogs and websites to see if there’s anything new or different I might need for my horses. I own more breeches than pairs of pants, more horse blankets than jackets.

Another example of my obsession? When I got married, my bridal shower was actually a bridle shower, and I asked my friends to buy me horse stuff instead of the normal housewares. Because seriously, what was I going to do with domestic stuff for my house?

If I were planning for a new foal, I’d know what to buy. But when it came time to start registering for my baby shower I was completely lost. All of a sudden I was that first-time horse owner who didn’t even own a hoof pick.

I decided to start simple: diapers. Even I know babies need diapers! Being an environmentally green type, I wanted to use cloth, and I thought this would be the easy part. I was almost 10 when my sister was born, and we had a diaper service. The truck would drop off a load of fresh nappies and take away the dirty ones. There weren’t really options—diapering involved rectangular pieces of cloth that you folded, pins, and plastic pants.

When I went to register for diapers for my infant-to-be, I discovered that the science of cloth diapering has greatly evolved. I put in hours of research just learning what the different diaper options were and watching YouTube videos of earnest young moms diapering teddy bears as they discussed the pros and cons of each type. And then I interviewed new mom friends and read dozens of reviews of different brands before giving up and clicking at random to add a variety of diapers to my “stash.” And I hadn’t even made it to wipes, changing pads or diaper bags yet!

I’m pretty sure the department of human services frowns upon placing your naked newborn in fresh shavings, but it was starting to sound like the only practical solution to me. After all, who hasn’t finished cleaning the barn, stepped back to admire, and declared this space far cleaner and cozier than the house?

I made my husband do the research on strollers, only to have my sister (who already has a baby and is my guru in almost all human offspring-related matters) point out that the stroller he’d chosen wasn’t compatible with the infant car seats she no longer needed and was planning to give us.

It would have been so much easier to research truck and trailer compatibility. I can talk weight limits, engine sizes, diesel vs. gas, and gooseneck vs. tagalong with ease, but I quickly became overwhelmed trying to decide whether we’d need a pram, jogging stroller, umbrella stroller, or all of the above, and which systems would work with our car seats.

I’ve designed a tack room from scratch, cheerfully planning out how much room between saddle racks, how many bridle racks, trunk storage, saddle pad drying apparatus, and locations for a washer, dryer, sink and tack cleaning station. It seems like a nursery should be far less complex, yet the one thing I’ve done so far for the baby’s room is purchased a new ceiling light fixture. (I figured it wouldn’t be very nice to spend many hours a day feeding a newborn under a bare bulb, which is currently what’s in there.)

My baby shower—like a true horseperson’s event, a Jack Russell stole the show!

It’s rather obvious where my priorities have stood until now. But with less than two months to go, I didn’t really have a choice about getting serious about preparing for baby.

So, once again, I fell back on what I know about horses. Just because you can buy boots to protect their legs in every conceivable situation, match your fly mask to your fly sheet, and collect bits for every size and type of mouth, doesn’t mean you truly need all that stuff. A happy horse requires clean water, quality hay and feed, and a safe shelter for bad weather.

When it comes to baby, we’ll get the basics covered: the supplies necessary to feed him, clean him, transport him, and keep him comfortable while he sleeps. I relied on a combination of suggestions from the Internet and friends who’d already had children to make those decisions. After that, we’ll figure it out as we go along and rely on Amazon Prime to fill in the gaps!

Every so often, we feature a blog from a member of the Chronicle staff. We’re just like you—juggling riding and competing with work and family. A graduate “C-3” from Penobscot Pony Club (Maine), Sara Lieser spent a year working for Denny Emerson before attending Amherst College (Mass.) and is now learning the sport from the ground up by training her own horses. She and her husband, Eric, share their 20-acre farm with two dogs, three cats, and an ever-changing number of horses. Read all of Sara’s blogs—including her latest, about her journey to motherhood—here.