Hack My Ride
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Not all the answers to riding and horse care are to be found at tack shops. Sometimes, solutions to problems can be found at the dollar store. Here are a few examples of how to hack your ride with inexpensive items that you can find at most bargain shops.
Duct Tape
Duct tape is great stuff. It’s relatively weatherproof, inexpensive and comes in many fun colors. It’s also darn handy. Is your coach after you because you’re not sitting straight in the saddle? Duct tape might help you. Most of us have one leg slightly longer than the other. I have a ⅜ inch difference between my right and left. So, I shim up my right stirrup with duct tape to make up the difference and help me not sag to one side. You can also pad the sides of your stirrups if you find you tend to lean your foot too far to the outside. It can save that muscle that gets sore down the outside of your leg. Neither hack will cut it in the showring, but for schooling they can help train you to keep your seat straighter, and keep you more comfortable.
Duct tape can also be used to make emergency blanket repairs, pad a sharp edge on stall doors or trailers until it can be fixed, or in a pinch, folded in half to make an emergency lead rope. Combined with baler twine, you may never need to buy a piece of tack again. Just don’t ever tape yourself into the saddle.
Electrical Tape
Like duct tape, electrical tape comes in lots of different colors. I can buy a pack of three different colors for a few dollars. If you’re just learning to ride, you may have trouble with the reins slipping through your hands. A wrap of tape around the reins where your hands should be most of the time, can help remind you to keep contact. Use different colors to remind you where your hands should be at different gaits.
If you’ve got an old browband laying around, use electrical tape to spruce it up and give it some color. Just wrap however many colors you’d like around the browband and you’ve got some easy and cheap bling for your schooling bridle.
Hair Elastics
If you use peacock stirrups and lose the rubber band, you can replace it temporarily with a big hair elastic. It won’t be as strong as a real stirrup rubber, but it can get you through a lesson, until you can get to the tack shop. While you’re checking out the hair goodies at the buck store, also grab a few hair clips, which are really handy when braiding a mane - whether you use them to keep your horse’s mane out of the way of the strands you’re braiding, or to keep your own hair out of your eyes is your call.
Cleaning Tools
Scan the cleaning tool aisle for all kinds of brushes, containers, and organizers that you can use around the stable. Buckets from the dollar store aren’t as sturdy as those made for horses, but a floor scrub brush is great for cleaning off hooves, and a little potato scrubber works to remove grime from bits and buckles. A laundry basket can hold leg wraps. And those over the door organizers with pockets are useful for storing braiding tools, extra safety pins and other little items. When you’re done in the cleaning section, head to the stationary for self-laminating folders for your horse’s important documents and protecting dressage tests in the pouring rain.
Tinfoil
Tinfoil is a recyclable food wrap, so it’s good for packing your lunch when you go to the stable. Use your old tinfoil by scrunching it up and using it to scrub bits, stirrups and other metal parts of your saddle and bridle.
Found a way to hack your ride? What’s your best tip? |
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