Getting your tack room organized and keeping it organized can be a challenge, especially if like many of us you have a lot of ‘stuff’ and only a small space to stash it in. We can dream about the perfectly appointed tack room, filled with spacious tack lockers, easily accessible saddle racks, good lighting and everything labeled and neat. Organizing a tack room efficiently will differ if you are using it solely for yourself or, there will be others, such as borders, who might also be storing their gear there.
When organizing any space, the largest items should go in first. This means that you should consider where your saddles and perhaps larger items such as winter blankets and harnesses should go before trying to set up bridle hangers, wall shelves and hooks for other items. If you have ever had to store your tack in a space where saddle hangers were tightly space, you know the struggle of trying to fit your saddle in, while flaps, fenders, and stirrups scrape against other saddles as you slide it into its space. Even the luxury of a few extra inches between each rack makes putting your saddle away easier.
You certainly don’t have to use traditional saddle rack either. It might be less expensive and much easier to suspend a rail a bit narrower than the width of a saddle gullet between two barrels, old dressers or affixed between two walls. As long as the rail is solidly anchored, this can be a way to store several saddles, and still leave wall space behind for things like bridles, lunge lines and halters.
Frequently used items like lead ropes and halters should probably go near the door. Especially in an emergency, you want these things handy. Less used items like seasonal items and rarely used tack can be stowed where it’s less handy to get at them. A length of sonotube, plastic or a really heavy cardboard tube strapped to the wall can stand whips. A small no-longer functioning mini-fridge makes good moisture and mouse-proof storage for medications and treats.
Lots of people use tubs with lids to store blankets, bandages and other gear made of fabric. These are great, but they can be hard to keep neat. Invariably, the saddle pad you want it near the bottom of the tub, so you have to dig underneath to get it. This stirs up things on the top of the pile resulting in a mess you now have to re-tidy. Avoid this by rolling things like saddle pads, blankets, leg cottons and wraps and stacking them vertically. Take a hint from the KonMari style of storing clothes.
Another KonMari style organization tip is to store all like items together. This may be better suited to a tack room used by only one person or a family. Hang all bridles together, halters, store all brushes in one spot, and all fly and grooming sprays on shelves. It makes sense in boarding stables, however, to label things with the horse's or owner's name so all their tack goes in one spot. Labels - which can be a simple as a thick Sharpie marker on the wooden barn wall, or fancy brass plates, will help everyone put things back where they belong. You can pick up adhesive chalkboard sheets and ‘chalk markers’ at dollar stores that could be used on those plastic tubbies, shelves or cupboard drawers. Labels help maintain ‘a place for everything, and everything in its place’.
First-aid kits, both human and horse should be in an easily accessible place with emergency numbers displayed. A calendar is also a handy thing to have in your tack room.
No matter if it’s a tack room or a room in my house, I believe nothing should be directly stored on the floor. Blankets and pads stored in a pile on the floor tend to become scattered. Saddles, no matter how carefully stood on end get scratched. And bridles, leads, and halters certainly don’t belong on the floor either. Not only do things stored on the floor get dirty and tangled faster, they also present a tripping hazard. Every space in a stable should be organized with safety in mind. Having everything up off of stable floors is safer for both people and horses.
Getting your tack room organized and keeping it organized can be a challenge, especially if like many of us you have a lot of ‘stuff’ and only a small space to stash it in. We can dream about the perfectly appointed tack room, fil ...
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