HI Spy: Give Us Your Best Barn Organization Tips

How do you keep your tack room, trailer or barn neat and organized?

31-Dec-09

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If you want to organize your home or office, there are multitudes of books, magazines and reality TV shows to tell you how to do it. Home organization is a growing industry in the United States as Americans attempt to simplify their lives. Is it possible to translate that mentality to the barn?

We've all seen immaculate tack rooms and grain rooms in big show barns and commercial boarding stables. Matching tack trunks line the walls. Bridles hang straight and orderly across from saddles tucked away safely in their covers. Of course, those barns have teams of grooms and assistants to keep things in order. Step into the average backyard barn or busy lesson stable, and chances are you'll find saddles put away backwards, brushes tucked away in random spots, piles of spilled grain and half an inch of dust on forgotten headstalls in the corner of the tack room.

Let's face it, most horse owners simply don't have the time to keep a magazine-ready stable. Keeping the stalls and water buckets clean, the fences and shelters in good repair and the horses fed and cared for is a full-time job on its own. But an organized barn is more than just aesthetically pleasing. Keeping tack and brushes organized and separated can help prevent the spread of skin problems between horses. Cleaning up grain spills and removing piles of rags or old grain bags makes your barn less inviting to bugs and rodents. Sweeping away cobwebs and collected hay and straw reduces the risk of a fast-spreading barn fire.

Whether your goal is a safe and healthy barn, an efficient setup for completing daily chores, or making your stable fit for the pages of Good Horsekeeping, chances are you've picked up some tricks along the way. Click "Submit a Comment" below to share your hints for an organized farm and barn with other readers. Some of the responses will be published in a future issue of Horse Illustrated.

New: Top HI Spy answers may be eligible for a prize! If you'd like your response to be considered for the top answer, please include your email address in the email field of the comment form (your email address will not be publicly displayed.)

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HI Spy: Give Us Your Best Barn Organization Tips

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SAMBER    COLUMBUS, IN 6/9/2012 5:43:51 AM Each of our horses have their personal matching tack/saddle set, girth that remains on the saddle and lead ropes/ halters on their own saddle stand. They also have a bag with all their personal (grooming, feeding) supplies that hangs on their saddle rack. We keep universal supplies (fly spray, supplements they all get, trough cleaning equipment, etc) in another bag. Everything is assorted and ready to grab whether is is for just one of them or all of them, feeding time or grooming and maintenance. Kenze    Waseca, MN 6/28/2011 8:31:05 PM I have 5 horses and a lot of tack for them, so each of my horses has their own color. It makes everything so much easier. I also label where things should go in my tack room so its there when i need it. Megan    Arlington Heights, IL 11/9/2010 5:44:44 PM Keeping all my grooming suplies in one place, tack in another, etc. If you don't change the "assigned" spots, it's easy! ashley    lexington, KY 10/28/2010 1:38:20 PM Our barn has 2 tack rooms one for lesson horse one for boarders and you can tell the difference right away! The lesson tack room has a saddle pad rack and neat stacks of wither relief pads, riser pads, no slip pads, thin line pads etc. The saddles hang on the wall from smallest to largest, bridles hand under a brass nameplate of the horse with the girth hooked under, there is a list of each horse their bit and what extra pads they need. There is a shelf with an individual cubby for each helmet for students to borrow. The boarders tack room on the other hand - we're trying to make do with what we have everyone has room for a tack trunk, bridle rack, and saddle rack that's it. My pad and wither relief and saddle all sit on the saddle rack with my girth over it, my helmet is clipped onto my helmet rack, my bridle and extra reins hang on the rack with a friends, and my tack box holds extra feed, boots, seasonal gear, gloves, and all my extras. It may not be the perfect lesson tack room but I know where everything is and it all fits!