Barn hacks – part 11!

This time – round ELEVEN! I’m always open to new hacks, so don’t hesitate to reach out with your ingenious idea. It’s all about making chores go by easily, to give us more time with our horses.

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Wear nitrile exam gloves under your riding or grooming gloves in bad or cold weather. These definitely keep your fingers warm, and they are thin, so you don’t lose too much dexterity and you can still feel your horse while grooming.

Bring an old yoga mat to the barn – great to cut up and cover saddle racks with, keeps the dents out of your saddle’s flocking and padding. There are loads of other uses for old yoga mats at the barn, many cats and dogs like to rest on them.

Use bike tape on your stall cleaning tools for easy grip, especially in winter, and no blisters if you can’t find your gloves. The squish provided by the grip tape is also just nice for cold hands or stiff hands.

Hang your horse’s bit in a sunny window on chilly days to warm it up as you groom and get ready. For really cold days you might need to dunk it into hot water. An instant hot kettle is the quickest way to get a small amount of hot water near your grooming cross ties, and a quick dunk before riding is easy.

Use the little trays from mushroom containers to hold and catch the spills from your favorite hoof dressings. Or leak bottles. Or a cracked bottle. Or a drippy bottle. Really anything that needs some containment.

Rub strong bar soap on fences or surfaces that might get gnawed on. You will need to reapply every so often, but it’s inexpensive and at least you have some soap to wash up with now.

Keep a little lighter around to defrost snaps and buckles that get frozen. Super fun chore. You can also use your instant hot kettle to heat up some rags or washcloths to defrost something.

Tape some tabs on your small tubes of eye meds and other hard to squish things. The tabs can be easily labeled (Chester’s eye meds – APPLY IN THE AM) and it helps you smush the contents up for easy application.

ointments with tape on ends to write instructions

Skip spending big bucks for fluffy furry earplugs for your horse, just get some soft little cat toys instead. Not the mouse-shaped ones, the round ones. Look for round cat toys that are soft, perhaps fuzzy, and definitely, don’t have a squeaker or bell inside.

Add dental floss to your sewing kit for horse stuff repairs. Lasts a lot longer, is stronger, and also fights plaque. You might need to get a heavy duty sewing needle with a larger opening. Also, some dental floss is flat, you might need to find the traditional type.

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HandsOn Pet Grooming Gloves - Grooming, Bathing, and Shedding

$24.99