Thursday, August 19, 2010

A bleg!

I know it's been forever since I posted and here I am with a request for y'all.

I've started thinking about tack storage. I'll have this enormous garage to put my stuff in! I have had tack in the back seat of my truck for FOUR YEARS, y'all - it's going to have a real home soon!

So here's my request. Please comment with any suggestions, or write a post showing all of us YOUR tack room / shed / trailer. What do you love about your setup? What do you hate?

Thanks in advance :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

10 comments:

  1. Hey Funder, a bunch of bloggers posted pix and stuff about tack rooms last fall, here's a link:
    http://haikufarm.blogspot.com/2009/10/in-which-i-look-into-tack-room-and.html

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  2. p.s. does this mean that you BOUGHT A HOUSE??!!

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  3. Oh cool, I'd forgotten about that post! Thanks. And we close NEXT FRIDAY!! squeeeee, I'm so excited.

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  4. Congratulations on the house! That's just wonderful!
    What I like best about our tack room is the hot water heater. Besides heating the water for the wash stall, it makes a warm area in the tack room. We have a storage cabinet with our liquids in it right by the heater so when it's -13 degrees outside, our meds, etc. don't freeze.
    Thanks for your comment on Boomer. I think you came the closest to what he was thinking - suicide.

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  5. Well done with the house!

    My advice sounds a bit obvious - put saddle racks (etc) at a height which makes it as easy as possible for you to pick up and set down your gear.

    Other than that, convenient stands to clean tack and dry blankets will make your life easier.

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  6. Congrats on the house!! Big doin's ahead!

    My tack room was my trailer for awhile! In some ways it's easier than hauling things back and forth each time you head out.

    But in the barn I have a 10' by 12' enclosed room, in which I run a "milk house" heater in the winter (it will actually get some ceiling insulation soon!). On one 10' side I have 6 saddle racks (cut from two finished 4"X4" posts, and hung on screw eyes and J-hooks for flexibility). I could actually use a few more, because of having both English and western saddles of my own, one boarder, plus all the various grand-kid-sized saddles! On the opposite wall I have bridle racks I made from sections of a stairway handrail and pony horseshoes, alternating with pegs for other hanging articles. On the 12' outside wall, under a 4' X 4' polycarbonate window, I have a heavy-duty workbench I scavenged at a school district surplus sale, with Rubbermaid storage tubs underneath, plus some other miscellaneous storage. Opposite, on the aisleway wall, besides the door, I have shallow shelves for bottles and polos and a clock radio and paper towels and all sorts of other smallish junk.

    In the same bay of the pole style barn, OUTSIDE of the tackroom, I put a small door that came out of the house, on a slight slant, to create a tilted platform for my feed bins. Under the platform are extra buckets and tubs. I have a small end table for measuring and mixing rations for my crew. Shelves above for other storage. This 5' by 6' area has a gate to keep out inquiring noses that might somehow find their way into the barn uninvited. (This is also where the circuit breaker box is for the barn, and the electric fence charger.)

    The adjoining 12' X 16' bay will someday be a matted wash stall (I set a center drain and one for a laundry sink in the corner before they poured the cement floor), but for now it is my shop/junk room.

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  7. When you have your own house you can keep your saddle in your living room as an artpiece in the winter months (to keep it dry/let it dry). I keep my feed (grain/beet pulp) in my house too.

    I wanted to bring up the German way which I find interesting. Every barn I've been in has had a kitchen/lounge. Germans love to have a social hour at the barn and they smoke and drink coffee in the barn after riding. It sure is nice to have a stove, microwave, kettle, coffee pot, and comfy place to sit. Usually there's a cake/pastries on the table too, or a bunch of gummi-somethings. The pony party people just bought their first farm and their barn is the same building as their house (also typical here), I love that! Imagine not having to go outside even, to visit your horse in Winter when there's snow everywhere.

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  8. ONE WEEK!!

    Ok, thanks for the good ideas, y'all. ES, what's a milk house heater? I'd love to have something safe to take the chill off, just to keep it maybe 50 in winter. And why is the fence charger in the tack room? I thought I'd mount mine near the gate, where I can see the indicator light from the house.

    I am really curious to see how much junk they leave in the barn-garage thing. One man's junk is another woman's repurposed tack room fixtures!

    I've made wall-hanging racks from 2x4s and eyebolts before, but I think I will just make a sawhorse this time. They're the right height and I have no shortage of floor space. When I bring the saddle inside, the cats invariably knock it off whatever I set it on - irresistible cat toy.

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  9. Milk house heater is just a clunky looking box heater with a fan--be sure to get one with a automatic shut-off, in case of over-turning or over-heating. I would think Tractor Supply Co. or other farm supply type store would have them, and maybe even Home Depot or Lowes. Mine has two heating levels and a built in thermostat. Uninsulated tack room stays about 40 unless it's down around zero outside.
    Because I have electric service in the barn, it's easier for me to have the charger in the barn, both to keep it out of the weather and because I have a couple of lines going different directions out to the fence.

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  10. Hold on to your hat - there is NO TSC here! There are none in Nevada! WTF. There are a couple of good feed stores, but it's just not quite the same. Sigh.

    I will be burying a line either way - a cord to power the charger, or the hot line from the charger to the fence. I am still leaning towards putting the charger on the fence.

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