I got to thinking the other day about all of the little hacks we use on a daily basis in the barn and on trail rides. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. If horse people have a need, they will figure out the how – often in creative ways. I thought it would be fun to try to collect some of these ideas in one blog entry. Hopefully we can update it as we learn more cool tricks. Please feel free to add your own in the comments!
My favorite hack is how to open a bale of hay when you don’t have a knife or scissors (or misplace yours like I do 432 times a day when I am working at the barn or on a trip with the horses). You can use a piece of bailing twine to easily and quickly open another bale of hay. Here’s a little video I found on YouTube showing how you do it:
Another one that I use all the time is using a coffee grinder to crush up my horse’s pills. He gets daily medication for his melanomas, and he eats it much better crushed in with his grain. Viola!
Another tip for medication – if you need to feed your horse pills like SMZs using an oral syringe, you can put the pills in some water and let them dissolve. Then, just suck up the water / pill liquid with your syringe and you’re good to go. I will also add some molasses for taste.
Bailing twine. Every horse person probably knows 200 different uses for bailing twine. A few times when it has come in handy for me are:
- tying my horse to something that doesn’t have a breakaway tie
- fixing my horse’s stall guard when he accidentally pushed through it
- making a belt when I forgot one
- securing my blankets in the summer months so they stay folded neatly
- making a clothes line to hold and dry towels, dry saddle pads, or dry girths
- repairing a halter or bridle that has broken, including serving as a rein if one breaks
- securing a fan to my horse’s stall during the summer (just make sure the fan is barn safe!)
- forgot your sweat scraper? You can even use bailing twine for that in a pinch.
On the same track, duct tape can definitely be your friend in tons of situations from repairing a blanket (note that this should only be done if you have no intention of repairing the blanket by sewing as the stickiness of the tape will make that challenging!) to wrapping a hoof (over vet wrap)!
Baby wipes are great for cleaning many things including your horse and yourself.
Use an old clipper blade to shorten your horse’s mane without pulling.
Forgot your half chaps / riding boots? Polo wraps or vet wrap wrapped around your calf will prevent rubs.
A friend of mine was recently quite the genius and used frozen ice pops to ice her horse’s leg. Cost effective and you can eat one while you wait. Win win. Please note that you should wrap a rag (like she did here) or cotton or something else around your horse’s leg before icing. Don’t put the ice directly on the leg. You can also use this hack for yourself if you have a fall or otherwise injure yourself.
Headed out for a long ride on a hot day? Fill your water bottle half way and freeze it. Fill the rest when you’re heading out. As it melts, you’ll have nice cold water for a longer time. It also won’t rattle around like a bottle full of ice cubes would as you ride.
Board your horse at a busy barn? Put tags on your blankets, halters, and lead ropes to keep things straight. I used metal dog tags for my blankets, but Monica is now making these cool and inexpensive tags for blankets and other items. It’s really helpful and helps keep things organized when someone other than the normal crew is doing barn chores.
Need to drag a bunch of hay out to a paddock in the snow? A child’s sled works perfectly! If you stack them right, you can drag about 6 bales at a time on a standard plastic sled.
Blanket belly buckles keep coming undone? Try putting a braiding elastic around the connector on the longer end.
PVC pipes make great whip holders. Just remember to drill a hole in the bottom if you’re putting it outside to let water drain.
That’s all I can think of for now. What are your barn / trail riding hacks?
Happy Trails!
Kerrie
Plastic bedding bags make the best soaking boots. Lay it flat with epsom salt in the middle, have the horse stand on it and then pull it up and duct tape closed around the fetlock and pastern pretty snugly. Let the horse get used to it being there and then poor your warm water in the top. You can leave them in the stall to soak and don’t have to babysit a foot in a bucket!