Tips from a Tackaholic: Spring Cleaning

Your tack truck: What’s down in that thing, anyway? Stesha Payne offers a strategy for getting it all sorted.

From Stesha:

Believe it or not, spring is upon us!!! That means it’s time to do the dreaded spring cleaning!

Where to start?

Begin by digging everything out of everywhere. Even those creepy, gross places you don’t want to stick your hands, because there might be some creepy crawling bugs! Lay everything out in nice organized sections. Perhaps put all the halters in one pile, western tack in another, and grooming products in a box. Don’t worry about getting dirty, because it’s only the start!

Now what?

Start with one pile, and think rationally about what’s in that pile. Do you really need that 10-year-old halter that’s fraying in places it shouldn’t be? Are you ever going to use that foal halter from years ago? How about that broken lead rope? Separate the usable from the unusable. Once you’ve done that, look at the usable pile. Is there anything in that pile that you don’t need or want? For the items you want to keep, set them into yet another pile (now you’re up to three piles: usable, unusable, and keep!) Anything that’s left over should be sorted through and anything broken, unusable or unsafe should be thrown away. The “leftovers” can be sold or even given away. You should have a “keep” pile, a “trash” pile, and a “leftovers” pile now.

I finished one pile!

Congratulations, you’ve managed to stay focused long enough to finish one pile of stuff! Now, you get to do it again! Repeat the sorting process until you have managed to go through every piece of tack in your tack room/locker! This time, start to merge the piles. Everything you want to keep, put in the original “keep” pile. Everything that is trash, goes in the original “trash” pile, and so on. Don’t give up, there is an end in sight, I promise!

OK, I’m all sorted!

Now that you’ve sorted out everything in your tack room into “keep,” “trash” and “leftovers” piles, the fun really begins. The first step is to address the “trash” pile. Get a trash bag, and stuff it full with the trash you’ve managed to dig out! Once you’ve done that, turn your attention to the “leftovers” pile. Move it somewhere to the side, so that you have ample room to address the “keep” pile. We will come back to the “leftovers” pile later. Go ahead and spread everything back out from your “keep” pile, and be careful to not accidentally mix it in with the “leftovers” pile. Is there anything that needs cleaned? Is your bridle getting a little dry? Now’s the time to clean it and get it ready for a wonderful year of riding! Set aside anything that needs cleaned into a “dirty” pile! You will want to take this pile to wherever you clean your tack. Now, you should just have all your ready, usable tack sitting all alone!

Am I done yet?

Almost! Finally, you can begin to put everything back in an orderly fashion. Remember, you will have to do this again, so don’t just throw everything back where it was! Once all the tack you are keeping is put back where it belongs, you can find a place to store that pile of tack you want to sell. Whether you do it now or later, you will need to access that pile at some point, so put it in a place you won’t forget where it is. Stay tuned for the “Tips from a Tackaholic: Selling” for tips and help on getting the most out of your leftovers, just in time to help pay for the lovely expenses spring brings along!

Best of luck, and don’t forget to go back and clean the tack you set aside to clean!

My name is Stesha Payne and I’m a tackaholic! I live in Michigan, and have one horse of my own. My hobby, along with riding, is buying/selling/trading tack. Together my horse and I compete in every event we can, with western pleasure and barrel racing being our favorites!

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