You Would NOT BELIEVE the Thing I Did at the Barn

Winter is coming, yo. As a working ammy, that means riding in the dark and cold and being short on time and needing to make the best of it. 

Normally, I'm pretty heads up about getting ready--I have blankets professionally washed and prepped before summer and I'm super organized.

that is not a clean blanket

But.

Rehoming Courage meant not putting much effort into dealing with his gear. Then getting Zoe meant lots of trying things on and shuffling things around and buying new things annnnnnd the net result of that is that it basically looked like a hoarder exploded in my tack area and "my tack area" was becoming a majority percentage of a generously-esized (shared) tack room.

First things first.

I'd sort of tried a single blanket on Zoe a month or so back and squinted through the fingers I put over my eyes and was like "yeah maybe that'll work", but since winter is legit going to happen, it was time to find out if it would work or not.

yeah no

Courage was a 78" horse that had to spend a lot of time in 81" blankets because I already owned them and homeboy could deal. Zoebird is an 81" horse (right now) who really and truly doesn't fit in 78"s. Fortunately, my 81"s are pretty clean still because they got less use. The 78"s might be finding new homes.

81 is ok. she won't grow, right?

Then there was the slight issue of "someone exploded in the tack room". 

It probably took me a good hour and a half, but I trimmed stuff in the tack room down to the bare essentials in my trunk. 

a clean trunk always makes me think of the preternaturally organized Carly

I cleaned the trunk itself and reorganized what's actually in there so I can find/see it. I cut back to ONE set of boots, ONE set of polos, two helmets, and grooming kit essentials, plus ONE cooler and then I was even able to fit the wash bucket and clippers in the trunk instead of leaving them on the floor. 

And then... 

I wish I had a before pic for you. 

uh actually this was before it got really out of hand
plus you can't see the saddle rack(s)

I had a giant pile of saddle pads, two saddles, a ripped up neck cover, and god knows what else strewn across three saddle racks in complete disorder. Not including the strap goods explosion. 

And now we have this:

tidy

That's right. One saddle (the one that fits), the saddle pads I use with it, one girth, one breastcollar, one dressage bridle, one toodle bridle. And my lunge line. 

Everything else was neatly cleaned off, hauled home, and packed away for the winter. I'm not getting rid of it, but I need it not to be collecting dust and stressing me out at the barn for the next couple months. 

Bet you didn't see that coming.