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Thursday, March 31, 2016

Hoarders: Tack Trunk Edition

Most of you saw and/or participated in the "what's in your tack trunk" blog hop that was going around. Y'all had tidy little inventories of useful things and it was cute.

I was over here like "I have no goddamn clue what's in that giant abyss and I don't really want to find out". As Lindsey can tell you, I've been promising to go through it for like... a month. And hadn't. Oh and yes, it was/is my daily driver. I'd just sort of sit on the lid to squish it down and latch it each day.

But due to some unforeseen circumstances the other day,  I finally had time to go through it. Here's what I found:
bridle rack above
jumbled mess below
 I tried to make a bet with friends that there were 8+ sets of polos in there, but no one would take those odds.
stuff
This photo shows 7 full sets of polos in various states of cleanliness. There are also 3 pairs of polos and there was another full set ready for put on C-rage. That doesn't include two full sets of bandage liners or two full sets of boots.

I also had:
two sad pairs of bell boots
Two whips and a lunge line
eight bonnets
Plus there was this pile:
STUFF
So yeah, that's a quarter sheet, saddle cover, ogilvy pad, mattes shims, and you can just see the tboots. All good things, but possibly not things that actually fit in said trunk. This list actually isn't comprehensive. I had my CO sparkle helmet in a bag with a spare hat and gloves, plus my beater Ovation helmet and winter gloves, plus a couple of mismatched gloves and of course my brush box.

In my defense, I cleaned out the brush box a few weeks back to make room for fancy new brushes, so that part actually wasn't terrible.

I took everything out of the trunk, sorted it by whether it needed to be thrown away, given away, washed and put away, or washed and brought back. Then I threw away the trash, anonymously shoved shit to give away in barnmates' stuff, and tossed the other piles in the back of my car.

WE MUST REBUILD.

Obviously, an empty trunk helps no one, so it was time to start over. 
all I need is one cooler HAHAHA no
Here you see the bottom section of the carefully restocked tack trunk.
That's better
We started with a cooler, then added in the fancy CO for clinics and spur-of-the-moment photoshoots, included the tack cleaning kit (oh yeah, that was in there too), stowed the "bad boy" halter, the lunge line, and a dressage whip. My full set of DSBs (the only acceptable princess boot), one set of liners, and one clean-ish set of polos (much preferred to DSBs), and my mattes half pad. 

And look at that. You can still see open space in case I need to add something else. I do plan to keep two sets of polos and liners in there eventually, but laundry needs to happen first. 
 Add in the brush box and life is looking good.
o0o0o0o0o
 A couple caveats here--Courage's blankets live in an oversized rubbermaid tub outside his stall. You can barely see my wash bucket in the bottom right corner of the picture above--it also doesn't live in the trunk. I have an extensive horse-shit-organization system at home in my garage (which it looks like I'll be going through and cleaning asap).

Oh and I cleaned ALL the leather tack at the barn and reorganized. Now it looks like this:
three bridles, one martingale, one drop
I will admit that it's rather refreshing to actually know what I have around. Plus maybe now I look less like a hoarder? Just try not to think about how all that shit is now somewhere else. (such as in my car. hush you.)

26 comments:

  1. Girl, you were not kidding! I started to feel my OCD creep up just looking at that! LOL As a barn owner, overstuffed tack trunks are basically the makings of nightmares. I'm so glad I can sleep peacefully tonight, knowing it's all in order...

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  2. Whew, this is why I don't do tack trunks. There's no way to avoid layers like rock layers - cretaceous layer, cambrian layer, polo layer...

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  3. Nicely done!

    What kind of trunk is that? I like it.

    P.S. I just did a post that will totally give you a new way to justify more tack ho purchases ;)

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    Replies
    1. It's a Stanley trunk from Home Depot. Best idea ever.

      PS I don't think justifying is my problem, but I'll definitely check it out.

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    2. Love that trunk! I have it too!

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  4. I keep tack trunk empty because I have a locker at the barn. I also keep my stuff spread out and rotate it so my "empty" bedroom gets most of the hoarding but I look pretty normal at the barn.

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  5. I clearly don't have enough bonnets. One is not enough.

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    Replies
    1. 8 was only the ones that live in the trunk. The rest of the collection is at home.

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  6. This reminds me, I need to clean out my locker. It may put your tack trunk to shame.

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  7. I haven't done this blog hop because I have an entire tackroom to myself and no desire to clean it.

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  8. Let me know what you might be getting rid of

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  9. I feel ya, I have a whole room at my house dedicated to all my horse gear, I've been putting it off for awhile now but this post will hopefully inspire me to organise it all.
    You can never have too much horse gear (lol).

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  10. My trainer and I are going to clean and organize our tack room this weekend. WISH ME LUCK.

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  11. you have HOW many bonnets?! silly me, I was thinking you needed another one!

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    Replies
    1. You'll notice there are 5 blue and 3 black in that pile. So maybe not "need" but definitely "should reorg colors a little".

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  12. um i relate to this post haha. my stuff is.... not so organized lol, and it's EVERYWHERE

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  13. Omg had to go through my trailer, trunk and garage for moving...arghhhhhh! It was a chore!

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  14. I went through this when I was putting everything into my tack trunk. It was kind of fun.

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  15. Possibly you have been saying that for longer than a month ;)

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    1. Sort of couldn't remember so I picked the most believable number that made me sound the least crazy.

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  16. This makes me breath a sigh of relief to see everything put back in place in order. Chaos makes me nuts. If I could fly around the country and organize everyone's tack trunk/locker/room for them, my life would be complete.

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  17. I will attempt cleaning mine tomorrow...we shall see how that goes!

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  18. Oh god, I resemble the Before. I basically went from "half this tack room is mine" to trying to consolidate for boarding barn and just sort of shoved stuff into a trunk to deal with later. And another trunk. And a rolly drawer thingie for medical supplies. And random boxes of supplements on the windowsills. Oops.

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