I’m going to do a full barn tour, but I haven’t finished taking pictures, so I figured I’d start with my tack room(s).
My main tack room is next to the three horse shed row barn that Nilla, Eugene, and Shasta normally occupy. Our barn owner actually built this tack room for us when we moved in. It’s not so much a room as it is a roof connecting the barn to the hay trailer with a door in the front and a wall in the back.
The walls and roof don’t make a full seal so when it’s really wet outside, the moisture builds up in the tack room, condenses on the metal roof and then “rains” down. It’s really an excellent way to grow mold on all of your tack. The openings are also a great way to let rats in.
That previous paragraph might make you think I don’t like my tack room, but I actually love it. I love that it’s private. We have been able to put everything in exactly the way we like it and no one is every messing with our stuff. Our BO gave us a bridle hook to hang on the wall and had our metal cabinet screwed into the wall when the shed was built. We’ve added the saddle racks, grain bin, saddle pad holder, crop holder, and various storage bins.
We built the grain bin ourselves so it fits perfectly and does everything we need. There’s a built in shelf for holding supplements. I make small tupperwear supplement cups as an alternative to SmartPaks. They live in color coded baskets on the shelf inside the grain bin. The whiteboards on the doors list what grain and supplements each horse gets.
Above the grain bin are some more color-coded storage bins for boots and other random items for each horse. And also a rat trap, because we’re classy like that.
The back wall has our metal cabinet and our saddle racks. We built two of the saddle racks ourselves (they’re basically 2 pieces of 2×4 screwed together, but I should do a full post one day). The saddles are supposed to be covered (because of the whole raining indoors thing), but we’re lazy so they often aren’t.
The metal cabinet was given to us by someone at our old barn and it’s awesome. 10/10 would totally get for free again. Actually, I’d buy one of these; they’re great. It holds so much stuff and being metal is totally rodent proof. It’s also waterproof so we keep things we don’t want to get rained on in here. Like helmets and wraps. We also keep medications and spare supplements in the cabinet.
The outside has blackboard paint on part of it (I ran out before I finished) and we used to use it to leave notes to leasers. We don’t currently have any leasers so it’s usually blank.
To the right of the bridles are two hooks for our XC vests. A trash bucket and treat bucket live beneath those. Sadly, our boots just get thrown on the floor beneath the bridles right now, but I have plans to build a bench. The door holds our saddle pad drying rack and whip holder.
So that’s our main tack room. We also share another, larger tack room with the rest of the barn. This tack room houses two trunks with our blankets and coolers and some random spare supplies that have been thrown in there when I couldn’t figure out where else to put them.
There’s also a large metal shelf with our massive collection of saddle pads. Top row is show pads, then extra schooling pads and on top of the plastic bin are more pads that I can’t even fit on the shelves. (And I still have more: there are another 3 dedicated endurance pads that live on their treeless saddles and all the pads down in the main tack room.) My husband claims we have too many saddle pads, but I disagree. The shelves also hold a lot of random crap, like old boots and a plastic bin filled with bits.
This tack room isn’t ours alone. It also hosts all of the unused saddles from around the barn and the collection of boots and helmets left over from when the barn ran a summer riding camp. Our treeless saddles are currently residing in this tack room. We also used to share it with another boarder, but she left the barn so one whole corner is empty.
You can never have too many saddle pads! 😉 so neat to see everyone’s set ups! I particularly like your saddle pad drying set up in the door.
The drying rack is a recent addition and I really like having it. It’s pretty easy to make if you want to have your own.
It’s cool that you have your own tack ROOM!
It’s the best. Of course, we own 3-4 of the horses at the barn and there are only 10 horses, so it actually makes sense to have us separate.
You are lucky to have so much room. I’ve always had to either use my trailer or get a single small locker.
I had a locker at a previous barn. Most people at my barn have their own plastic storage cabinets and share a tack room. We have a private one because we account for 3-4/10 horses.
So many saddle pads!!
I always like seeing other tack rooms. I like tack rooms. My favorite ones are private ones because I think they tend to have more charm and personality when it comes to tack storage because it’s usually just one or two people in there and there seems to be some kind of vague order to the clutter rather than a bunch of people putting stuff hither and thither and always coming and going.
My tack room is private, just for me, as it’s attached to my hay shed. It’s long and skinny and required some creative maneuvering to get stuff set up the way I like it. I like your saddle drying rack on the door and contemplated something like that for me, but I have other things on the door, and thus ended up making a saddle pad rack on the wall using a 2×4 and wooden dowels which allows me to hang my pads, but store things underneath.
The wooden dowels sound like a good solution too.
Another girl and I share our own tackroom at the barn and I love it. Very cool and it looks like everything fits just right. We had a leak at another barn I was at and we just added some plastic sheeting on top and on the side of the roof. Definitely helped. Also… WHERE DID YOU GET THAT BLACK AND TEAL BRIDLE SET?! B needs it ^.^
Alas, the bridle was from ETT and the woman who made them doesn’t seem to be doing them anymore. The dye is fading and I really want another one.
I love your grain bin! It never even occurred to me to build my own so it fits the space I have perfectly.
It’s a pretty intense project, but it is doable.
oooh your OWN tack room!! kickass!!
my favorite part is actually the grain bin, i like that it has the little shelf for stuff inside it and the whiteboards on the lid. cute.
The grain bin is the best. I need to finish my how to post on that.
I have my own tack room (owning the barn has perks), but I don’t even use it. Back when Dad designed the barn we had horses that cross tie, but not I have horses who tie on the wall, so I converted the back of a cross tie stall into a tack/feed storage nook for the frequently used stuff and everything else stays in the actual tack/feed room. I really like your saddle pad rack and whip holder. I need to work on some DIY projects.
I would probably store stuff more conveniently located as well if I had your set up.
Re your ” raining ” issue. For years I ran an ultraviolet fan in my tack room. When I started to use it I was very sceptical that it would accomplish anything. However, from that day forward,I literally never had a speck of mood on ANY of my tack. Maybe it would work for you!
I would try that, except we don’t have electricity at the barn.
Ooh, I like your grain bin! I like the whiteboards on the inside- very clever!
The white boards are great and easy to add on even if you don’t make your own bin.
You already know but I think your tack room is so cool!`
Thanks, I love it.
I’m obsessed with your grain bin!! Having BF build one of these ASAP. And no, never enough saddle pads
The grain bin is awesome, I really love it.
Jealous of all your space!!!!
I love it, but it does lend itself to my buying more stuff all the time.
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I like that saddle pad drying rack! It fits perfectly on the door. Also all the color coding. I love color coded everything!
The color coding is so helpful.