Some parts of the country are having crazy weather, including our location here in Upstate NY. One day it’s 65 degrees, and the next is 30 and snowing. But the warmer weather is giving me spring fever. And all I want to do with spring fever is… clean! My first project: my messy tack trunk. Spring cleaning the tack trunk is always the first big project!
Over the past year, many items have found their way into my tax box; from extra socks to a few scarves to at least ten dirty horse brushes to tons of horsehair and dirt. I cringe a bit every time I open my trunk. Here are the steps I took when cleaning out my tack trunk:
- I pulled everything out of the tack trunk and shop-Vacced all of the dirt and hair out of the trunk. I also have a grooming caddy that I shop-vacced.
- After I pulled everything out, I filled a bucket full of hot water and dish detergent and put all of my synthetic brushes, curry combs, shedding blades, and hoof picks in the bucket and let these soak for a few minutes
- While the grooming supplies were soaking, I got another bucket with warm water and a tiny bit of soap and started to scrub my trunk in and out to make sure I got rid of all of the grime. After I was done with my trunk, I scrubbed my grooming caddy too.
- After I washed out the trunk, I went back to my grooming supplies and started rubbing the bristles of the brushes against each other to clean them down to the base of the bristles. I made sure to bang out any debris that was in them. Once they were good and soapy, I transferred them to a clean bucket of water and continued to brush them all together and rinse the soap out. I had to get a second clean bucket of water because the first one ended up being too soapy. Once these were clean, I put them out on a towel to let them dry in the sun.
- After I finished cleaning the brushes, I went back to my tack trunk contents and started to organize. I got a plastic milk crate, and put all of my bottles of fly spray, tack cleaner, thrush remedies, and liniment into the crate. This works out great because I can pull the crate out to look through my things instead of just pushing them around in the bottom of my trunk.
- I got a good size Tupperware container to put all of my human and horse emergency kit supplies into. I labeled the container as an emergency first aid kit as well so that it was clearly displayed.
- I looked up great containers for horse treats and an old coffee cans was one of the first containers listed. Which was great because I had an extra one at home. I thoroughly cleaned this out and dumped in my treats I have. Now I don’t have to open and close that annoying ziplock bag they come in!
- I went through all of the extra tack that I had in my trunk and sorted them by how often I use them. This was a great time to clean each of them before I decided where their new home was going to be. I had to get a bridle bag to put all of the extra brides and reins I had deep in my trunk. All of my extra spurs and spur straps, I put into another Tupperware container! I also got a small contained to put my winter riding gear in, such as my fuzzy helmet cover that goes over my ears, a few fleece headbands, and riding gloves.
- While I was in the spring cleaning mood, I took the extra time to clean my saddle too (which I hadn’t done for awhile).
Once I finished cleaning out my trunk and cleaning all of my tack, I felt like we had a brand new barn! Spring cleaning the tack trunk was successful and I now had everything nice and organized! Now I just have to make sure I continue to keep it clean and organized… I may have to revisit this post mid summer for another clean-out. We’ll see how I do!
Carolyn's Footing and Bedding Blog 