First Steps in Planning Your Tack Room

As equestrians, the tack room is a familiar and essential storage room, however with the amount of kit our horses require it can easily become an unruly place.

 The saying ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’ rings true in tack room and makes life so much easier. 

The decisions you are able to make about how you would like the tack room to be will be different if you are on a livery yard and have to share a tack room or to if your horses are kept at home and you have sole use of your tack room.  Although in both situations' organisation is the key.

 Some initial organisational steps to consider are:

 What items will you store in your tack room?

Make an inventory of all the items you need to store, everything from saddles, bridles, riding hat, boots, first aid kit, tack cleaning supplies etc.

 Where is your tack room situated?

If you are on a livery yard it is possible that the tack room is across the yard and whilst you will want to store your tack there it may not be practical to store all your kit there as some items will be needed more readily.

 Consider what works well in your current set up

Whilst we want to make everything as seamless as possible there is no need to change things that are already working well.  So think about your daily routine, and pay particular attention to things that seem pesky and how this could be resolved. It could be as simple as moving your saddle rack, or if like me you are petite, lowering the bridle hook.

Do you need to buy any extra storage?

After reviewing your current set-up, consider if you need to purchase any new storage units or extra hooks for hanging items.  If you are on a shared yard, you may need storage that is lockable. 

Measure your storage areas

If you are on a livery yard you may have room by the stable and also a separate area in the tack room,  whereas on your own yard you may have all your kit stored in your tack room.  Measure up the areas where you are going to keep your tack and kit so that you can plan the best way to utilise the space. 

Draw and Plan

Make a sketch of the areas and how you would like the layout to be.  This can be helpful before you commit to any purchases and also a useful planning tool.