I’ve admitted to it before and I will admit to it again. I am a Tack Hoarder. I have plenty of tack and could probably live the rest of my life and not have to buy another single piece of tack as long as I take decent care of what I have. But I mean if someone is going to just GIVE me new tack I’m not going to say “no thanks! I’ve got PLENTY of tack already, and I couldn’t possibly use any more!” That would obviously be rude! Right? Back me up here. Okay so MAYBE I have a problem.
A couple of weeks ago my husband was on the phone and I heard him say “wait, how many saddles did you buy?” My ears perked up and I my interest peaked each time I heard mention of other pieces of tack. My hubby’s father went to a tack auction and got us a bunch of good deals! And that is just awesome in my book. Turns out he got us two more western saddles, a HUGE tote filled with horse treasures, and a giant stack of horse books. So if you are keeping track we now have 8 saddles, well 9 if you count the bareback pad…I don’t. That’s 5 western saddles, 2 English saddles and 1 Aussie saddle. And still only 2 horses. However there has been talk of adding another horse to the herd. But that’s a topic for another day.
We finally made it back to hubby’s hometown last weekend to pick up all the new treasures. It was more than I could have ever imagined! The tub-o-tack was over flowing with treasures. I didn’t get a real inventory of what was in there but we are pretty much set for life. I think I counted 9 halters in there, give or take. Some were brand new with tags, some had been used but had plenty of use left. As far a lead ropes go…we are good now. When the horses came home we only managed to have one. We had to borrow another one from my husband’s family. Lead ropes are one of those things I’ve bought plenty of over the years of my horse ownership, but they always seemed to magically disappear when I was boarding. Strange right? But at my last barn I only lost one rope and I didn’t really care it was a nasty white cotton lead rope with a stud chain. Seriously who makes lead ropes white? and I never used it anyways. No need to buy another one for quite some time as we have plenty now! If I thought we were good in the headstall department before, well now we are really good. There were two just everyday western leather headstalls and then three Weaver nylon headstalls. I’ve had my eye on the nylon headstalls for quite some time. We now have two pink and one purple (and a little light pink Weaver dog collar for my little girl dog). Up until this year I didn’t have any nylon headstalls now I have 6 of them. Hmmm hoarding problem much? Hubby had originally sent his dad to the auction to look for some tie downs, because hubby didn’t like any of the ones I had. I honestly have no idea why I even have multiple tie downs…I used one back in the day with Yellow for like 2 days. But apparently they have been multiplying in my tack room and now it’s safe to say that we have about 15. Good grief right?
In addition to the 2 new western saddles we got, we also got two green saddle stands and two saddle pads and then two saddle blankets. All brand new never been used. I am seriously addicted to saddle pads and blankets though. I have tons of them. I can match them to anything I am wearing. Which is obviously one of the most important things when you ride, right? Totally kidding…but I’m serious about my addiction to saddle pads.
In addition to ALL my fun new stuff there were some bridle racks which will be filled the moment they get mounted on the wall. As well as two racks that I’m not 100% sure what they are for. I’m thinking they are for hanging winter blankets, sheets, fly scrims, coolers etc so that’s what I’m gonna use them for. It’s just what the Dr. ordered because, continently, I have a couple dozen of them in my possession. Most of the sheets from my last huge tack acquisition were for Arabians, 40 years ago. Horses have gotten bigger in 40 years. And thoroughbreds are just bigger than Arabians and that’s that. I did try on one of the sheets on Piney a few weeks ago and he was like “Hey mom! Fat guy in a little coat! Fat guy in a little coat!” it was pretty adorable. I should have gotten pictures! I guess we are going to have to get smaller horses in the future! All my vintage show halters are WAY too small for Piney’s tiny TB head. True story, he wears a cob sized bridle. But he was a good sport when I tried them all on him anyways. I think this spring when I can finally re arrange the barn and put things in their permanent homes I will take an actual inventory and post it here. Maybe not, that might be far, FAR too embarrassing. AAAANNNNNDDDD…I just realized that I have trunks with tack that are in storage in town too…Uff da! I am out of control!
I mentioned earlier that I got a stack of books with the tack. I am also a horse book hoarder. I have a rather large library of horse books. Since we are still unpacking in our new home I’m not even sure where to put my rather large library. But the newest books are awesome. I think there are around 20 of them and they cost $3 for all of them. Awesome! There are a few on Thoroughbreds, but mostly on breeding and investing in them. There are some books on operating a successful horse business, and one on 50 horse careers. There is one on making horse clothing which ALMOST inspires me to learn to sew. I asked hubby if these books were a sign that I should start a horse business. He said no. I believe him. There was also one book with hundreds of horse quotes in it. I LOVE IT. So many fantastic quotes!
So that is it, I am a horse tack hoarder. But a least this year I haven’t spent a penny on horse tack, nor do I need to in the next year! But I’m sure I will, I can’t help it! Sometimes it’s just a darn good deal and it's too good to pass up!
