TACK & FARM

Our Tack & Farm section features an Apparel section to find both practical and fashionable riding attire. If you ride English & Western or Race, many sources are available in the Tack section.

Building a barn? Need an architect for your equine dream home? Find one in Barns & Stalls.

Have a hungry horse? Of course you do! Find a place to buy your feed and tuck your horse in at night in the Bedding & Feed section. Looking for a place to keep your horse? You can find it in the Horse Boarding section. Keep your horse happy and beautiful with resources in our Grooming section.

Traveling? Find a Shipping company or Horse Sitting service if your horse is staying home!

Running and maintaining a farm or stable is a continuous effort, and to help find products or tools you need, please see our Equipment, Fencing and Management Tools sections.

Seeking Services? Find financial and tax expertise in our Accounting section. Companies who will help protect your investment are found in the Insurance section. For those who want legal advice about purchasing, liability, and other issues, please look at the Equine Law section to find an expert. Build and promote your business with teams from Marketing / Videography / Web Design.

Do we need to add more? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!

By Nikki Alvin-Smith

The foal is the goal and the goal is to keep that foal happy and healthy. Every year foals die due to accidents. While some no-one could have foreseen, some are preventable. Many occur due to poor stall design.

The comfort and safety of ‘Mom’ is paramount. Your mare needs to have space to move around before, during and after birth. The ideal size stall would be 12 x 24 feet for a 16 h.h. horse. To achieve this stall size you may not wish to have a designated stall all year round, so when you design your new barn if you have any thoughts at all that you may have a pregnant mare in your future herd, either by design or accident, it is wise to factor in stall conversion.

If you implement a dividing stall wall that may be removed for foaling season, it will save you much heartache and provide your mare with the space she needs. The boards and/or grills may be removed from the channels and the channels removed to complete this new maternity ward. No sharp edges allowed.

When your mare goes into labor, she may throw herself about the stall as if experiencing a colic. The walls of a stall should therefore be solid board rather than the thinner tongue and groove pine. You can use 2x8 or 2x6 boards. The larger the board you use the stronger. The walls should also have support in the middle through either a wall straightener or brackets and be certain that no nails protrude.

by Liv Gude

The dollar store can be a great resource for some of your barn needs in a one stop shop – saving you money and time. Many of these items can be found in other stores, but when you can pick up fake flowers for jumps and baby wipes for cleaning in the same store, why drive all over town? Below are a few of the best things to pick up at your local dollar store – your horse will thank you!

For organizing and cleaning the barn, tack, and maybe even your horse

Microfiber car cleaning gloves will remove the last bit of dust from your horse, your tack, the top of your tack trunk, you name it. The glove design makes swiping the dust away easy.

Microfiber cloths - like the car cleaning mitt, are great for everything, just a different shape and able to get into nooks and crannies.

Double sided scrubby sponges. Good for water buckets, feeders, bits, hooves, super dirty tack.

Dish gloves are super for scrubbing buckets and feeders, especially in winter. The gardening gloves would be great for blister prevention and a bit of warmth when you are in a stall cleaning marathon.

Stackable storage containers. The varying sizes and shapes can help you group like items to be easily retrieved from your tack trunk. Think small containers for braiding kits size things, larger containers for leg wraps and boots.

Miscellaneous items that are fun, cute, and perhaps you need them, perhaps you don’t.

Fake flowers! Great for jumps, dressage letter boxes, tack room prettiness, covering up the real plants that are no longer surviving.

Socks. These are great when you cut the toes open, you can use them for your horse’s lower legs, and also good for a spare set when the wash rack attacks and you are squishy with every step.

Plastic wrap for poultice, leg sweats, and leftover cookies. Just kidding, there’s no such thing as leftover cookies at the barn.

Awesome barn worthy dinner ware. This stuff is safe - no glass to break, and washable. And not so expensive that you will feel bad if the barn dog runs off with it and buries it.

Measuring cups for perfect grain measuring, and even serving spoons for mixing up meds, supplements, and treats.

For the vet kit and grooming box, you can find bargains galore at the dollar store.

Diapers and baby wipes. A staple to have, diapers are great for wounds and also packing hooves.

Aloe vera gel. Great for human and equine sunburns, as well as scrapes, cuts, abrasions. A must for your first aid kit.

Peroxide – Both alcohol and peroxide are horrible for wounds, they actually increase tissue damage. BUT – peroxide can be great for stain removal of your horse’s laundry.

Cotton balls are great for dabbing on ointments and lotions. For both human and equine use.

Washcloths are amazing for everything. Washing faces, cleaning tack, you name it.

Baby oil is great for post bath rinsing, a few drops in a bucket of water applied with a sponge can give your horse some shine.

Combs and brushes can be added to your braiding kit, as can yarn and rubber bands for braiding. You may also find seam rippers and a yarn pull through to complete your kit.

With a little imagination and a small budget, you can stock up on lots of things for your horse at the dollar store. And don’t forget snacks and candy for shows, and maybe some peppermints for your horse!

About the Author

Liv Gude was a Professional Groom, starting her grooming career with Olympian Guenter Seidel. After years of grooming, Liv saw the need to bring professional Grooms and horse owners together in a supportive and educational manner. In 2011 she founded www.proequinegrooms.com, an on-line resource that provides information about grooming, horse care, and employment in the horse industry. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University, and spends her days at the barn riding her Grand Prix horse and writing!

You can find more informative and interesting articles in our sections on Tack & Farm, Grooming and Health & Education.

Editor's Note: These days the "Dollar Store" might be more like the "Dollar &Twenty-Five Cent Store!"

by Jolyn Young

Driving a truck and trailer is exactly like driving a regular truck, except with a twenty-plus-foot object dragging along behind it that can easily be snagged on curbs, caught on gas pumps, or jack knifed in the Taco Bell drive-through.

But, if you own horses and/or live on a ranch, you will have to drive a truck and trailer at least once, probably through a busy town at lunchtime, whether or not you have the skills and knowledge. Here’s a cheat sheet of tips to help prepare the unsuspecting, legally licensed driver for such a scenario.

“Wherever you go, your trailer will follow right along behind you.”

I can still hear my dad saying these words to me when I was 16 years old and learning to tow a stock trailer behind his ’96 Ford. It sounds obvious, but it is reassuring to look in the rear view mirror and see that bam, the nose of the trailer is right there, just like it’s supposed to be.
“You better be barely moving when you get to a stop sign.”

Again, Dad’s words of wisdom ring in my ears every time I approach a red octagon. Especially if I’ve been paying more attention to the radio than the road and am going a little bit too fast to make a smooth stop. That’s when I say “Sorry, boys!” to the horses and cringe as I feel the whole rig shift too far forward as I stop just over the line. Oops.

Alfalfa provides excellent-quality forage but is often underused due to misconceptions

By Dr. Amy Gill, PhD

Horses love the taste of alfalfa and for many, nothing could be better for them. Unfortunately, due to some myths about this forage, it is highly underused as a portion of the total ration. When used correctly, alfalfa can supply a great deal of natural nutrition and has some other physiological benefits as well.

Alfalfa is usually fed as a forage but is also offered as cubes and in chopped form. Few horse owners realize that alfalfa is also commonly included in pelleted concentrate rations and supplements. The addition of alfalfa to a feed provides excellent-quality protein, digestible fiber, digestible energy (calories) and calcium.

Alfalfa is highly recommended to be fed to gestating and lactating mares, growing horses, and horses that are intensively exercised and competing. Geriatric horses also do very well when alfalfa is included in their daily ration because it is so highly digestible compared to other long-stemmed, coarser forages.