# Tack Rooms



## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

How much space are you allocating for the tack room?


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## caseymyhorserocks (Apr 5, 2010)

Oh boy.. You don't want to see mine. Guess how small it is? 4 by 12. You can barely turn around in it. 3/4 of that is feed to. I have four tubs on the ground, two grain, other two storage, and 3 shelves with storage boxes, and a pallet with enough room for two bales of hay. I would have been nice if it was 6 by 10 with a little room to move around, same size but a little bit more squarer. The saddles just sit on a half wall, and I have a nice big bridle rack, 5 hooks. We have a 4.5 foot fence between that and the stall, but a piece of 5.5 foot plywood where the hay/grain is, but my horse is never stabled. We also have room in this other storage area for a ton of hay, but we don't have any pallets, so it would just sit on the ground, and we fill it up a lot with junk, and it isn't totally waterproof. Since I don't stall Casey, I have been thinking of filling her stall with hay.. Good luck!


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## BigGirlsRideWarmbloods (Mar 28, 2010)

Yay! I like this thread, I got a couple PM when I made my own version of the thread a few months back and they helped a lot.

My tack room is wide by 12 feet long. Hay, feed and tools have their own separate areas in my barn.

Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos. It's what I can do on my iPhone with the panoramic apps.



Photos first, descriptions with links after!



Tackroom virtual tour/panoramic photo 01


Tackroom virtual tour/panoramic photo 02

















My tack room was nothing but bare studs when I bought my farm. _*Foreword:*_ This was going to be my very first tack room that was all mine and I wanted my tack room to reflect the care and details I’ve always dreamt of; from the color of the walls, to adding molding to the structures to even making sure all of the racks and brackets were all powder coated black, instead of each having different finishes.


I insulated it myself and hired a guy to dry wall and fire tape it for a couple hundred bucks. I painted it Martha Stewarts, Ballet Slipper pink, the ceiling has since been painted with Mold and Mildew resistant white paint.

Because all of the racks and brackets needed to be strong, and I couldn't guarantee they would be in a stud. I painted some 1 X 6's white and screwed those in to the studs, and then screwed the racks and brackets in to the 1 X 6s to give them more support. After I installed the 1 X 6 I bought some 1/2 inch white molding, cut the molding to the same length, and using my brad and staple gun, nailed and added accents to the white 1 X 6's. Just so it didn't randomly look like I screwed wood to my walls. I then went back over the nail holes with filled and white paint for a seamless finish.

Using another 1 X 6 and a couple of decorative wood shelf supports I made a skinny shelf that ran the exact same length as the bridle holder mounts and added molding to the shelf lip to tie it in with the rest of the support braces. Again, I’ve very matchy-matchy, so all support structures were painted white, and all of the racks and brackets are powder coated black

I'm a very versatile rider; I ride dressage, fox hunt, plus I barrel race, cattle play days and some reining, and I breed and do a lot of colt starting and require a lot of ground training equipment too. This means I have a ton of tack that I need organized.

My #1 piece of advice is "You can never have too many bridle racks."
I have 17; 10 on top and 7 on the second row. I deliberately made the second row shorter so the (special, fancy or extra) reins would have enough room to hang without getting tangled. I'm very thankful I did this but I really wish I would have re-evaluate the spacing and added even more racks. I hate double-upping halters or bridles, my goal was for every piece to have its own place, so I could see everything, and a couple more bridle/halter racks would be great.

Above the bridle racks I have the long thin shelf which was a last minute whim, and I love it. I love the high shelf that happens to be the perfect size to display every spray bottle, clippers, clipper sprays, shampoos and other topical. I love being able to see every label. And wedged between the bridle racks and the door is my whip and flag rack.

I decided that I could only fit 5 saddle racks in this layout, I have a couple more inside my house, but I really only ever use these 5. English on top b/c they're lighter, westerns on the bottom. My goal was to make sure the saddles had a good amount of space around them. I've boarded and worked in barns where saddle racks are built as close as possible to fit more in and I hate knocking over other saddles putting one away or ever worse when something comes loose and you have to search all over to find a loose strap. I wanted ample space to put tack away without hitting anything or even enough space to clean a saddle right on the rack.

For the Western saddles I bought the Abetta Saddle rack and blanket bar from Horse.com











Abetta Saddle Rack and Blanket Bar - Horse.com




I love that saddle rack and saddle pad areas are separate. If I need/want to switch a pad it’s can be a pain in the *** to move a saddle just to get a pad, plus when I’m saddling I put the pad on first make sure its in the right place and see if I might need a whither pad or a second pad. 



For my English saddles they’re all the cheapest fold down, black racks I could find and the English pads are all on a blanket rack behind the door
Like I said I do a lot of ground work and colt starting, so I have a couple surcingle I use, and a ton of lunge lines and driving reins. I bought a couple of Harness racks for the surcingle, so they have their own place and keep their shape, and I used a $4 horse reel from Home Depot for all of my lunge lines. I tied using a harness rack but there were too many ropes too keep organized on the one harness rack. The hose rack is wide enough to hold several coiled lines, without them getting tangled.











Amazon.com: Harness Rack Black: Pet Supplies

I have an old minifridge for horse treats, soda and medicine and above it a hanging 4-hook for tack cleaning and storage. Next to that I have a hanging shoe rack, where I store polos, wraps, and boots (splint, bell, sports medicine, hoof). Below that I have a set of plastic drawers with first aid and vet supplies.


Next to that I have an old cabinet with a tile table top. I love having a flat table surface to set stuff down to fix or clean. For some reason most barns I’ve been at haven’t had a table in the tack or grooming areas. Above the counter I have my calendar and pin board. The pin board has all of the cards for our vet and farrier and trainers etc. and the calendar keeps me sane.

Below the window I have a set of small hooks, where I keep little things. Whistles, clickers, safety arms bands, and next to that I have a slightly larger set of hooks that display all of my bits. I’m one of those people that take apart and assemble my bridles, bits and reins every time I ride, depending on the horse, his mood, my mood and various sizes. The bit racks keeps them all hanging straight. And then I have one more set of hooks between the saddles and the wall for hanging girths and cinches.

So there is one other rack that I LOVE, but it’s right outside my tack room because my ceilings are only 7 feet tall. The Swinging Rug Rack with 3 Arms from Dover. What’s special about these blanket racks is that instead of about 3 feet wide and 6 inches tall they’re about 3’ wide X 3’ tall. What this does, is it gives your horse blankets structure when they’re hanging. What I like to do is hang the blankets inside out. So that the wet blanket outer parts are touching with the warm-horse touching side is out. This allows the water to drain off the blankets faster, and I have a heat lamp above it to dry the inside out ever faster.


The square blanket racks help the shape necks of the horse blankets, instead of having them fold down into themselves like a limp rag. When they’re hang on the square it makes it TREMENDOUSLY easier to flip through the arms to find the blanket you want.










Swinging Rug Rack with 3 Arms < Blanket Bags & Bars < Stable Supplies|Dover Saddlery.


I hope this helps and I'd love feedback!


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## James77 (Aug 1, 2011)

BigGirlsRideWarmbloods said:


> Yay! I like this thread, I got a couple PM when I made my own version of the thread a few months back and they helped a lot.
> 
> My tack room is wide by 12 feet long. Hay, feed and tools have their own separate areas in my barn.
> 
> ...


 
Nice tack room!!!!


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## BigGirlsRideWarmbloods (Mar 28, 2010)

Thank you! I've had 30 years to plan every square inch and bracket.



James77 said:


> Nice tack room!!!!


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