Conference noted::equitation

 
      When lunging, since the inside side-rein should be shorter
      than the outside side rein, use a double-end clip to attach
      the rein to the bit on the outside rein. This lengthens 
      the outside rein, then when switching sides, you only have 
      to move the clip to the other side. No more fussing with buckles.

      For a grain scoop, attach a rounded drawer handle vertically 
      to the side of a 1 pound coffee can. This way you know you are 
      giving exact measurements, and there is less spillage than
      the traditional open-sided grain scoops.

      Quick saddle rack. Take some of those plastic storage boxes
      (the kind that milk bottles used to come in, but are now
      sold at K-mart for general storage). Place one on the floor
      open end up (or stack two if you want the rack higher), 
      then take another box and turn it so the open end faces you 
      (out to the side) then turn it 45 degrees, place it in the 
      first box. Great for horse shows, you can store splint boots,
      bandages or whatever in the boxes.      

                           x
                         x   x     <= Place saddle on top.
                       x       x
                     x           x   <= second box
                   x . . . . . . . x 
                   | x           x |
                   |   x       x   |   <= first box
                   |     x   x     |
                   |       x       |
                   |               |
                   |_______________|
                   

    
    The saddle-rack idea reminded me of something I saw a couple of
    years ago, and keep forgetting to do. Take cat-food or tuna-fish
    cans and nail them to the wall by putting the nail right into the
    center of the bottom, through [the *empty* can, of course] the can
    and into the wall. Then you have a rounded hanger for bridles and
    halters; this prevents the "bend" you can get in the leather.
    
    -j
    

    This isn't so much of an idea, but just something to remember.
    
    If you are putting water into a barn, i.e. running a pipe from your
    house to the barn, why not put in electrical conduit in the same hole
    and run a phone line.  With the new laws governing the phone company
    you can run your own phone lines.  I did this and now I have a barn
    extension.
    
    If you run the conduit to your house foundation, then up to the bottom
    of the siding you will be able to connect to the phone lines outside of
    your house.  For those of you who may want to eventually rent stall
    space or run a stable with training also, this will make it easy to get
    a new phone line into your barn.  One that you can use as a business
    phone.

   Well, maybe this note wasn't such a great idea since nobody's 
   responding...but I know you noters have a lot of ideas for 
   things, you just don't realize how wonderful they are! 

   Anyway here's another one from me...
   In the winter, since the barn has no hot water, I bring a large
   thermos of hot (out of the tap hot, not boiling) water to the
   barn and I put the bit in the hot water to warm it up so the
   horse doesn't have to take a cold bit. (I do check to make sure
   the bit didn't get too hot before I give it to the horse, but 
   over heating has never been a problem, because the metal is so
   cold to start with.) Since I always wash the bit after the ride
   as well, having warm water to do this with instead of the cold
   water out of the tap, makes the job a lot more pleasant! 
   

    
    	You know the FOAM pipe insulators (the kind you put over your
    	pipes in the cellar) this makes a great butt gard cover in the
    	horse trailer.  I have rounded metal ones but oh! they get yecky!
    	the FOAM is cut on one side and is easy to pop off and hit with
    	the hose.
    
    	Ok... so maybe not such a GREAT idea... but that's it for now.
    
    	Susan

    
    I just thought of another one last night, when I was cleaning
    harness...yeck.
    
    I was at the Big E (Springfield, MA, Expo), and there was a
    group of firemen there with an old horse-drawn firetruck, and
    about 10 Clydesdales. They had *BEAUTIFUL* harness, and they
    were cleaning it with LEMON SCENTED FURNITURE POLISH! And I'm
    talking the cheapy house brand, not Pledge or anything like
    that.
    
    They said they don't always clean with it, but just at shows
    and such for a quick one. So, next time you go to a show or
    other gathering, don't forget the furniture polish...
    

    On these past few chilly mornings, I remember that I need to bring 
    the hand gardening claw up to the barn so it can be used to loosen
    up the sweet feed in the bin so it can be measured. All you do is
    scratch around in the bin 'till you loosen up the approximate desired
    amount and it will stay loose long enough to get into the coffee
    can before it turns into a brick again.

    I also have trouble with sweet feed hardening in the winter.
    So, we mix in some pelleted feed with it.  We mix the feeds as we pour
    it into the barrells.  The pellets keep the molasses in the sweet feed
    from forming 50 gallons of rock hard horse feed.

    I roll up empty shavings bags, starting with the open end, rolling
    the bag into a log shape. This makes good kindling for the fireplace.
    Rolling the open end first is important so you don't get shavings
    in the house.

   Thanks for the ideas, I think they're great!

   In my previous note (.4) about using the warm water to warm 
   the bit I forgot to mention the advantages of using the warm water,
   which is that you don't have to freeze your fingers off warming 
   the bit by holding it. Also the horse prefers the moist bit to 
   a dry one. 

   Here's another idea. For dressage shows you can keep white breeches
   clean between rides by slipping a pair of cheap cotton leggings or 
   stretch pants on over the breeches. 

   

    
    	I might of mentioned this before, but with the cold weather
    	setting in soon I thought this may come in handy to someone.
    
    	I have turnouts for each of my nags - so they can go in and
    	out of their stalls at will.  To cut the cold air from coming
    	in their stalls I hang heavy carpeting from inside the door-
    	ways with the "up" side of the carpet facing into the stall.
    	(If you hang it the other way - the carpet tends to bow and
    	it won't cover the door as well.)  This carpet is cut up the 
    	middle about 3/4 of the way up.  I use eye bolts punched thru 
    	the carpet and this can be used year after year.  I remove the 
    	carpets in the spring.
    
    	Susan
    

    I don't know how many of you get loose shavings and find them
    getting all over the place. I get mine loose and then use 100 lb
    feed sacks to bag them. These bags are much stronger than plastic
    garbage bags and can be dropped from the hay loft without splitting.
    I have been using the same bags for 6 years and they are still in
    good shape, I tye them shut with all the baling twine from the hay.
    Loose shavings are so much cheaper around here that it is worth
    the extra work to bag your own.
    

    
    	NO-DEPOSIT BOOT TREES...
    
    	All you need is a pair of medium-size soda bottles...  Just
    	slide them into your boots and they will keep the ankles from
    	wrinkles...

    
    	I have lost several concho-headed chicago screws in the past,
    	(once my bit came off my bridle while riding..) so, now when I
    	take a bridle apart that has screws, I just add a _drop_ of clear
    	nailpolish to the threads and they stay put!  This is still
    	easy to remove with a screwdriver and many times I can just
    	chip it off.  If you find it tough, you could just a bit of
    	nailpolish remover - but I have never had too.          

    
    I finally gave up using an awl for leather repair (the needles and
    thread must have some kind of consiparcy against me!) Instead I
    use large animal suture needles.  Since they are curved, they are
    perfect for those hard to get at parts, and they have sharp edges
    that make getting the neelde through MUCH easier.
    
    I've also taken to using hemostats for braid-pullers.  They work
    better than wire or latch-hooks - plus you can attach them to the
    unbraided hair (or your shirt) inbetween braids.
    

    For sturdy, no maintanence jump poles, use PVC drain pipes.
    They can be gotten at most hardware/lumber yard for a very
    reasonable cost.  They usually come in 8 ft sections which
    are perfect for jumping.  They are easier to carry or move
    and don't poise as much of a danger to horses since they 
    don't have splinters or peeling paint to be concerned about.
    The ideal size is the 3-4" diameter pipe.  
    
    We had these poles at the barn where I used to keep my horse 
    and they worked out great.
    

    
    
    While going through an old Practical Horseman magazine, I came
    across the following idea.  I thought it was great:
    
    For hanging pitchforks, shovels and brooms:
    
    	Take a 6 foot, 2x4 board.
    
    	Nail four or five horseshoes spaced evenly apart on the four
    	inch side of the board.  Place them so that the heels of the
    	shoes over hang the board by 1 1/2 - 2 inches.  
    
    	Drill three to four holes evenly spaced on the 2 inch side of	 
       	the board and bolt the board to the wall with the heels of the
    	shoes pointing outward.  
    
    	Hang at least 6 feet from the ground.  Now you are ready to 
    	hang all your barn tools up and out of the way.
    
    I hope that my instructions were clear enough.  They had drawings 
    to help in demonstrating the method for building it.  If anyone 
    needs some shoes to do this with, I have some old ones I can get 
    to you.  	
    
    This is a great note for sharing all those tricks and neat ideas!
                                                                     

    Here's an idea that I came across while spending time at a stud farm in
    Ireland.  
    
    If you have a bucket that's no longer usable for feed or water or
    whatever because it has a broken handle or some other "defect", you can
    use it for a handy hoof cleaning gadget.  Take a hoofpick and tie it to
    the bucket with a long-ish piece if twine.  Then, not only will you
    find it hard to lose the hoofpick, but you'll also be able to just let
    all the debris fall into the bucket and not onto your aisle floor as
    you pick out each hoof.  I also store my hoof dressing and brush in the
    bucket.

    
    
    For a quick and very effective last minute shine to tack at
    shows etc, I use one of those shoe polishing foam blocks, and
    they are so small and light to pack it saves space in the
    trailer. 
    
    And I have also used that stuff you put on floors to give it
    shine on a pair of old vinyl boots for a show. It lasted long 
    enough to have the desired effect! (My horse is better shod
    than me!) 
    
    AND... old motorcycles panniers make great grooming kit/general
    storage boxes, sturdy and usually lockable.
    
    Finally, a role of narrow nylon webbing around the yard is 
    useful in emergencies, (the sort used on a lot of newer rugs)
    I replaced a broken leather rug strap with it. It's not affected 
    by the weather like leather is. And it can be used to repair
    head collars etc.
    
    
    

    If you use an old chest freezer for your grain storage it has a
    lot of advantages. You can get them at metal salvage places in almost
    any size for 5-10 dollers. Mice and other rodents can't get in and 
    it's easy for you, just lift the lid and scoop. I got a smaller one 
    and it holds two- hundred lb. bags. where the motor is you have a shelf
    to store your source, carrots or whatever. 
    Something I just thought of this year is that its INSULATED! I was
    sick of hard hoof dressing and frozen carrots. Put a small watt
    bulb in (be sure that there's no danger of fire of course) and you
    have a nice place to store anything you want to keep warm, even
    your bridle.

I recently had to wash some horse blankets. I soaked them in an old bathtub
w/ cold water and detergent before I put them in the washer. They came 
out pretty clean but both the blankets and the washer were covered with
horse hair.

I had washed them late at night so I just hung the blankets up to dry 
and left the cleanup until the next morning. By then, all the hair was dry.
I was gonna use the horse vaccum to get the hair off the blankets but 
decided to try one of those rollers that pick up lint off clothes instead.

It worked so well on the blankets that I tried it on the washer, too. 
It worked! It was the easiest washer cleanup ever.

If you don't have a lint roller, wrap some masking tape around your hand 
with the sticky side out. That'll work too!
    
    John

  I always save old foam saddle pads to cut up and use later for many
  different things...here are two ideas:

  I preserved my favorite old riding helmet whose interior lining had 
  simply worn away. I cut the foam pad into strips, covered them with 
  terry cloth and glued them to the inside of the helmet. I have also
  stuffed strips of foam under the lining of helmets whose own padding 
  has become thinner from wear, or ones that were never really comfortable, 
  to make them fit more snugly.

  For winter riding I got a used pair of boots that are 2 sizes too
  large so can I wear heavy wool socks under them. I lined the toes with 
  strips of foam from the saddle pad. The toes stay nice and toasty. 
  Slip on a pair of boot rubbers and you have boots that are presentable
  at shows and still keep your feet warm.

  Another recycling idea...

  We took the brass hardware off a rotten old halter and a pair of 
  stirrup leathers and made three items. I made a belt out of the brass
  halter buckle and half of one leather, the other (top) half of that leather 
  became a handle for a wooden grooming box. The other stirrup leather 
  was sewn onto the brass throatlatch clip from the halter and became a 
  leadrope. 

    Don't know how common a problem this is but...since we started using
    haynets to "dunk" hay in order to wet it for the horses, we found that
    after a while the haynets get gross and digusting. Some of the
    chaff(the really fine stuff) sticks to the haynet and, after a few
    weeks, makes a slimy smelly coating. 
    
    Solution: Throw 'em in the washer w/ laundry detergent and bleach.
    They come out clean, fairly germ free and (SURPRISE!) dry. The dry part
    was a pleasant surprise. The first time I washed our nylon haynets, I
    was concerned that they might not dry in time for the evening feeding.
    No problem because the spin part of the cycle gets enough water out of
    them that they are ready to go...At least our nylon ones were...I
    haven't tried this w/ cotton rope haynets.

    Just in case I'm not the *last* person to discover these....
    
    Do you clean the hardware[bits, spurs, buckles, stirrups, etc] you 
    use around your horse with soapy steel wool pads? I used too. But, it
    was a pain in the rump[can I say that here?} to rinse all that soap off. 
    Especially true for bits because you don't want the horse to get a 
    mouthful of soap! They give ya this look "You tryin' to posion me or
    what?"
    
    About 6 months ago, I was in the grocery store getting some cleaning
    supplies for the barn. I was looking for [you guessed it] soapy steel
    wool pads and saw these nylon scrubbers that didn't have any soap in
    them. I'm not talking about the pot scrubber things that are shaped
    like a tack sponge. These nylon thingys are flat, rectangular and
    thin(maybe 1/8"). (All the brands in our store were green too. Those 
    pot scrubbers are colors like yellow, orange, etc...)
    
    Anyway, I started using one of them to clean tack. They're great! Ya know
    how horse drool gunks up bits and ya can't get it off easily? I just
    get this scrubber damp and wipe it off. Don't have to take the bridle
    apart or get the leather wet or nothin'!
    
    I use blunt spurs and they get gunked up with horse sweat and dandruff.
    Same answer. Damp scrubber and wipe it off.
    
    No rinsing and no fuss. That's something I can live with!
    
    
    John

    THey also do a great job on white hoofs!
    
    

John,

I just dump the bits/stirrups/spurs in the water I dip my sponge or soap 
in and let them soak while I'm cleaning the rest of my tack.  By the 
time I'm ready for reassembly, everything pretty much comes off with a 
sponge or a towel. Of course, if you don't disassemble your tack to clean,
it's a little trickier to use the soak method.  (I'm just too cheap to 
buy one of those little scrubbies, and even if I bought it, I'd probably
forget to use it!)

kathy

    I've tried the "dunk the bit and wipe it immediately after riding"
    routine and the gunk never came off well enough to satisfy me. I'm
    cheap too. That's why I bought a $0.50 scrubber instead of steel wool
    soap pads. Six months later, I'm still using the same scrubber.
    
    BTW, I have been told offline that, to our British colleagues, a
    scrubber is an "immoral or sluttish woman". Anybody got a better term
    to use for these little nylon scrub pads?
    
    John

    I always call them "green scrubbies".  Maybe a scrubbie has a better
    connotation than a scrubber....
    
    Gita

	You wouldn't believe how well a dishwasher cleans bits!
	Night before a show, and mine are in there. My mother
	brings her stainless still dinnerware down from time to
	time because the dishwasher shines it up so well - so I
	made the "stainless steel" connection. It's great. Spurs
	and irons too!

	-julie

If I remember correctly, the dishwasher didn't work so well on 
my 'never-rust' (nickel) bits - turned 'em black - all the more
work for me.  

    Re .27
    
    >I just dump the bits/stirrups/spurs in the water I dip my sponge or soap
    >in and let them soak while I'm cleaning the rest of my tack.  By the
    >time I'm ready for reassembly, everything pretty much comes off with a
    >sponge or a towel. Of course, if you don't disassemble your tack to clean,
    >it's a little trickier to use the soak method.  (I'm just too cheap to
    >buy one of those little scrubbies[snip]
    
    Meant to say this way back when we talked about the scrubbies. Just 
    remembered because of something else I put in the leather conditioning 
    note...
    
    I do take my tack apart to clean it but I don't clean the bridle every
    day. But, I like to keep the bit clean so I use the green scrubbies
    and water to clean up the bit. Then, I dry the bit with a towel.