5 Barn Hacks that Really Work, Presented by Ecovet
Work smarter, not harder — and since there’s plenty of hard work involved in keeping your barn in order, we’re offering up these five hacks that really do make daily life a bit easier at your barn.
For those of you who have a barn — whether it’s a small private one at home or a larger boarding or training barn that you manage — you know that there is a lot of work involved. Even on the best of days, when the whether is temperate, there’s no mud, all the fences are up and working, and no one is injured, the time and effort we put into our horses is substantial. That’s why if there’s any way possible to speed up things, make them more efficient, we’re here for it. After all, without hacks like these, the days that aren’t the best would be even longer.
So here are five barn hacks that really do work (I use them daily!), presented by our good friends at Ecovet.
1. Filling Your Hay Nets
Okay, we’ve all seen the trick where you use a 15-gallon/60-quart muck bucket to fill a hay net (if you haven’t, you can check it out here). That works for a lot of folks and is a great tip — especially if you’re traveling and not at your own barn, but I have to be honest. It never really works for me. Likely it’s my own ineptitude, but I always manage to get the hay net hung up on the handles of the bucket and still get hay everywhere. Usually there is swearing (a common thread in most of my barn chores). So thanks to the barn manager who came before me, I have this useful hack. All you need is two J hook wood screws and a way to install them.
Install the J hooks a couple feed apart wherever you fill your hay nets, making sure they’re in a locating where they can’t feasibly come in contact with a horse’s body (for me, it’s an extra stall that has been designated as a hay stall for as long as I can remember).
Photo by DeAnn Long Sloan
Once they are hung, you can hang your hay nets on them (by openings in the net itself, not the tie that closes it) and fill the hay quickly and relatively mess free.
Photos by DeAnn Long Sloan
Even with hay nets with the stiffer openings, I can use this hack. I just hang the net on one of the hooks and fill it from there.
2. Fluffing Pelletized Bedding
Not everyone uses pelletized bedding, but for those of you who do, you know that wetting and fluffing it (without having most of the water move to other parts of the stall or overfilling the bag itself, making it hard to empty) can be a pain. Fortunately, I have boarders who, generally, are much smarter than I am. One of them uses this hack that I have adopted with gusto. It’s incredibly easy and effective.
Cut a three-sided rectangle in your favorite bag of pelletized bedding, peel it back, fill it with about 2.5 gallons of water, let it absorb, then spread it in the stall. No muss, no fuss. And (almost) no random water in your good bedding or stripped stalls.
This rectangle was a little narrower than I usually cut them, but it still works.
A bit of water did spill into the stall behind this bag of bedding — mostly because I am a klutz. But here you can see the water in the bottom of the bag directly after I poured it in. After adding the water, just wait. I usually go do other chores.
The bedding has had time to fluff up and is ready to dump.
For me, having every single pellet absorb water isn’t all that important since I usually manage to spill water. I just make a point to spread the drier pellets on the water I’ve spilled.
Once it’s fluffed, the bedding spreads easily with a rake or pick. And it’s soft on the horses’ feet. Note the filled hay net from the first hack!
Pro tip: On all but the coldest days, I use water directly out of the hose to wet the bedding, but when it’s really frigid, I will use hot water on the bedding. This promotes quick absorption and keeps ice from forming.
3. Dusting Your Stall Walls
Dust is an absolute constant in my barn. My stalls are arranged in two aisles with a small hallway connecting them. Both main aisles open on either end. One side opens to the driveway and the other side opens to a small indoor arena. Between the limestone driveway on one side, my fairly basic arena footing on the other, and schlepping bales of hay down the steps, the main portion of the barn constantly is being assaulted by dust. Although this isn’t a daily chore for me, one I try to complete regularly (or get my kids to complete regularly) is dusting the faces of the stalls.
Doing so can be onerous. However, I’ve found a quick and cheap hack that takes care of at least the surface dust. To be clear, this isn’t deep-clean level, but does work when you’re trying to stay somewhat on top of the dust situation. All you need is a cheap microfiber mop like this (I got mine from the dollar store):
Photo from Amazon.com.
Once a week or so I use it to go over the stall fronts to take care of the surface dust.
Now, again, this isn’t deep clean-level, but it does serve its purpose.
When I really want to go after the dust, I will use my blower to blow all the dust, cobwebs, and excess hay off the stall walls and out of the corners. Then I wipe down the stall fronts with boiled linseed oil. That keeps the even my older Amish-built barn looking amazing, but that’s a once or twice a year job, not a weekly one.
And just because it’s satisfying, here’s a picture of those results (maybe this is barn hack 3.5)…
Stall on the left, uncleaned and an excellent example of before. Stall on the right, cleaned and coated in linseed oil… and an excellent example of after. Photo by DeAnn Long Sloan.
4. Using Broken Halters to Organize Your Stuff
Horses break stuff. All. The. Time. However, some of those broken items can be repurposed to make your life easier and more organized. Halters definitely are one of those things. Pieces of broken halters are incredibly useful when it comes to organizing things like extensions cords and barn snaps. Check out these hacks from former contributor Nicole Cammuso:
Keep your lunge lines orderly. Photo by Nicole Cammuso.
Wrangle your extension cords. Photo by Nicole Cammuso.
Organize your extra snaps. Photo by Nicole Cammuso
5. Keep Your Barn Drinks Where They Belong
Whether you’re enjoying a cold drink on a hot day, or using your coffee or tea to keep you warm on the more frigid days, there’s a common problem that plagues all of us — keeping those drinks upright while you’re on the move and getting your work done. Fortunately, there’s a quick and easy way to make sure your drink stays upright, and all it needs is one thing we all have around the barn — duct tape.
Not only can you wrap a foot, fix pretty much anything, and silence those annoying children with it (wait — is that just me?), but also you can use it to keep your beverage of choice in its bottle, can, or insulated mug. That’s right. The hole in the center of a duct tape roll makes a perfect cup holder. The weight of the tape holds the drink steady, and the sticky-ish sides create just enough friction to ensure that your drink won’t tip unless it’s bumped somewhat significantly (thanks to Horse Nation staff writer Aubrey Graham for this hack!).
Photo of the hack in action last summer. Photo by Aubrey Graham.
What barn hacks have made your life easier? We’d love to know! Let us know by emailing us at [email protected]. Put “Barn Hacks” in the subject line.
