You must properly maintain your horse equipment and track to maximize the useful life of your horse tack. Equipment and tack costs can have a great impact on your whole horse budget. A properly cared for tack prevents injury and accidents for both the rider and horse and also last longer. Discover key tips to preserve and extend the longevity of your horse’s equipment and tack, from routine maintenance to the careful care of essentials like the horse pad. Here are four simple tips to increase the life of your equipment and tack.

Deep Cleaning

It is essential to give your equipment a deep cleaning twice a year. Wash all horse grooming supplies, polo wraps, saddle pads, and blankets regardless of whether it has been used recently. After deep cleaning, ensure the storage method you use keeps things clean. You can store all your clean sheets and dry blankets in big plastic containers when not in use. Mark the containers with their contents, which will make it easy to find what you need easily. If you find items you hardly use, consider donating or selling those items after cleaning. Ensure the durability of your horse’s equipment and tack by highlighting the importance of proper maintenance for items like the waterproof horse sheet.

Condition Your Leather

It helps a lot to give a horse saddle a little conditioning before horse shows. Regardless of the product you use, it is essential to first condition your saddle at home to ensure that you like how your conditioned saddle feels when riding on it. Some conditioners can make riding uncomfortable by causing residue to come off while riding or leaving the saddle sticky. Sometimes, you may find your new conditioning product quite unfordable, so be sure to test it at home first.

Sanitizing Between Horses

At some training and boarding facilities, it is common to share grooming supplies between horses. When doing this, it is important to reduce the number of germs that can also be shared. Keeping a can of disinfectant spray can be an easy and quick way to reduce germs on brushes. Spraying all the grooming supplies can kill mildew, mold, viruses, fungi, and bacteria. Another ideal option is to separate saddle pads for horses and brushes for each horse.

Ensure you label each piece of equipment with the horse’s name to guarantee that the equipment does not get shared. Disinfecting brushes is essential, even on equipment you don’t share. Remember that dirty brushes can make a clean horse.

Cleaning Up Your Tack Room

Tack room is an important component of cleaning equipment and tack. Keeping the room relatively dry, cool, and clean is vital for maintaining your track condition. If the area where you store the equipment is too humid, it can cause mold growth. Preventing a moist environment is vital, especially during humid summer months. You can also do a weekly scan of your whole tack room to look for excess dust buildup on a rarely used tack. You can also look for pet droppings or mold growth. By doing this every week, it will make your job easier. You’ll have little mess buildup as this weekly scan will make your job quicker every time. Clean up will also take less time. If you only do the clean up yearly, you’ll find that the mess will be bigger and cleaning time will be much longer.

Bottom Line

Shopping for a horse tack can be exciting for any horse rider. Even an experienced horse rider will tell you how exciting it can feel to get a new hunt or saddle for their horse saddle pad. As a newbie, you might be worried or unsure about mistakenly purchasing the wrong thing. When shopping for a horse tack, don’t only focus on purchasing every shiny new thing that you get. Be mindful of what you purchase. Extend the lifespan of your horse’s equipment and tack with these top 4 strategies, including proper care for essentials like the horse turnout sheet