I spent the last few days sorting out the tack room. Not dusting and sweeping -- sorting. What tack do I need? And what tack don't I need? Had quite a few bridles, bits, blankets, boots, books, brushes so after getting them into a stack what to do with them was the next big decision.
The Santa Clara Horsemen and Ohlone Riders Unit of the Backcountry Horsemen of California were having a 'tack swap and sale' so I decided Saturday to take it all down there. Maybe make a couple bucks. Enough for supper. Or maybe even enough to fill up my diesel truck. (Well, it was a nice thought anyway!)
Becky, my daughter, went with me. That was a good idea -- she could help sell and we could double our money. Nice thought too but it didn't quite work out that way.
Becky and I should never go to some places together--especially an auction AND a tack sale or swap. Since I had packed the boxes, Becky unpacked them at the sale. She put everything on a couple tables we had brought and it really looked nice -- all neat. And clean. And shiny. Then she began to inspect it. Why were we getting rid of it? Once it was on the table it was no longer "my tack" but "our tack".
Take those bits. We don't need three Egg Butt Snaffles. Or 18 headstalls with only 5 horses. But then you never know when a headstall may break and could always put one of the Egg Butts in a horse trailer. Only problem, each trailer is already equipped with extra tack in case something gets lost, broke or wanders off. We even have extra blankets, boots, pads in each trailer. Pads and horse blankets just seem to multiply in the tack room. Think it's because they're in the dark all the time......
She lined up the stuff on the tables and then we both began to consider if we should really "get rid of it." Piece by piece we discussed each item. This was the headstall that Houston wore when he spooked at that deer. Here's that pad we needed for that sway backed horse, why couldn't we find it then? Here's all those Chicago screws we couldn't find a couple weeks ago. We went out and bought more but we should really keep these too. Never know when you might need an extra 50 or 60 Chicago Screws! Boots, which even though they all didn't match in color they were still usable. Nic doesn't care if he's got 4 blues on his hooves or 2 green, 1 white and a blue. They still fit. And do their job!
Of course while we're debating on our tack, we begin to look at OTHER people's tables. There was some pretty darn good looking items. Items I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to sell! One guy even had a blue bell boot that would match my one blue bell boot. And some of those leadropes were only a buck -- heck, a new snap on the end and they're good as new!!
Long story short, we were there about 4, 5 hours and managed to find a lot of really neat stuff that other people had to sell or swap. Some we swapped something for it -- other stuff we just bought!
We got rid of some pads, blankets a couple bits and 4 headstalls. Bell boots, books, brushes all came home with us along with a few other bell boots, bridles, blankets that had previously been owned by other people. They just couldn't understand the logic of why each horse should have 5 winter blankets and at least 3 summer sheets.
Today I spent most of the afternoon rearranging the tack room to make room for 'returned' items and the other stuff. Had to put up a couple extra bridle hooks. One for a really neat rawhide headstall that only needs a couple strands fixed. And with a little rearranging managed to get the blankets back on the blanket racks along with the other 4 we bought. Actually got everything back into the tack room.
Don't plan on going to anymore tack swaps or sales. And on the bright side, made enough money to buy supper! Even if it was a couple Big Macs, fries and cokes at McDonald's. All in all it was a good weekend........
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