I’m moving my pony home from a boarding barn in about 6 weeks, and I’m super excited. I’ve been riding for over a decade and have spent the last 4 years working in a barn, the last year as an assistant barn manager, and I’m a pony club kid. I don’t feel like I’m in over my head, but in the spirit of USPC and always wanting to be prepared so I don’t find myself calling/driving around in a panic, I wanted to crowdsource my shopping list:
What are your must-haves for wound care, daily care, barn management, organization, etc that I might not find on any old list? Can be little things, or even things that might get overlooked? Just looking for a little inspiration! TIA!
Maybe not niche but bute and banamine lol
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Seconding bute/banamine. And needles/syringes. And a sharps container! Never have one when I need it, never think to make one when I don’t.
A toolkit just for the barn, NOT to be borrowed for house projects. A good designated place to store extra haystring. More pairs of scissors than a schoolteacher, stashed in every corner. If you think you’re gonna haul crosstie poop to the wheelbarrow/manure pile, you won’t. Get that extra shovel and bucket. While you’re at it, invest in the nice Rubbermaid manure cart thing - you’ll spend almost the same amount of money on a regular wheelbarrow and hate every second.
As you were setting up your place, what were you regularly going back to the house for or bringing down? Duct tape? Phone charger? Flashlight? Buy doubles for the barn.
Lastly, a paper calendar and a white board specifically for notes. And markers/pens. I never have my phone on me or my hands are dirty enough I don’t want to grab it to jot something down, so a white board works wonders. And the paper calendar helps with farrier/feed/hay guy appointments, once again without having to grab my phone or when I inevitably leave it in the house.
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Great list by @fivestrideline. I will also add that I use my tack room calendar to note any time I open a new bag of feed, or bag of shavings. When I open a bale of hay I tie the hay strings and hang them on a nail in my hay barn - on Sundays I count the strings and note the amount on my tack room calendar.
I got this idea from someone here on the forum (I’m sorry I can’t remember who, but they are genius). This system lets me know exactly how much I am using (and spending!). I used to note when I bought hay, etc., but it was never clear EXACTLY how much I was using, as I would buy more before I had finished the prior batch, etc. This has been a game changer for me, and it makes it much easier to buy hay since I have to buy it is small batches throughout the year due to storage issues.
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Great suggestions above.
Here’s some things I added when I had to rebuild my barn:
- a dedicated vet cabinet overstocked with bandages, gauze, tape, bute, banamine, and a whole lot else. Mine is a free-standing tall closet I got off FB Marketplace and it is full. When your horse gets injured or sick you go through a large amount of bandages even on a small wound. I also have syringes, thermometer, stethoscope, bandage scissors, etc. All in one clean, dust-free space.
*hooks. Hooks EVERYWHERE. There is no such thing as too many hooks.
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think very carefully about your routines and try to make them as short/efficient as possible. In particular move heavy things like hay bales and manure as short a distance as you can.
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white boards. I have a feed board in the feed room and a really big everything else board in the tack room. I write down farrier and vet notes, to-do lists, deworming schedules, etc. You won’t remember else.
*get everything off the ground. I used wire shower caddies and trailer wall organizers to get all my bottles, brushes and the like on the walls instead of tack boxes. If you aren’t boarding you don’t need a portable grooming box, you can just park stuff next to your grooming station. With everything off the floor, sweeping is much simpler.
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a hanging fish scale to weigh hay
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Same 
But I just write “bale” when I open a new one & can see at a glance how fast I’m going through hay. I’ll also note “PM” or “Late” (10P barncheck) for when that bale was started.
My Hayguy has started to mark the calendar too when he delivers with # of bales.
I also note when I added shavings to a stall & how/where used.
Example: “1 bag H/K” for the 2 stalls that split the bag (60# bags).
Get a 2-wheel barrow!
Mine was $50 on sale at TSC over 10yrs ago.
Meant for gardening, it has held up to barn use.
Nothing worse than a tipped full load 
I store a year’s worth of hay for my 3 - 300 small (40-50#) squares - on pallets in a space 24X12 across from my stalls.
No ferrying hay from someplace or climbing up & down from a loft.
Stonedust floor in the barn allows evaporation, In 18yrs I’ve never lost a bottom bale to mold.
Frostfree hydrant is inside the barn.
When temps go below 40F, hose comes off & I water bucket-brigade style.
I have a small plug-in nightlight.
No going into a pitchblack barn & fumbling for the switch (located just inside the service door).
I’ll add more, but need to get my a** out to feed now
ETA:
Grain is stored in galvanized garbage cans - 50# fits in 30gal. Lids snap on tightly, no problem with vermin.
Firstaid kit in the barn has banamine (for oral administration), triple antibiotic, gauze 4X4s, vetwrap, sterile saline (for rinsing an eye), biozide gel, bandage scissors, small scrub brush (for debriding), small (10cc) syringes & needles (used only to draw up banamine), chlorhexidine scrub & thermometer
I barn sit at a place that has a frost free hydrant inside the barn. They have hoses set up to run from the hydrant, through the ceiling beams and out to troughs immediately outside the barn. The hoses run on an angle so that they drain. Each hose is set up with the male end of those snap together hose connectors. The other end lives on the frost free hydrant in spring/summer/fall and is put in place immediately before use, and removed immediately after use in winter, and taken into the house. They have a short (6") piece to snap on in summer when filling a bucket. The hose on a reel also has the snap together connection - and the hose/reel/box goes in the house for the winter.
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Hot water. This may mean a kettle, but it’s worth having available. I prefer the type that sits on a base that plugs in so I’m not wrangling the cord when pouring hot water.
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Yes!!! Money spent on a quality wheelbarrow is never wasted. The two-wheel ones are critical!
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Someone mentioned lots of scissors… I’ll add to this by saying KNIVES. Have one available anywhere you might tie a horse.
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If you are a PC grad, this list will be familiar to you:
Everything on that list, except the “Extra Polocrosse Equipment”. For the first aid portion, double or triple the amounts - I usually buy a case of vet wrap and gauze at a time. You will go through half a case in a week if you are rewrapping large wounds. You can never have too much vet wrap, gauze, or antiseptic. Make sure you have a 5qt bucket that is ONLY for first aid that is clean. I second a full vet cabinet. Something like this, any brand – often these are cheap at yard sales, swap meets, and FB market place. Have each shelf thoroughly organized. For instance, my top shelf is the rarely used first aid. Eye level shelf is most often used first aid - vet wrap, cotton gauze, etc. Bottom shelf is first-aid oriented but not as often used and/or liquids: BOT wraps, hock wraps, twitch, and then a milk crate that is shampoo/cleaning oriented. I will add a tub of eventer grease to this list - it is not just for eventers; it is great for when a horse gets stuck in something metal or wood and can’t get out.
The main thing is a thoroughly organized barn. Before you bring the horses home, think of your barn layout. Then think it over again. Put the (frost-free) hydrant somewhere easily accessible; are you in an area with snow? Make sure your barn layout is as efficient as possible. Take serious considerations into expediting every chore - don’t have the hay barn at a completely different location or the feed room the furthest room from everything. Anything large needs to be stored somewhere with easy access / quick trips. Small details will make or break your labor time: the biggest chore for me is water. @RedHorses mentioned a thoughtful barn design centered around how difficult water can be when temps drop: this is similar to our set up but let me tell you I hate water in the winter! It is such a PITA to constantly be toting the hose to/from the house.
Save those Tidy Cat Plastic litter totes if you get them. They are the perfect size for storage for boots, spare hardware or fencing hardware. Tape some duck tape on its side and write in sharpie what it is. Label EVERYTHING.
Ditto the suggestion of a good 2-wheel wheelbarrow. If you can swing it see if you can find a metal cart (often given away/cheap on FB market place) for transporting hay to paddocks. Even better, a Gator or Ranger - these are expensive new but 100% pay for themselves within the first few years. On the topic of expensive up front but pays for itself, a large Haychix net for hay (roundbale) and a HayHut. I cannot go back to baled hay - round bales are SO much cheaper, cut labor times in half, and way better for the horse. A must-have here.
As far as first aid brands / must haves, here’s what I am constant rebuying:
- vet wrap times infinity
- Betadine solution
- Betadine scrub
- Epsom salt
- Corona antibiotic
- Vetricin spray
- Furazone
- Gloves
- Needles/sharps
- Double end snaps. Be prepared to have them grow legs and leave!
- Carabiner clips
The list is enormous but those are off of the top of my head.
Some things that I’ve found make life easier:
BOT quick wrap boots. I don’t know if they do what they claim but they keep legs CLEAN and are more breathable than cotton/quilt standing wraps. They have been absolutely instrumental to me for keeping large cuts on legs clean. I also use them for a few tricky haulers that don’t like shipping boots. Size up if you want to use for the above.
Rubber hooks. I will not do any metal hooks in any place near a horse and would advise that people avoid them where horses are housed, but the rubber hooks are fantastic hung on the outside of gates, stalls, etc. I have six hung up right outside the run in shed and they keep halters off the ground and will not hurt a horse unlike their metal counterparts.
A muck bucket wheel tote: so much easier than hauling a full muck tub to the wheelbarrow on foot.
The Hay Hut / Hay Chix (mentioned above). I will never go back to feeding loose hay. Even the horses fed baled hay get their hay out of a hay net.
Ditto lots of scissors and knives and label them. One scissor should only be for cutting bale strings, one scissor should only be in your first aid kit, one scissor should only be for cutting/trimming manes or tails, etc.
If you can, talk to your vet about crisis/emergency management. Learn how to pull a shoe. Learn how to apply a tourniquet. Learn how to give IV/IM (under instruction). Learn how to uncast a horse. Learn how to flush / irrigate a wound. Ask your vet what to do in specific scenarios - IE, impaled horse? How to free a horse stuck in a metal gate, etc. The majority of catastrophic injuries that happen at home will happen when no one but you is around and you will have to do these things alone - getting comfortable with crisis and keeping a clear head are important. It is easy to think you are fine in a crisis but most people are not as good as they think they are when it comes to rational thinking in an emergency: be prepared is as best as I can say.
P.S @stb that sounds like something @frugalannie has posted on this forum.
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I brought my horses home last year…my advice below
A. Buy a darn tractor sooner than later
B. Make sure you have at least two quality resources to buy hay from
C. Buy enough hay nets to fill so you are only filling them up one day a week
D. Frost free hydrant is a must and in the barn is even better
E. Make sure to either have a generator or keep water troughs filled tan case of power outage, plus how are you going to keep water from freezing
F. At least 10 pair of scissors stashed and a utility knife by cross ties.
G. Have two muck buckets, two/three forks, test wheelbarrows - I prefer my gorilla cart.
H. Dedicated medicine chest or tool box, know how to check vitals, and know your vet. I keep Ace, Banamine, Bute and ulcerguard handy at all times.
I. Make sure you have your manure pile turned or spread regularly
J. Metal trash cans and the dog feed containers with twist off lids for storing supplements.
There is more, but time to go groom ponies.
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I haven’t seen anyone else explicitly mention farrier tools, but definitely a must have. You want to be able to easily pull a sprung or twisted shoe. If your horse is barefoot it still good to have a rasp and nippers to touch up trims in between appointments.
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What great advice and lists! I’ll add I do not use hay nets for personal reasons, but do feed on mats in an overhang with polite, hay efficient geldings. I use muck buckets to set up hay for each feeding-- each horse has his own color muck/hay bucket, grain prep bucket, water buckets, which makes it easy for non-horsey DH to mostly never get it wrong.
Having someone you can rely on to feed/clean/care for your horses in an emergency is also a must. I have a couple of folks besides my DH I can call upon. They don’t have to be super horsey if you have a clear set up and an easy, somewhat hands off way of feeding.
Make sure emergency numbers are posted in the barn-- have at least two vets you can call on. This can be tough right now, as many equine vets are not taking new patients. Establish with one or two if you haven’t already done so. Same with a farrier.
Make sure you have a trailer or access to one quickly for veterinary issues or, in my area, fire evacuation. Think about where you’ll haul for vet or evacuation.
Buy the BEST commercial grade hose you can afford. Use a brass nozzle on it for easy on/off. Trust me, cheap hoses suck.
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In addition to the first aid supplies already mentioned, I like to keep a tube of ophthalmic antibiotic ointment (without steroid) on hand. If your horse scratches a cornea this will help prevent infection until a vet can examine the eye.
Also have a trailer or a solid plan to transport a horse in an emergency. And a backup plan in case the trailer or plan A falls through.
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I second the generator. If you are on a well, it’s a life saver. Ours is the generator for dummies w a propane tank dedicated to it.
Really good info here already. I will add:
–Those little pre-soaked alcohol wipes. Great for cleaning your thermometer or cleaning skin before IM injection.
–Some way to have hot water. I installed a water heater because I had space for it and it made my life SO MUCH easier. Before then, I had an electric kettle.
–If you can, frost free hydrants outside near where you have water buckets/troughs.
–If you have a small grain room like I do, consider vittles vaults for keeping grain. I have a bookcase on which I can store 6 of them.
–Lots of measuring cups/spoons. Now that I’m doing things myself, I buy more things in bulk and end up needing measuring tools.
If you are doing significant renovations like I did/am, spend the time planning it all out. With tradespersons hard to get these days, I ended up doing some things in not the most logical order. It didn’t kill me at the end of the day, but I ended up having to make compromises that wouldn’t have been necessary if I’d planned better.
and have some hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, dish-washing liquid to wash you dog down after encountering the skunk
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Fire alarm in the barn you can hear from the house and fire extinguisher --maybe more than one --and you DO have one in your horse trailer, right?
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A lot of the random little items can be easily found at the dollar store.
Disposable gloves. Rubbing alcohol. Baby diapers for booting a hoof for a pulled shoe or abscess. Dish soap. Scrub brushes. Spatulas for mixing feed. Measuring cups/spoons. Reusable containers for supplements/medication doses.
