It has been proven that having a messy, cluttered unorganised environment can have a negative effect on your mental health. It can lead to raised levels of stress and anxiety, which in turn can be expressed in a host of physical and emotional ways.

The flip side of this is that creating a calm and tidy environment has a positive effect on your mental health. It leads to lower levels of stress and anxiety and can also help to improve your overall mood and health.

How do your feel when you walk into your tack room?

Is it a clam, welcoming tidy environment where everything has a place and everything is in its place, or is messy, cluttered and unorganised?

When you getting your equipment together for a ride can you easily find everything you need, it is in working condition and and ready for use, or is it strewn about and scattered over everything, is there damage and dirt?

Do you walk into your tack room and feel calm, and confident that you know where everything is and that it is properly stored and protected, or do you dread the daily search and associated stress that comes with having to search through everythig, and constently move everything out of your way to get what you need.

If you are finding your tack room a hinderance its a good sign that you need to tidy it up. Don’t worry we are here at Tidy Tack Rooms to help you. Being organised is not a gift that is bestowed on a select few, it is a concious decision to make that lifestyle choice, and we have everything you need to start your new life style today.

Head over to the Tack Room Organization section and check out the 21 day tidying system. It is designed to get you organised and tidy in just 10 minutes a day. Taking you tack room from how to wow, whilst avoiding overwhelm and also building a healthy new habit that will keep your tack room in perfect order and help improve your state of mind, lower stress levels and save you time, space and money.

Let us know how you get on and please tag us in your before and after pictures. We are also happy to answer any question you might have on how to organise, store or set up your tack room.

Cassie – Tidy Tack Rooms

1. Check the rule books on dress code. BD updated theirs on the 30th June (today) and BS have recently made a lot of changes to their dress code.
2. If you are going alone make sure you allow plenty of time to do everything.
3. Packing lists will help you get prepared, stay in control and lower stress. We have downloadable ones for you here.
4. Popping a splash of baby oil into a spray bottle of water, and spraying lightly onto the mane before plaiting will make your plaits look shiny and glossy.
5. Putting talcum powder on to the inside of neck rugs will help prevent them from rubbing out the mane.
6. If you find plaiting incredibly stressful either leave your horse unplaited or find someone else to do it for you. You can offer to to muck out someones stable in return for plaits or pay a professional groom to do it for you.
7. Check all your equipment including your transport well ahead of time, so you can rectify any issues before the competition day.

If you have any other top tips please do share them with us.

Cassie

Tidy Tack Rooms

In todays blog we are bringing you our top tips for managing competitions alone. Now that the lockdown restrictions are being lifted and venues are looking to start competitions again, we can begin got prepare for competions again.

However the competitions will be quite different from what we are used to and for many of us it means we will be going alone with out our show friend, or taking a non horsey member of our household alsong with us.

As venues beging to run competitions under social distancing rules they will also be learning and adapting how to best make it work, therefore it is going to be quite different from what we are used to.

This change and lack of control can start to cause fear in some people and make competition nerves even worse, especially if you have now lost your usual support network. However that should not stop you getting out and enjoying yourselfs, so we have created our top tips to help you navigate and enjoy competitions.

Firstly i have a lot of experiance competing alone, i have done dressage, jumpin and showing competitions alone, i have been to local day shows, through to stay away national championships and qualifiers such as Search For A Star alone. It is completly managable, and enjoyable.

The key is ORGANIZATION, the more organised you are the smoother things run and the less stress there is involved.

Start by doing as much of the prep work as possible the day before. Bath, plait, clean tack and pack everything ready – we have a load of free downloadable packing lists here to get you sorted.

We also have loads of fantastic luggage items to make show days easier, more organised and less stress full. You can check them out here.

Make sure you have also tested your lorry and trailer are working fine and good to go, well in advance of the competition day.

On the morning of the competition get you lorry/trailer hitched up, pulled out and ramps down ready to go. Make sure all your gear is also packed and ready. This way if you start to run late, you can just stop, load up and go.

When working out your timings for the day make sure you add in buffer windows, so you have extra time if anything goes wrong. Look to add these in by starting 30 minutes earlier than planned, as due to social distancing the venues may be very strict on tinings, and if you arrive early you may not be allowed on to the grounds. You can always call the venue in advance to find out what their policy is.

Make sure you check the warm up policy as well, as again there may be strict timings on these rings, so you may not get the length of time you would like, which may mean you have to lunge or ride for a bit before you leave your yard.

Make sure you check the venues policies on cafes and toilets too. Some maybe offering a takeaway service on food and drink, however be aware that it may take a lot longer than usual to get your order, they may also be a card only place too, so check that out. If they are not offering food or drink make sure you pack your own – especially extra water on hot days. Look into getting a cooler box you can plug into your cigarette lighter to keep drinks etc cold.

If you are doing dressage plan ahead for learning your test or organising someone to call it for you, most venues for a small extra fee will provide a caller.

Finally remember it has been a long time since any of us went anywhere so the horses and other riders are all going to be excited and nervous, as well as trying to figure out how to make everything work around social distancing measures.

Take a deep breath and enjoy the fact you are able to take your horse out. Also remember the judge does not know your journey or the amount of work you have out in, or how far you and your horse have com. So make sure you set measurable goals for you, and do not base your goals on someone else’s opinions.

The Tidy Tack Rooms Team xox

We have created the most beautiful tack room storage system ever. It is now live on the website, and there really is something for everyone.

Made with the exceptional high quality materials and workmanship that form the basis of of our foundation, this new collection really does have the wow factor.

Available in 7 new designs that are perfect for team colours, matching your lorry and adding vibrance to your tack room.

The bags are all designed to save you time, space and money. Whilst also being super practical.

You can check out the full collection here