Hey there folks! Today I have with me Rachel Sollid of Timber Ridge Stables. I saw a few photos of their amazingly organized barn on Instagram and reached out to see if Rachel would be willing to share a few tips on keeping things tidy and organized, and she was happy to share! Thanks Rachel!
Timber Ridge Stables is a beautiful new facility located 35 minutes west of Edmonton and 20 SW of Stony Plain. We offer both indoor and outdoor board, lessons, and training. Our facilities include a beautiful heated barn with six 12’x12’ stalls with soft stall mats, a wash rack, viewing room, individual tack lockers, a bathroom, and plenty of other amenities. We have kilometers of treed trails on site for you to ride on, as well as a 80’x160’ indoor arena, a 100’x200’ outdoor arena, and a 60’ round pen. We offer top quality care for your equine friend, and a clean and bright facility for your use. Please contact Rachel to set up a viewing or to answer whatever questions you may have.
Timber Ridge Stables
51321, Range Rd 24, Parkland County, AB T7Y 2K4
ph. (780) 965-1306
http://www.timberridgestables.com/
@Timber.Ridge.Stables.AB
Barn Organization Tips and Tricks:
Hi friends! I am super excited to share with you some of my top organizational tips and tricks to help you be able to spend more time with your horse and less time being frustrated about the disorganized chaos of your barn. I am the barn manager, instructor, and trainer at Timber Ridge Stables, and these are my tried and true trick that I use on a daily basis to make my life easier and the life of all my lesson students and boarders easier as well! So, with that let’s get started!
Tip #1 Only keep the best, the favourite, and the necessary
If you have spent any length of time around horses, I can almost guarantee that over the years the amount of stuff that you have accumulated for your beloved pony or ponies is quite the collection. I myself am even guilty of this, and I bet you are too. But you see friends, it’s really hard to organize your horse things and keep it organized when you just outright have too much stuff for the space you have available to store it. So, if your tack room, feed room, or barn in general is bursting at the seams, the very best advice I can give you is to go through all your horse’s things and only keep the items that are the best, the favourite or the necessary. I first heard this bit of advice from Emily Ley, creator of the Simplified Planner, and I have used this tip to help simplify my barn and home. If an item doesn’t fit into one of these three categories, then you have two options: you can sell the item for some extra $ or you can donate/give the item away. This will help you to simplify your barn and greatly help you to keep it clean, tidy, and well organized. I first heard this bit of advice from Emily Ley, creator of the Simplified Planner, and I have used this tip to help simplify my barn and home. If an item doesn’t fit into one of these three categories, then you have two options: you can sell the item for some extra $ or you can donate/give the item away. This will help you to simplify your barn and greatly help you to keep it clean, tidy, and well organized.
Our barn aisle & stalls, with the blanket racks on the front for easy access 
Our indoor arena with all the obstacles, step stools etc. in the one corner 
Tip #2 All items in your barn need a home
What I mean by this is every item needs to have a designated place to be stored, that way it will save you tons of time searching endlessly through your barn to try and find things. For example, where does your broom get stored? Does it live in the corner where it is easy to grab, or does it have a spot to be hung up on the wall? Also, where do the extra buckets live or where do you keep blanket, sheets, boots, polos etc.? By having a designated space for everything to live it will simplify your daily routine and save you tons of time. In my barn I know that there is one step stool that lives in the corner in the arena and one that lives in the boarders the tack room, so if I ever need a step stool I know exactly where to find one. Also, if you are running out of space in your barn for everything to have its own home, rethink if it qualifies as something that is the best, favourite or necessary.
Tip #3 Labels are your best friend
For those who have been to my barn, you will know how much I love labels. Labels make everything so much easier, as it frees up some of our mental capacity. When you store off season items or items that aren’t used on a daily basis in bins, label what the bins contain so that when you actually need to find something in the bins it makes your job much easier. At my barn, I label off season bins (as in which blankets etc. are in each bin), but I also label my boarders grain bins and blanket racks. That way it makes it super easy for me to remember which feed/blanket belongs to each horse, as I don’t want to ever feed a horse the wrong grain or put someone else’s blanket on the wrong horse. Even if it just you in your barn, by putting labels on things it will make your life easier and the life of all those who ever help you out with your horses easier too.
Tip #4 Keep well used things in easy to reach places
I wanted to mention this tip quick because it can save you so much time. When you save time getting things or looking for things, it means that you will have more free time to spend with your horse. So, when you are finding a home for each item, try to keep the most well used items in the most convenient places. For example, in my barn for the horses that are kept indoors at night I keep the blankets that each horse is currently wearing (for either turnout or overnight in the stall) on a blanket rack on the front of each horse’s stall, that way it is super quick for me to grab the blankets every morning/evening when the blanket need to be put on/taken off.
Tip #5 Always put things back in their home and collaborate with/educate others
This tip is vital to keeping your barn organized. If you don’t put items back in their designated home, it completely defeats the purpose of them having a home to begin with. When you are done with something, put it back in its home. By collaborating with the other users of your barn for how things should be organized and educating them where things are to be kept from now on, you will maximize the benefits of your newly organized barn.
That’s all for today my friends! I hope you found these tips useful, and if you ever have any questions about this topic or about Timber Ridge Stables feel free to reach out! I would be happy to answer whatever questions you may have.
Rachel Sollid
Barn Manager, Instructor & Trainer
Timber Ridge Stables
780-965-1306
www.timberridgestables.com
rachel.timber.ridge@gmail.com
Find us on Facebook and Instagram @timber.ridge.stables.AB
Thanks again Rachel! As always, if you have an idea for an interesting write up or want to be featured, contact me at hello@theyegequestrian.com