Interesting New Horse Products

I am always curious to see what new inventions clever people have come up with to solve various horse / riding / farm problems.  Heck, for that matter, I also like to look up old patents to see what sorts of clever ideas people had a couple hundred years ago.

At any rate, I recently came across this website. They have a couple products that I found interesting and may want to try.  The first being, these Velcro gloves and reins combo.  I have sometimes found myself with wet or sweaty hands and reins, and feel like I am trying to hold onto a pair of eels.  Royal pain in the butt!  Anyway, this is what the product looks like:

Thoughts?  I will update this post as I come across more fun stuff!

Bombproofing Ideas and Fun things

So I recently went on a buying spree for items to use in my de-spooking and bombproofing work on my young horse who developed an over-active startle reflex. (Is that a thing?  I think I just invented it! As in, "Oh no sir, he ain't spooky, he just has a light case of OASR.")  

At any rate, he had a few experiences that made him much more jumpy than his actual personality should warrant.  For example, I wear an air vest.  One day while riding with friends, I unthinkingly jumped off my horse (Atticus) to pick up a dropped whip. I totally forgot about my vest, and it inflated with a bang.  The youngster shied sideways at the sound, and his rider came off, which further frightened him into believing the world was ending.  For several rides afterwards, whenever I would dismount Atticus, the youngster would tremble, ready to take off. Had I not witnessed the precipitating event, I might have had no idea why he seemed to have such a strange phobia, but there you go. 

Anyway, I reviewed some of my prior horse training notes and did a little internet research, and found the best thing for him was showing him "scary" things, and convincing him to trust his handler or rider, and that way his reaction time would become shorter and shorter to new and frightening stimuli.  So here are some of the fun things I got:

Party noisemakers - These fun little mechanical things that twirl around on a stick, and actually do have slightly different sounds. Cheap and portable.

Little colorful wind spinner thingies...  So far I have just sort of waved these around, but I think maybe I need to drill some extra holes in a jump standard and have them poking out all over. 

                                   

Bizarre barking dog toy - This thing is also supposed to jump around, but mine didn't do a lot of jumping... it more sort of buzzed or vibrated (hmmm).  Otherwise, it is motion and sound activated, so my idea was to build a small, low sided plywood box to place it in, and have the horses have to approach it and then walk past it.  Sadly (or perhaps happily) my friend's 6 month old puppy fell in love with it, so I gifted it away.  Still a great idea, though! 

Bumble Ball  - Another toy to sit in the low plywood box. (Actually, I found something that would probably work better than the box that you can also order on Amazon!  Try this dog crate tray. You're welcome).   Makes super erratic, jumpy movements, sure to scare the Bejeezus out of any horse! Apparently more or less the same as the Chuckle Ball, but a little smaller.  Take your pick, I suppose.  

More favorite products and cool things for farm use

Alcohol wipes For cleaning off cell phone and tablet screens, wiping down general sticky gunk from surfaces. I have always carried a few in my purse and now habitually use them to clean phone screens and my car display screen.  Funnily enough, I just recently saw them marketed (for quite the markup) as "electronic device cleaning pads". Guess somebody stole my idea! 

Game sled for dragging hay bales and mucking stalls. I actually bought this sled to use on my small farm to drag hay bales in behind my tractor.  It works much better than I expected, and I plan to buy another!  Even though I don't use it on snow, but over a rocky driveway, it has held up amazingly well, and allows me (an average size woman) to easily transport 2 bales of hay down the hill to the horses.  I can drag it by hand, or with the tractor or truck.  Excellent item!  The bottom is now beginning to be a bit abraded, so I will look for some sort of reinforcement for it, but after a couple years over rocks, no surprise!

Hoof Rasp (Heller) - I frequently rasp my horses' hooves between farrier visits to keep them from chipping and cracking.  The difference a new, sharp, quality rasp makes is amazing!  Literally a few swipes, and boom, you're done!  I had purchased a different brand new rasp last time, and I may as well have been using a cheese grater for all the effect it had.  Just one note... when using this, wear heavy leather gloves!  It will shave the skin off your hand before you feel a thing, and it's very easy to do.  Excellent product. 

Mesh Laundry Bags - These things are super handy for washing stuff like polo wraps and leg bandages.  Also useful for washing tack cleaning rags, tack sponges, and the like.  I also use them for washing my makeup sponges and powder puffs and all my million hair scrunchies. 

Of course, I would wash dirty rags and anything that might have horse poopies completely separate from all other laundry!! In fact, if a saddle pad or something is really dirty, I normally hose it off and do a first wash in a large muck bucket outside before putting it in the actual washing machine.  Sadly, I do not have the luxury of a separate barn washer and dryer, although those that have them are lucky!

Handy Craft and Tool Items for Farm Projects

So, I consider myself quite the DIYer, able to MacGyver just about anything in a pinch. (BTW, did you know that "MacGyver" is now a recognized verb in the Oxford Dictionary?!)  Over the years, there are a number of products that I have found to be very useful for various things around the farm. I am sure there are quite a few more that I will come across and want to write about, but without further ado, here is a list of some of my top clever ideas with useful products:

Shrink wrap bags - for covering labels on bottles of fly spray, coat polish, hoof oil, etc. Also for long-term storage of things that must stay dry, such as medications and bandages.  You can sort of DIY your own first aid kit this way.

Shrink tubing made for wire - to use as agulets (those are the plastic things on the ends of your shoe laces) and to seal the ends of rope and string... frequently rope / string ends that I have crafted into halters or lead ropes.  Also good for covering sharp points sticking out (e.g. nail to hold tools). Also to replace lost keepers on bridles and other tack.

And of course, in order to shrink the above two products, one needs to buy a heat gun.

Electrical tape - wrap ends of rope after knots, replacement keepers. Comes in fun colors, like brown to match your leather! Oh yes, and it's the best thing to hold pasture braids in place... it actually comes off very easily, and doesn't damage the mane or tail hair. If you give lessons, it's very hand to use to mark where your student needs to hold the reins. I also use the white or brown colors as to secure the loose ends of electric fence tape. You can also use the brown to make replacement leather keepers for bridles and halters.

Shrinky Dinks / Shrink Plastic - for halter / bridle tags.  Also tags in tack room.

Dremel Tool - Clean rust off metal buckles, conchos, etc. Use soft brush to clean leather crevices, use the grindstone to sharpen tools.  I also frequently use the sanding attachment to trim the dog's nails... sort of like the tool advertised for pets, but more powerful. The one I have linked here is cordless, which makes it handy to use down around the farm.  

One of the uses I had for mine was sanding off the rust on my electric fence gate connectors that hadn't been used in a long time, so the electrical connection is good.

I would love to hear about clever hacks, tips, and tricks that others have tried or use.  I sometimes seem to come across something in a horse forum, or perhaps on Pinterest, but other than that, there doesn't seem to be any one website or location to find these things.  So if you have something nifty and clever to add, please let me know in the comments!

As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases. However, anything I write about is a product that I really do personally endorse.  

Tracker for elderly or sick pets

I designed this dry-erase board to help me keep track of Zoey's medications, bowel movements, and feedings. Between my SO and I, it can be hard to know when she ate and when she took certain meds.  I found this super helpful, so now I am selling the design if anyone else can benefit.  

I also welcome any suggestions for improvement!

Pet tracker

So after the popularity of this design, I went ahead and made another one that I myself use in the stable to keep track of my horse care, vet visits, deworming, and so forth.  Here it is if you would like one as well, for yourself or a gift!

horse care tracker

A few more products created for the horsey set...

Which design do you prefer? A nice english trotting horse throw pillow and equestrian clock... horse pillow 

Elegant old fashioned horses equestrian clock
by OrchardCreek