Eco Friendly Tips For Your Local Horse & Pony Stables
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It’s not just your home that can be green this spring – your pony can too!
In case you were wanting to spend every sunny day this month at your local yard – here are some eco friendly tips to share with your friends there – and maybe they can let you know some of theirs!
So, here are 10 simple tips for a greener stable. Some will save you money (and resources) on replacement items and other handy tips for making green products:
1) Don’t Lose It- Tie some brightly colored fibres or an old pink shoelace to your hoof-pick to avoid losing it in your bedding or long grass! And this will save you valuable time.
2) Reuse It – Make yourself a replacement food scoop out of an old drinks bottle, by diagonally cutting off the bottom and using the ‘neck’ as the handle. Taking the lid off will allow you to use it as a funnel as well.
3) Replace It – Use your old washing up bowl for handy things around the yard; food bowl, saddle soap dish or even pony toy for the field! The same obviously goes for a few other household items and it saves throwing unwanted plastic out.
4) Keep It’s Shape – Use the lid of your old saddle soap tins as bridle hooks – to help them keep their shape while hanging on the stable wall waiting for the next ride!
5) But Before That – Save up all the leftover bits of saddle soap you can’t use properly in the past few tins, then gently heat them into a joint splodge – and they are saved! Much easier to use as one great big lump!
6) Bags Of Poo – Bag up your old horse droppings after they have been on the muck heap for a while and sell them to local gardeners or allotments. Keep it low on straw and other bedding though for the best price.
7) Bags Of Hay- Rather than buy new haynets – why not make your own out of baler twine from the hay bales. A net of about 24 twines is enough – and the smaller the holes, the slower the horse can eat from it.
8.) Spare Twine – If you need a new lead rope for the yard, why waste the clip? Just plait up some baler twine and just tie it to the old clip. Valuable metal will be saved!
9) Save Washing- If you use black or brown jodhpurs for everyday use, you won’t need to wash them so often – therefore saving water, suds and no doubt extending the life of the trousers.
10) A New Rug – If that old sleeping bag of yours is no longer needed – why not make it into a horse rug with just a bit of your handiwork! Cut out the neck section and tie on some chest straps!
Hope these have been of some help – and maybe they have made you think of something else too!
Let us know if you have a great tip for the yard – and if your friends don’t want to save their old saddle soap or lead rope clips – then make sure you let them know you will find them a new home!
It sounds like it’s just saving money – but it really is saving resources and reducing waste.