Stable management isn’t just scooping manure, bailing hay, grooming, and riding. Life with horses is not just a hobby, it's a lifestyle and there’s so much more to it than one thinks. Here’s 3 simple new year’s resolution ideas to help you improve your management and provide a stable life (pun intended) for you and your horses.

  1. Make a routine and stick with it.  The first step to organizing your stable it to know what’s in it. Take an inventory of what's on hand. It only takes 21 days to form a habit so start now and be well on your way to organization by the middle of February! Create a spreadsheet that lists all equipment, notable repairs and scheduled maintenance. Likewise, use the same methodology to track when fence/stall/premises repairs and inspections should take place. A small amount of effort now and keeping up with your notes weekly will help keep your stable running like a well oiled machine throughout 2016!
  2. Keep stable fresh and clean. No one likes a messy barn BUT more importantly, it's unhealthy and BO (barn odor) invites flies to come hang out in your stable. Improve your horses health and well-being with daily stall mucking and proper disposal. Eliminate ammonia in stalls by using Bye Bye Odor. In addition to your routine stall cleaning, clean up your feed room floor and barn aisles at least several times per week. Cleanliness and sanitation will help limit the number of rodents and pests that inhabit your stable. Removing cobwebs, hay and other debris will decrease fire hazards. Fight flies effectively in 2016 by stopping them before they start with Fly Predators. Manage the misc few other flies that might be coming from your neighbors or brought onto your property by incoming guest horses with Fly Traps. 
  3. Plan down time. As in all things with life there can be too much of a good thing and, while it's truly hard to believe, the same goes for horses and stable time. If you work at your stable full time, do simple things for yourself daily like coming home, then visiting with family, playing with the dogs, going for a walk, do yoga or stretch for 10 minutes, meditate, “zoning out” in front of the tv, reading a good book but no stable paperwork, no horse magazines, just time to let your body and mind relax from farm chores. As I've said, horses are not a hobby, they are a lifestyle so whether you work with them full time, or not, still give yourself something else to do to have a little horsey downtime so you're ever excited to peek back outside at those adorable faces poking out of your stall doors.

Make those resolutions now, stick with them, and enjoy your wonderful horsey life!