KonMari my tack trunk!

It's kinda amazing to me how much stuff we equestrians accumulate over time. The volume alone is absurd. Then you spread it around between various closets at home, the backseat or trunk of your car, the trailer, and your tack trunk at the barn (plus god knows whatever other storage there is... garages, attics, basements, what have you).

roller ball spurs that i bought and literally never used

It adds up quickly, almost without us ever really realizing it. For me, personally, the accumulation is all the more curious bc... uh, I only just bought my first own personal pony two years ago. So tell my why most of the stuff pictured in this post predates the horse?!?

why do i have so many nosebands tho????

I mean, obviously a lot of it was for Isabel, too. She totally counts. Although some of it also predates her, to be honest, but oh well.

and like... why so many spare flash straps? how did i not know that i had them before going out and buying moar??

There's so much stuff of varying sizes too. Like I guess I never wanted to get rid of anything bc who could know what my "future horse" would wear size-wise? And so I collected and collected. Really, it's kinda obscene.

the consignment shop was happy to take these, meanwhile i wasn't sure people even wore non-zipper tall boots anymore...

Lately tho, I've been hearing a ton about the new reality TV show "Tidying Up" with Marie Kondo. Whose ultimate mantra is that we should keep what sparks joy, and let go of the rest.

spare halter breakaway

It was kinda a tantalizing thought, tbh, haha. Was my massive collection of dusty musty moldy tack really truly bringing me joy? Every time I had to fight to shove my saddle onto its rack beyond all those extra boots and bridles.... was that really a joyful feeling?

one of many girths, and a whole bunch of narrow gullet plates bc of that one saddle fitter years ago who wanted everything in a narrow...

Plus, combined with my new zeal for budgeting ahead of a year that will be more expensive than in the past (if all goes to plan, at least)... Well. It got me thinking whether some of this crazy stockpile of equipment might actually spark more joy if I could transform or otherwise convert it into a couple greenbacks.

speaking of adjustable gullet plates..... my Bates dressage saddle is officially for sale

And so. Spring cleaning came early to 'Fraidy Cat Eventing haha!

it served me well over the years, i'll be sad(happy) to see it find a new home!

I went through all my little caches of horsey paraphernalia and pulled out all the stuff that I simply am not using. Much of which hasn't been touched in maybe years. All those spare nosebands. The old pair of fillis irons that were replaced by newer hi-tech gear... All those various styles of spur that I bought, when all I actually wear in reality are my tiny tom thumb nudgers.

comes with medium (black) gullet plate

It all had to go.

adjustable point billets + nice thigh block that won't push you around too much

I spent a couple hours over last week and weekend just sorting through the stuff and cleaning it all up. Then made a couple trips up to my local consignment shop at Maryland Saddlery to list everything with them.

anybody wanty? asking $800, all reasonable offers considered. email fraidycat.eventing at gmail ;)

I thought about offering it all here, but the idea of trying to figure out pricing plus shipping, and then making any trips to the post office.... Honestly that idea was kinda daunting and overwhelming to me. And possibly was why it had taken me so long to get around to organizing all this stuff anyway.

moar stuff for consignment tho.... they didn't accept that bonnet bc of the sun bleaching so i guess that's up for grabs too haha

Really, I just needed an escape. An immediate "eject" button. A way to quickly just jettison it all. And so off to consignment it all went.

why do i have so many spurs? and it's time to stop holding on to all these bits i'm never gonna use on chuck

Admittedly I made one feeble attempt to list those roller ball spurs on Facebook, but idk if it's my #cavetroll or #socialmedialessemma status or what but the post was immediately flagged as not in compliance with FB policies so I tossed that idea too haha.

oh hey look, here's more strap goods that make complete bridles with all those earlier nosebands!

We'll see if any of it sells at consignment over the next couple months. If not I'll probably pick at least some of it back up again (they donate unsold items to a therapeutic riding center, so I could just let nature take its course) and try other channels.

so. many. girths. why.

In the meantime, tho, it feels flipping fantastic to have shed so much figurative (and literal! those fillis irons and gullet plates especially were heavy!) weight.

that figure 8 tho.... well... 

And maybe if I'm really lucky, eventually all those odds and ends, bits and pieces, above will metamorphose into some new and desperately needed breeches haha.

maybe i'll hold on to this one for now ;)

The only thing that didn't go to the consignors is the Bates dressage saddle above. Hit me up if you're interested in any details on that saddle. It's a nice hunk of leather and has fit a wide variety of horses. Asking $800 but open to offers.

And who knows, maybe more stuff will get purged soon too. Bc god it feels good haha. Maybe KonMari is really onto something with the whole "keep only what sparks joy" idea. It's kinda invigorating to let this stuff go!!

Did you watch the show? Has it inspired you to take a fresh look at all your stuff? Are you like me in stockpiling all manner of horsey equipment on the off chance that "I might need this later!"?? Or are you really good at moving stuff out as soon as it's not useful to you?