Tack Minimalist?

There always seems to be a lot of discussion about Tack-Ho addictions in the blogosphere. This is not one of those posts.

I have been getting rid of horse/barn related things, including tack! Now calm yourself down. I know this is a strange new concept to anyone who owns a horse. No, I am not sick. I'm not depressed. In fact, I think for the first time in years I am starting to feel like I am myself again.

As an adult, I have always been more of a minimalist by nature, than a collector. It always perplexed me why people complained so much about moving. I could quite literally put everything I own in my car and move house in a matter of hours. I never thought about this before. It is just how I was, and since it caused me absolutely no issues I had no reason to ever think about it. I just continued to happily move whenever roommates got annoying or I decided to up and move across the country or overseas.

Then, ten years ago I met Hubs. Then I bought a condo. When I moved into my place, I realized I owned nothing but clothes and a few things in storage tubs. I furnished the condo. I became tied down by a mortgage. I obtained stuff. I bought Rose and obtained a lot of horse stuff. She was always growing, so I collected horse stuff in all sizes. Then I got married to Hubs and moved in to his house. Hubs has never been a minimalist. Now there was a lot of stuff, but I still didn't think much of it. Then we had JR, and good lord the amount of baby stuff that abruptly exploded into our lives was insane. Then we sold Hub's house and moved to our current house in the country.

WE MOVED

There was so much stuff to move! Now I understood why people complained about it. I immediately started getting rid of things while packing. Getting rid of my stuff was easy. Hubs? Not so much. He was definitely more attached to random things than I have ever been. Fair enough. I'm not out to force anyone to live with just a pair of undies and a toothbrush. I packed all the stuff he thought we needed into boxes, and after the move, I never unpacked them.

A year later all that stuff was still sitting in boxes. Unused. Unnecessary. Unneeded in our lives. I started with the baby stuff, and my own stuff. Weekly, items were sold on Craigslist, baby hand me downs went off to friends, loads of donations were dropped off at Goodwill, and then of course some stuff went to the dump. It has been liberating. Surprisingly, Hubs suddenly got on board with the notion too. After realizing he lived a year without all the stuff in the boxes that I never unpacked, he was willing to let most of it go. It was a cathartic moment!

Then I turned my attention to the barn. I had about five different high quality dressage girths that don't fit Gentry sitting in tubs, some random bits, and a lot of other random things I never use and likely won't for a long time. I had nice breeches (immediate post-pregnant sized) that no longer fit, some old show clothes, etc. There was no reason to keep these things around. I never use them and it is highly unlikely that I will need any of these items within the next year. That being my requirement to keep anything, I took the horse stuff to our local tack store, Four Corner's Saddlery, and listed them on consignment. Quick as a whistle they sold and I had a lovely amount of store credit that I could spend on a new Show Coat, or whatever else I actually need in Gentry size.

It is so liberating to only have to see, clean, store and enjoy the tack that I actually use. So I may be a freak of nature in the horse world, but if you ever feel overwhelmed looking at your vast quantity of unused horse stuff, I welcome you to join me as a Tack Minimalist!