One great way to promote sustainability and reduce waste is to recycle and reuse items. At Paladin Equestrian, we achieve this by using recycled plastic bottles and bamboo pulp to craft our saddle pads. You can help out by saying “no” to the bin and repurposing your old, worn-out horse equipment instead. Dress up your home or yard while simultaneously fighting against climate change!
Here are a few creative ways to give your aging, broken, rusty equipment a new life:
1. Turn your old muck buckets, troughs, and water buckets into planters.
Fill containers like these with dirt and plant whatever you like in them. Vegetables, flowers, herbs, the sky’s the limit. These planters add a beautiful, rustic touch to your
garden, either at your yard or at home. You don’t have to worry if there are holes in the bottom of your trough or bucket, these are perfect for drainage!
2. Make a hanging decoration from a horseshoe.
If you’ve got a knack for arts and crafts, this is the perfect way for you to reuse horseshoes! Let your inner creative out and make a cute decoration to hang up in your
house. You could wrap the sides in jute or ribbon, bedazzle it with jewels, or dangle beads or charms in the middle to jazz it up. You could even glue a picture to the back of the shoe to create a homemade picture frame!
3. Use an old headcollar to make a hanging flower pot.
Hanging headcollar flower planters are a unique way to dress up your yard. Making one requires finding a flower pot that fits in the noseband of the headcollar, which can be tricky. But, most headcollars are adjustable so you might have a pot laying around that would work. Otherwise, you could buy one second-hand that fits your halter.
4. Transform a curb bit into a toilet paper holder.
Have an old shanked Pelham or western curb laying around? Repurpose it for your bathroom! Place a long bolt through the rein rings and then secure it with a nut. This
acts as the bar that holds the toilet paper. This is a fun way to incorporate your love
for horses into your home’s interior design.
5. Repurpose old saddle pads as pet beds.
Our Paladin saddle pads are made from very heard wearing and sustainable materials so will have a long life but when you no longer using one of your saddle pads what do you do with them? Give it to your pets! They love the thick, soft padding for their beds. If you don’t have a dog or cat, look into donating your used saddle pads to a local animal shelter or humane society. Some shelters accept them as donations and will be very appreciative!
Conclusion
Practice sustainability by upcycling your old tack and equipment instead of throwing it in the bin. Use this list of ideas as inspiration for your next crafting adventure. You can fully deck out your house or yard with horse-themed décor made from repurposed tack. Get creative and have fun with it!