KJeqCreations sells wooden tack trunks for $350 on Etsy. Photo courtesy of KJeqCreations.
One of the most expensive but great tools a horse owner needs (and wants!) is a tack box. Now, not all of us can afford the $600 tack trunk advertised on websites, but we need somewhere decent to keep our 239,872,640 brushes, vet wraps, and miscellaneous horse tools we all seem to collect! Don’t worry, there are many money saving options for us! I’ll start with the cheapest and work my way up in price.
Check out what you might already have. There could be an old trunk hidden in your very own attic. This is free and would be perfect for any struggling horse owner. Just the other day I went rummaging in my attic and found an old trunk I had never seen before. You never know what you can find in your own house. You can also ask around to family and friends and see what they have!
Scope out your local thrift store or garage sales. You’d be surprise at what you can find in Goodwill or garage sales that cost next to nothing and can be great horse tools. Check your local paper for upcoming garage sales, grab a friend, and go hunt! It never hurts to try!
The ever popular storage container. You can find these at Walmart or Home Depot anywhere from $15-$25 depending on the size you want. These might not be the fanciest tack boxes but they do the job and you can always paint them or decorate to your liking! Start here and maybe save up for a nicer one in the future. I use one as my horse show tack box so that I don’t spend a lot on two separate nice tack trunks!
The hardware store tool box. These can be found at Home Depot or Lowe’s for many different prices (usually from $40-$90). There are many sizes, shapes, and features such as locks, wheels, handles, etc. They function just as well (if not better) than some of the fancy wood tack trunks and cut down on your costs by a lot. The ones with wheels are handles are super portable and much easier to lug around shows, your barn, or anywhere else you might want to take it.
Make your own. If you or someone you know is good with woodwork, then fantastic! Go buy the materials and build one as fancy or as simple as you want. For those of us that have no idea what we’re doing, you can either find a wood shop and talk to the people working there to see how much it would be to build one for you (they are usually around $200-$250), or you can use Elite Tack Design, which sells you plans and step by step instructions on how to make your own tack trunk. The instructions are cheap (about $30) and they tell you exact materials and sizes you need for everything. To save on material costs, use reclaimed wood or wood from pallets (many hardware stores give those away for free!).
Find them on non-horse websites. Etsy and Ebay have a wide range of new and used tack trunks you can buy. They range anywhere from $250-$500 which can be pricey for some of us, but one of the best parts is that a lot of them are unique and handmade, so you’ll have a trunk that will stand out from the rest. You can also e-mail the sellers and see what you can do to cut down costs. I’ve emailed eBay sellers before and asked if their item doesn’t sell within its posted time, could I buy it for a discount? Most of them have said yes because they want to get rid of their item and don’t feel like posting it again and waiting around. It’s worth a shot.
Hopefully these tack trunk tips help some of you horse crazy, money spending, ramen noodle eating riders like me! Keep coming back to the site for more money saving tips and sign up on our e-mail list to receive the latest updates as well as major sales and best deals going around in the horse world.
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