Ode To Wheelbarrow

As equestrians I think we can all relate to getting excited about small things that your average non horsey friend would simply not get. I had one of those moments at my last horse show.

I have been dragging a stupid bucket back and forth to my stall and muck piles all year. That is approximately 7 horse shows spanning about 3 days a piece on average. Annie is probably one of the most disgusting stall dwellers in existence. I kid you not.

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don’t trust the innocent face

She seriously takes the cake on messiest stall in history. I have to pick it out like 5 times a day to keep the piles out so she doesn’t ground them into the ground. Not only does this mean a lot of shavings but it means a bunch of trips to my stall dragging the damn muck tub. Approx 10-15 per horse show or 70 trips min this year. Not that I did the math or anything.

When I got to Feather Creek last month I decided enough was enough. It was time to give up the dang tub and invest in a wheelbarrow. Having never needed to buy one before I had literally no idea how much they cost. Some of you might be thinking well what about those carts they make. Well those suckers are somewhere between $45-$65 depending on the retailer. WHY?! So total investment including the tub itself is somewhere between $50-$70 varying based on where you purchase and how much you shop around.If I knew that I could have spent $50 for a wheelbarrow at the beginning of the year I never would have waited this long. Why is it $50 buckaroos for something so simple I do not know. I knew I wanted the plastic handles but that’s about as far as I got. Saw what I wanted and bought it. I don’t know why I had it in my head that it would be more trouble than it was worth but its not. Best boring purchase ever.

happydancepetdetEnter the wheelbarrow. He is my new favorite horse show companion. Gone are the days of dragging that stupid tub, getting gross trying to pick it up, or storing it in my tack room. Sure the wheel barrow might take up more room but it fits fine in the bed of my truck or even in the front of the horse area of my trailer. Money well spent!

What are some small things that you have gotten ridiculously excited about? Surely I am not the only one 😉

21 comments

  1. Leah says:

    We have one of those big rubbermaid wheelbarrows for stalls at our barn… it was like $200 but worth every single penny… lol. I got super excited a few months ago when I found a rake on clearance for like $10, so now my aisle is always neatly raked 🙂 it’s the small things….

  2. emma says:

    haha omg i feel this post in my soul. i just made the move to order one of those muck cart things and am exciting on a level that i’m allllmost embarrassed to admit.

  3. LoveLaughRide says:

    I was so excited about my wheelbarrow (Ibought one of the big rubbermaid ones) that my graphic designer (non-horsey) friend made me a monogram for it. Apparently I talked about my wheelbarrow enough that she felt it needed to be personalized.

  4. Amanda says:

    I asked Rob to buy me the muck tub cart as a Christmas gift. He thought I was freaking insane. I made him put it together for me immediately after i unwrapped it, and I was SO EXCITED. He continues to think I am freaking insane. He was like “Of all the Christmas presents I ever thought I’d buy for a girlfriend…”. It’s still one of my favorite possessions though.

  5. Sarah says:

    I love wheelbarrows and I lasted a grand total of 1 day with my horses at home before I went out and bought a new one (my old one died and didn’t make the move). Muck tubs just aren’t the same (I also find that muck tubs (considering the cost…) crack and die WAY TOO QUICKLY and I’ve never had one live longer than a couple of months…). But, I find I need wheelbarrows with metal handles and flatproof tires. One of these days I want a rubbermaid one, but I’m way too cheap to spend $200 on a wheelbarrow when my $100 one works just as well.

  6. Sarah says:

    Since I own my own place, I have upgraded to a roll behind dump cart type when my last wheelbarrow died. Four wheels for the win! I’m a diva and can’t deal with a one wheeled wheelbarrow anyway, so the investment for the cart vs. 2 wheeled wheelbarrow was the same. 😉 My parents made us bust the ice in the water troughs for years when I was a kid. The year I went away to college and my dad watered for me during the week, I bought an element to heat the water for the horses. When I realized they were only $40 I about had a hissy fit and made him bust ice! hahah

  7. Stacie Seidman says:

    Brooms! I have rubber pavers, and if I don’t have the exact right broom, that floor is torture. TORTURE! Then, to make matters worse, my broom dealer (ok, ok it’s just a store) stopped carrying my brooms! OMG. Happy ending though, I found a restaurant site that sells them for half what I was paying to begin with. Yay!

  8. Appydoesdressage says:

    I got a muck tub and cart at the very last tack sale I went to in MI before my move. For $15. Yes I bought that thing and shoved it in my Civic coupe and drug it home. It now lives, cart collapsed, in my trailer 24×7. So worth it.

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