HI Spy: What item of tack or barn gear would you invent?

Life improved for stall-muckers everywhere with the invention of the lightweight manure fork. What invention would you create to revolutionize the horse world? Photo: Leslie Potter

As a horseperson, you’ve likely come to depend on certain items of tack or barn equipment. If you’ve ever mucked a stall with a heavy, metal shovel, you understand the beauty of lightweight manure forks. Battling moldy leather in a humid climate might lead you to celebrate synthetic tack. For those in the northern climates, what could be better than heated buckets to keep your horse’s water in a liquid state through the coldest nights?

Riding and horsekeeping have come a long way since the dawn of equine domestication, but there are still headaches that all riders and horse owners deal with every day. If you could invent one item to make your life as a rider or horse caretaker better, what would it be? It doesn’t even have to be completely realistic. Use your imagination, and come up with the horse world’s next must-have product.

Get Our Free Weekly Enewsletter About Horses

Share your invention by clicking “Submit a Comment” below. Some responses may be selected for publication in a future issue of Horse Illustrated!

One selected response may be selected by the editors to win a monthly prize! If you would like to be eligible for the prize, please include your email address in the comment form (email addresses are not publicly displayed.)

See all HI Spy questions >>

13 years ago

Next America's Favorite Trail Horse »

Previous « Courtney King Dye's Riders4Helmets Safety Symposium video address

View Comments

Sierra Grace says:
August 1, 2011 at 9:11 am
I would invent a clone of me (I know this sounds funny) so I could always be with my horse! Then I could always hang out with my baby and love him that much more!
india says:
August 1, 2011 at 1:04 pm
WELL,I WOULD ENVENT A HUMMENE TO HORSE COMUNATER SO I COULD ASK GINGER IS THAT TO TIT? DOES THAT HURT? OR IS THAT ENGOUGH SHAVINGS?
Mindy says:
August 1, 2011 at 7:37 pm
My horse wears special shoes for navicular disease, and when it's muddy, the mud sticks to his shoes terribly. The mud on his shoes makes it harder for him to walk. So, I would invent some type of magic shoe cleaner, kind of like a windshield wiper to wipe all the mud, manure, and other debris off the bottom of his shoes!!
Rheanna says:
August 2, 2011 at 2:31 pm
I would invent new, effective training methods and market them:)
Isabelle says:
August 2, 2011 at 4:00 pm
I think mucking stalls is lots of fun,but sometimes it can get a bit tedious bringing the wheelbarrel up and down.So I would invent a lever that you would pull so that all the shavings would come down and all I would have to do would be spread out the shavings.
Kaylen says:
August 2, 2011 at 4:32 pm
I would invent a way to teach people to enjoy horses truely, not just to use them as a business, but to love them as a part of the family, or as a best friend. I would use it to help parents and their kids to come together through horses and to keep families from fighting or breaking apart over them.
Katie says:
August 2, 2011 at 6:08 pm
I guess if I could invent something it would be something useful like a tool to clean hair and mud out of brushes during shedding season; and leaving them looking like new.
Abigail says:
August 3, 2011 at 7:48 am
I know exactly what I would invent! Do you ever get an itch under your helmet, and you try everything short of taking off the whole helmet and hairnet, and you just cannot itch it? Well, I would invent a type of helmet where the top opens so you can scratch your head. But somehow it wouldn't look bulky or ugly, just like a normal helmet. That would make my life so much easier. I'm always on the hunt field or at a show hitting the top of my head, trying to itch it, and making people look at me like I'm insane.
buddy says:
August 3, 2011 at 8:05 am
I would invent an automatic horse poop scooper!
calissa says:
August 3, 2011 at 10:49 am
i do a lot of jumping and always want to be on time,so i would invent a watch with a tape measure built into it so me or my trainer wanted to know how hi i jumped that day.All you would do is pull the measuring tape out and measure away!!!