Evelyn Cutting was faced with less of a blank canvas and more of a hybrid mess when she undertook the remodeling of a tack room in a barn undergoing major renovations. “It was pretty much a leaking room with a door that didn’t entirely shut to the outside,” she said. “It was just full of stuff and random cabinets with dim lighting.”
The HorseGrooms and Instagrooms Tack Room Contest – Presented by SeBo.
Fast forward several months and the transformation was so successful that Cutting took home first place in HorseGrooms and Instagrooms Tack Room Contest – Presented by SeBo. “I definitely didn’t expect to win,” she said of the contest that was judged on Tack Room makeovers. “I entered more because the project had been such an undertaking – and I thought ‘Why not?’ It felt like something to celebrate.”
Barn manager Evelyn Cutting transformed a leaking room with a door that didn’t entirely shut into a prize winning tack room.
Finding a concept amid chaos
The barn that Cutting was working in when she undertook the work, housed nearly 20 horses and over time the ‘tack’ room had become a general purpose fallout space. A complete renovation of the entire barn, presented an opportunity for a whole new tack room. “It was really nice to have the chance to do this,” Cutting said. “Quite often you’re so busy that nobody has time to make changes – you just make it work.”
A Big Undertaking
Cutting drew from her experience working at other barns and seeing what worked best when space is limited and functionality paramount. “Cubbies seem great in theory,” she said. “But they take up so much room. When we removed them, we doubled the usable space. It was a big undertaking but I really wanted to maximize the space and take out all the stuff that was unnecessary.”
Functionality
Cutting started with the planning stage. “There was a lot of brainstorming back and forth,” she said. She worked with the crew and plotted a new layout giving consideration to how traffic moved through the barn and asking questions based on functionality – such as where would the boarders equipment go or the tack required for lessons – a space to hang blankets.
A Million Other Projects
They started work mid-January and had to juggle work on the tack room with all the other barn renovations – as well as keep a functioning multi-discipline equestrian facility. “There were a million other projects going on,” Cutting said. “We were also working in the winter and trying to stay indoors where it was warm.”
Training the workforce to improvise
She was very pleased with the decision to design handmade wooden saddle racks – basing them off samples she had found online. “The carpenters weren’t horse people,” she said. “So I showed them pictures. I’d draw pictures for them, and the racks were built so they wouldn’t dent the panels on English saddles. They came out beautifully.”
Shiplap
Shiplap was used along the back wall, which was in keeping with the style of the barn. It was a time-consuming decision. “The barn had shiplap in the back and I thought we had to keep the theme going,” said Cutting. “It takes a lot of time – to stain all the wood and cut all the pieces, but it was worth it for sure.”
A Tack Room Should Feel Comfortable
The shiplap enhanced the room’s aesthetics by brightening the space and climate control added to the comfort level. “If your tack room is dark and dingy, you don’t want to spend time in there,” said Cutting. “And a tack room should be not necessarily a social spot, but it should feel comfortable. I wanted it to be a space where people were like ‘Oh it’s nice in here. I can clean my tack in here and not feel like I’m in a shed’’. A place where you can cool off on a hot day or warm up for a moment in the cold.”
Grain storage had been a problem in the past. The new tack room provided a solution. “We designated an area to store grain. It’s all plugged up so you can’t get any rodents in there.”
Barn management was not the lifelong plan
Cutting grew up around horses – her mother trained ponies before she was born – but they had no horses at home and she was not immersed in the horse industry until later. She had been given an elderly Haflinger in her teens. “I was a kid with a horse and a lot of woods,” said the 23-year old. “We had a second-hand saddle, a halter and reins. We made it work. I learned a lot from that mare.”
Without a vocation set in stone, Cutting entered college only to have that plan ended with the pandemic. “Online school wasn’t my thing,” she said. “I was doing it, but I wasn’t thriving.”
Fulltime Position at Dressage Barn
She took time out and worked briefly in landscaping before a friend invited her to help at her barn. Stall picking and a bit of riding here and there led to a career choice when a full-time position opened up at a dressage barn. “For two years I did everything,” Cutting said. “Ordering hay and grain, scheduling the vet and the farrier, managing stalls, doing lessons, living on-site. It was a full immersion into how a professional barn really runs.”
Rhode Island
Cutting is no longer at the barn where the tack room renovation took place. She is preparing for her next chapter and a move to Rhode Island to be a caretaker at a horse property. “It’s a big move,” she said. “But I’m excited. The community there seems amazing and the owner is incredible.”
Her most recent job—the barn with the tack room project—broadened her skills further in a multidisciplinary environment. Now, she’s preparing for her next chapter: moving to Rhode Island to become a caretaker at a horse property.
Evelyn Cutting won the Grand Prize in the Tack Room Contest: A state of the art $1300 tack cart from SeBo Interior Equipage.
What it takes to be a Barn Manager
Being a Barn Manager requires a skillset – it is never one thing, Cutting knows. It requires logistics, caretaking, infrastructure oversight, communication, first aid and crisis management – among other unforeseen necessities. “Organization is huge,” Cutting said. “Everyone says it, but it’s true. It makes your life easier.”
Helping Each Other
Equally important is to build your own network – and discovering HorseGrooms has enhanced Cutting’s philosophy that helping each other in the horse world is key to success. “The horse community can seem intimidating from the outside,” she said. “But when you really start connecting with people – hay and grain suppliers, farriers, trainers, tack stores and owners – you realize how many genuinely good people are out there. We are all doing this for the horses and people are willing to help. None of us are in it for the money.”
Something That Matters
While the tack room was an unexpected win, it served to cement the path that Cutting has chosen. “I think I’ll stick with the horse world,” she said. “It’s where I’ve found my people and it’s where I feel like I’m doing something that matters.”
Read more here about SeBo Interior Equipage and their beautiful custom made tack rooms, or find more inspiration and practical tips for creating an organized, functional tack room.
- HorseGrooms x InstaGrooms Tack Room Contest, presented by SeBo Interior Equipage:
http://horsegrooms.com/horsegrooms-instagrooms-tack-room-contest-presented-by-sebo/ - Get tips from our Contest partner Instagrooms about how to organize your tack room when you’re on a budget (like most of us):
https://horsegrooms.com/a-fresh-tack-room-without-spending-a-dime/ - Back to school for your tack room: simple ways to reset and refresh:
https://horsegrooms.com/back-to-school-for-your-tack-room-simple-ways-to-reset-and-refresh/ - Clean space, clear mind: how tack room chaos can weigh you down:
https://horsegrooms.com/clean-space-clear-mind-how-tack-room-chaos-can-weigh-you-down/ - Learn from SeBo how to design your perfect tackroom:
https://horsegrooms.com/designing-the-perfect-tack-room-sebos-tips-for-every-stable/
Sarah Eakin has a long history of sports reporting and covering equestrian disciplines – particularly show jumping, polo, racing and dressage – for a range of international publications as writer and editor-in-chief. In 2024, Sarah launched Paper Horse – an online magazine with an eclectic mix of stories from the horse world at www.paperhorsemedia.com. Paper Horse is an official Media Partner of Wellington International. Sarah was born in England and came to the US in 1996 as Sidelines’ Polo Editor; at the time she was chief polo writer at the Horse and Hound and Polo Correspondent to The Daily Telegraph. She married US professional polo player Gary Eakin and stayed Stateside traveling throughout North America while covering equestrian events. She is also an author; Wed, White and Blue, her first novel is on Amazon.
