Make My Horse Life Easier Tip #11

Clamps!  Also known as grip clips, depending on the brand.

I love these things.  These are the kind that screw into the wall and grip the handles of things, thus holding them in place so they don't fall over.  I have them in my garage (broom, rake, spade), in my mudroom closet (broom, mop, etc), and in my barn (manure forks, brooms, etc.).  It's the barn application that I'm going to talk about here.

I could, and did for more than a year, just lean my barn cleaning tools against the wall.  That costs zero money to do and keeps things relatively orderly and upright.

Relatively.  

Which, over time, was not satisfying enough in the neatness or efficiency departments for me.  So in 2025 I took the clamps I had on hand that I'd originally bought for using in my garden shed (and hadn't yet because that project is still unfinishined, DH having lost interest and forgotten about completeing the little details once the walls, roof and doors were assembled together) and installed them in the barn.

I did use two different sizes, the large and medium, if I remember right, depending on how thick of a handle particular things had.

manure forks (and in the bottom right you can see the head of the extension duster)

the old broom I use for 'sweeping' up the saturated bedding in the pee spot(s) in stalls

There are still a few things, like the scoop shovel I use for wet bedding, and as a dust pan when sweeping the aisle, that get propped against the wall because their handles are super thick and I don't have a big enough clamp, but most items are hung and held in place with the clamps.

So now instead of everything being two or three tools deep and having to daily shuffle things to get to other things, and quite often having something get knocked over or tripped on, I have neatness and ease:

ah, tools neatly hung

It's so much more efficient, and satisfying, to have all the handles in a single layer and be able to quickly grab just the tool I want rather than shuffling through them all leaned against the wall .  These clips/clamps are another example of those little things that don't cost much at all but make life so much better.