First, purge the hats and gloves that you don't use. Then mount a hanging shoe organizer inside the closet door and place the remaining ones in the cubbies.

This one is by Rubbermaid:

{{!gwi}}

Thanks graywings - after I posted I thought about on of those, but the "horse closet" has smaller french type doors. I guess I could cut the organizer to fit the size of the door. I really don't have any that I can toss - I do use them all, I normally use 2 pair a day. Typically they get wet when I fill the water buckets - so I have to hang them in the laundry room to dry then use another pair or so. End of the week, they all get washed.

But, I am going to try your suggestion for both my everyday hats/gloves and my horse stuff. Rather than having the hangers over the door, I may try to use the 3M command hooks so you can't see the hangers from the outside of the door.

Many Thanks

I have on its own hanger a storage item that has openings on each side. All of our knit hats and all gloves/mitts go in the openings.
Jeannie, OT, but could you wear rubber gloves over your wool ones when you fill the water buckets?

I keep the gloves in the pockets of the coat they go with, except for the ski gloves, which are on a hook, and aren't something I'm going to need as I'm rushing out the door on the way to work.

For the horse gloves, I think Target has a hanging shoe organizer (like to hang on the rod, not the door) in the $1 section right now.

I have cut down shoe-pocket organizers and stapled them to the sides of bookshelves, to the backs of doors, etc.

I also have extra-thick doors, and the over-the-door brackets are the wrong size. (Plus, I don't want them damaging the doors, nor do I want to look at them.) I ran heavy twill tape through the holes on the shoe organizer and staple-gunned the twill tape to the top edge of the door. Worked a treat!

You can also get "hanging shelves" for closets--canvas cubbies that hang from the curtain rod. If you have room among the coats.

They can be sort of wide, if they're intended for sweaters.

They are sometimes intended for shoes, which would narrower. This one is 5.5" wide.
http://www.stacksandstacks.com/juvenile-aquarium-pattern-open-front-shoe-organizer

This one's taller, but 8" wide
http://www.stacksandstacks.com/ten-pocket-organizer-by-household-essentials

This one has a combination of pocket sizes
http://www.stacksandstacks.com/shoe-and-sweater-organizer-by-household-essentials

And if you go through lots of gloves, you could put several pairs in a single cubby, and just grab the one in front.

Here is a link that might be useful: This one from Target is only 5 inches wide!, has 10 pockets

I use the shoe-pocket thing for good gloves and hats. I cut to whatever length suits the closet, wall space. For garden gloves, I use a lot of similar ones and I separate clean from dirty , and so I just rubber band pairs together after washing and put all in a basket in gardening closet. So you might think along lines of, for good things where you want to see brown gloves, black gloves, hat etc to match with outfits when leaving the house, use individual storage pocket system, and if some of your horsey items fall under multiples, and get used up and not put back in the same place (like having a drawer of dishcloths in the kitchen), then bulk storage makes more sense, or some variation on that, if you have a couple of types of items.

Thanks to these great idea, I am tackling our hats and gloves today. With nine people living here, there are soooooooooooo many!!!!!! Talley Sue, I have been getting great ideas from you for a decade or so! You know, I still think of you whenever I see a tall floor-to-ceiling shower caddy poles....

ha, ha! That's right, we've both been around a while, haven't we.

And the 9-foot shower caddy poles are easier to find than they used to be.

i bought a small chest of drawers to put near the door to put them in..works great

Well, I am going to try the shoe hanging orgainzer - I will just cut to fit the door.
I don't have room for a small chest near my door to the garage, I do have a small cabinet in the garage, but in the winter the gloves/hats will get cold.
My last house I had an open weave hanging container ( I think it was for clothes pins or something) but it was a pain to sort thru it.
I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF !!!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80107974/

What about this on a narrow shelf above the coat rack, nailing it to the wall upright? not sure about the depth and if they'd fall to the floor....

Is there room for this amongst the coats?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70115578/

http://www.target.com/p/Hanging-Storage-Lime/-/A-12835285#?lnk=sc_qi_detailimage

what about this with more structured space?

I have the hanging shoe organizer for our hats and gloves and it works great!
Kathy G in MI

I found a hanging shoe bag like the one pictured above at a thrift store for $1.99! I installed it on the back of my coat closet. IT WORKS GREAT!!! Thanks for the idea.