Tack & Farm
Our Tack & Farm section features an Apparel section to find both practical and fashionable riding attire. If you ride English & Western or Race, many sources are available in the Tack section.
Building a barn? Need an architect for your equine dream home? Find one in Barns & Stalls.
Have a hungry horse? Of course you do! Find a place to buy your feed and tuck your horse in at night in the Bedding & Feed section. Looking for a place to keep your horse? You can find it in the Horse Boarding section. Keep your horse happy and beautiful with resources in our Grooming section.
Traveling? Find a Shipping company or Horse Sitting service if your horse is staying home!
Running and maintaining a farm or stable is a continuous effort, and to help find products or tools you need, please see our Equipment, Fencing and Management Tools sections.
Seeking Services? Find financial and tax expertise in our Accounting section. Companies who will help protect your investment are found in the Insurance section. For those who want legal advice about purchasing, liability, and other issues, please look at the Equine Law section to find an expert. Build and promote your business with teams from Marketing / Videography / Web Design.
Do we need to add more? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!
by Lynn Ascrizzi
Smucker Harness is stitching its way to success by focusing on the carriage-driving market.
The pocket-sized community of Churchtown, Pennsylvania (pop. 484), is one of those places you might drive right by, in a wink. But there, set along Route 23, amid a smattering of local businesses, vintage and modern homes and picturesque farmland, is the neat-as-a-pin, busy workshop that is Smucker Harness Co.
The small business, which produces first-rate, custom-hand built, equestrian show and pleasure harness, is owned and operated by skilled leatherworker Daniel M. Smucker. His 3,000-square-foot workshop is situated on the first floor of a three-story, metal-roofed building. “We’re just outside of Narvon,” he said, of the much larger community that is also part of Lancaster County’s celebrated Amish country.
Smucker, 35, bought the small family business from his parents, Moses and Susie Smucker, in 2008. “It shows I could stand on my own,” he said, of the purchase he made when in his 20s. The business site “was originally a barn, but my dad converted the timber-frame building into a workshop. Most of the tools were purchased from Dad, when I purchased the building.”
The year that he shouldered the family enterprise also marked the beginning of the Great Recession. “We downsized pretty majorly. We started specializing in certain products. We decided to focus on carriage show harness and higher-end products,” he said.
by Nick Pernokas
The 16-year-old bronc rider limped to the fence. He exited the arena and headed over to the stripping chute, loosening his borrowed chaps as he walked. He collected his bareback rigging and returned the “community” chaps to his friend who was about to ride. He reflected on how much simpler life would be if he had his own pair. “I was ate up with wanting to rodeo,” remembers Joey Jemison.
Joey Jemison and his friends were familiar faces around the stockyards and they had endlessly studied the gear that shops like Fincher’s, Ryon’s, Leddy’s and L. White’s displayed. They knew that L. White Saddlery had the coolest chaps if you were a young rough stock rider.
The reason was that L. White’s had a talented young saddle maker, Jim Plant, working for them. Jim had also ridden rough stock, steer wrestled and roped. He had taken Joey under his wing, coaching him on all the rodeo events and encouraging him to enter all of the events at the high school rodeos.
In 1971, Joey was in his junior year in high school and needed to find a job that he could work two days a week to satisfy his “distributive education” requirements. He decided that he could kill two birds with one stone if he was able to get a job at L. White’s. At the very least he could probably work off a pair of chaps, and get to hang out with Jim.
Read more: Joey Jemison and the Legacy of the Fort Worth Cutting Saddle
by Lynn Ascrizzi
Virtually every day of the week, and even on Saturdays, you’ll find bootmaker Lee Miller leaning over a busy workbench in his Austin shop, Texas Traditions. He might be shaping toe boxes with a file, setting up lasts, sewing heel seats, drawing patterns or working at one of the hundreds of other operations that go into building custom cowboy boots.
Or, he might be coaching an apprentice on how to complete yet another intricate step in the craft, just the way he was once trained by legendary, fifth-generation boot master Charlie Dunn (1898 – 1993).
In 1977, when Miller first walked into Dunn’s workshop, what followed was a formative and turbulent, nine-year apprenticeship with the feisty, Texas bootmaker. Dunn was 79, at the time. Today, 41 years later, Miller is faithfully carrying forward his mentor’s legacy, and in that same location. Yet, he’s not one to put on airs, nor does he enjoy being called, as he has by some, “the greatest living bootmaker.”
“Well, I don’t pay attention to that. I consider myself a journeyman. I don’t call myself a master,” he said. “This is a journey I am on. I don’t think you ever master it. It’s just a title. It means you’ve been doing it a long time. Anybody who knows how to make shoes or boots knows there are different levels of ability. I don’t consider myself the greatest bootmaker in the world. I love what I do and always try to do better work.”
Read more: Austin Artisan, Custom Cowboy Bootmaker Lee Miller
by Nikki Alvin-Smith
If you are planning on building a horse barn this is the perfect time of year to make your purchase and get your order on the books. The decisions that you make in the planning stages will obviously directly impact the form, function and fit of the barn for your horse business or individual needs. So make the best decisions possible by ensuring those decisions are informed and realistic.
The romance of living with our equine partners is an attractive picture for many passionate horse owners. Heads up! The reality can be a bit different. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons that you should consider before decide to live with horses, literally.
Health and Hygiene
If you choose to construct an apartment for yourself, family or a groom or employee that is placed within the regular barn structure, either on the same level or above the horse stalls/tack room and storage areas then be cognizant that horses have other friends that like to come visit. The vermin population!
If you are not a Dr. Dolittle at heart, then the presence of noisy mice and rats that scratch away in the walls while you try to sleep, visit your kitchen countertops and quickly build their nests in your soft furnishings, may not be easy to live alongside. Sure, a hunting feline or two will help, but it may not solve the issue.
You can seal buildings to try and eradicate the issue, but the equine environment with its open doors, feed rooms and dry bedding will encourage vermin and other animals to investigate and take up residence. Possums, martens, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, and other critters may also make an unwanted appearance. While you can seal doors to the apartment space and keep them shut, it is hard to prevent the little mites from sneaking up walls and into tiny spaces.
by Linda Tellington-Jones
Renowned animal behaviorist Linda Tellington-Jones shares her recommendation for making time spent grooming a horse a quality experience that builds toward better health and improved performance…for you both.
Step 1 Gather your grooming tools. Final choices will vary depending on your horse’s sensitivity, so to save time, first lay them all out together to allow you the opportunity to test different brushes and find those your horse likes best. With the very sensitive and hyperreactive dressage horse in mind, I like to have a soft rubber mitt or gentle curry (Grooma. products work well), a sheepskin mitt, brushes of different degrees of softness and bristle type, a hairbrush, a bucket of hot water, and some clean towels. In addition, a Tellington Wand can provide a good introduction to the process and help ground your horse before you begin (see Step 4).
Step 2 Take your horse’s pulse and respiration before you begin.
Step 3 The ultimate goal is for your horse to enjoy being groomed enough to stand quietly without being tied or cross-tied. Initially you may need someone to hold him, as this process is most effective if you can use both hands on your horse’s body.
Step 4 Start by stroking your horse with a Wand (or standard white dressage whip—horses seem to respond very differently to white rather than black) all over his body. Stroke firmly to avoid tickling the horse—there should be a slight “flex” to the Wand as you move it against his body. Pay attention to the rhythm and quality of your breathing. Note how your horse is standing during this process: Is he in balance over all four feet? Is he fidgeting? Watch his eyes, ears, and skin—how do they look as the Wand moves?
by Bonnie Marlewski-Probert
The good news is that spring is just around the corner. For those of you who never thought winter would end, it is ending soon and now is the time to start thinking about getting yourself, your barn and your horse ready.
This is the time of year when so many horse owners incorrectly assume the horse that they put up for the winter is going to be the same horse they pull out of its stall this spring - WRONG! In most cases, that horse has continued to be fed very well throughout the cold weather and in many cases, actually had an increase in the feeding program during the colder months while at the same time the exercise level dropped to near "couch potato!"
What many horse owners forget to recognize is that food is an energy producer, in the same way that putting a log onto a fire produces energy. When we continue to feed high protein feed (hay and grain products) but provide our horse with little or no exercise, we get the same result that we would get if we just kept throwing logs onto a fire, a hot burning inferno. What that means is that for many horse owners, you will be facing a very fresh animal during the first few sessions in the spring. So, what can you do about it? Plenty.
(Washington, DC) - While the equine industry as a whole generates approximately $122 billion in total economic value, it’s commonly thought that the “big three” that are the primary economic drivers: Recreation, Racing, and Competition. However, the American Horse Council Foundation (AHCF) felt it was also important to bring in a new sector of the industry’s economic impact: Working Horses.
“Traditional working horses remain an important part of the industry, and not just on American ranches,” said AHC President Julie Broadway. “In cities like New York and even here in Washington, DC, it’s not uncommon to have horses patrolling the streets, allowing individuals access to horses that they may not have otherwise had. Horses can also be found pulling carriages and adding charm to America’s cities and historic destinations.”
The Working Horse sector consists of equines used in segments such as mounted police units, carriage operations, equine assisted therapy programs, and lesson programs, which accounts for 8% of the equine population. The Working Horse sector supports more than 42,000 direct jobs and adds $1.9 billion in direct value to the U.S. economy. These direct impacts drive a further $2.7 billion in added value to the economy and create more than 28,000 jobs from indirect and induced effects.
The Recreation sector supports more than 162,000 direct jobs and adds $7.5 billion in direct value to the U.S. economy. Those direct impact drive a further $10.5 billion in added value to the economy, and create more than 110,00 jobs from both indirect and induced effects. Additionally, nearly 13 million households have participated in trail riding, with the vast majority of trail riders- 87%- utilizing public lands to ride on.
Read more: A Deeper Dive Into the AHCF’s 2017 Economic Impact Study
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