Tack Quality

Today I want to discuss tack quality.

Like many horse owners, I have owned a lot of saddles and tack in my life. I have also done a LOT of window shopping in various tack stores and online. Hey, who doesn't? Over the past few years, with the advent of shopping venues like eBay and Amazon, there has been an ever-increasing influx of low quality tack. There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a piece of tack off of eBay, heck I have done it myself numerous times. The problem is, how do you know what quality it will be? I have had good and bad experiences, gotten things cheaply that were complete pieces of crap and also things that were of good quality for next to nothing.

There are several things to watch for. First and foremost, if you are looking at a piece of tack in person, feel the leather. Flex it, look at the underside, study the grain, stitching, dye, the holes, the tree and the rigging.

Does it feel nice and supple, or like cardboard?

Good leather will be flexible and feel smooth and supple. A lot of the tack available cheaply is made in India or Asia from cheap painted (pigmented) leather that is poorly tanned and will not accept the oil. As a result, the saddle leather gets much drier over time. As it dries out it tears fairly easily, creating a serious safety issue for the rider. The lowest grade Asian leather is easy to spot. It is chemical tanned with strong tanning agent and often smells of these agents.

Is the grain even and smooth?

You've probably heard the phrase 'fine grain leather'. Good quality has a fine grain--the pores are small--poorer leather has open coarse pores. The back of the work is often slightly rough, where the grain is damaged by the tan process. It is often heavily oiled with a greasy feel in order to disguise poor tanning.

If you tug on a strap or bend a piece of leather, does the finish crack, scratch or flake off?

Poor quality tack may also be covered in a finish that will easily crack, flake, or scratch off. In the very cheapest examples, the dye color is 'painted' on - and often 'bleeds' heavily onto clothes and hands if subjected to rain

Is the stitching neat and even?

In low quality tack, the stitching may be uneven or of poor quality.

Are the holes punched completely and evenly?

Often, the holes in straps are unevenly spaced, not completely punched, or seem too small for the buckle tongue.

Will the saddle fit the horse, is the tree even and straight and is it rigged correctly?

It is difficult to find one of these saddles that will fit correctly, the trees are often very narrow or very wide. They are also frequently uneven or slightly twisted. This can cause major issues not only for the rider, but mainly for the horse.
Many of these saddles are not rigged correctly, and are difficult if not almost impossible to tighten the girth enough to stop the saddle slipping on the horse.

So, all this being said, what if you are shopping online and cannot personally handle the saddle?

When buying online on a budget, it is far better in the long run to look for a used, good quality, name brand item than to buy a cheap imported item. Some things to watch for in these auctions are; lack of a name brand, no mention of where it was manufactured, a stock photo only, and a very low price. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. ALWAYS check the seller’s feedback. Often, people will report tack failures to the seller in an attempt to get a refund. The seller will often deny responsibility, another red flag, a good seller, with quality items will usually try to work with a buyer.

Let’s look at some photos from online auctions. Both of these saddles are available on eBay for $100 or so, with free shipping. Sound good? Well let’s look closer…



Here we have an All Purpose English saddle. Notice the stiff, shiny look to the leather. See how the dye looks kind of “opaque” for lack of a better word? Also notice how large the pores in the grain look. See the wrinkles in the knee roll? These are signs of a low quality saddle.



This is a Dressage saddle. Again, notice the stiff, shiny looking leather. Also notice the stirrup leathers. See how the holes are lighter on the inside? This means that the leather is not actually dyed, rather, it looks painted on. Also notice the numerous wrinkles in the knee rolls and near the seat. Also not a good choice.



Here is a Western saddle. Notice the stiff looking, shiny leather. See how the skirts are already curling? This saddle and accessories are under $200. Also the seller had probably 30 or 40 identical ones for sale at the same price. Another too good to be true deal. Can you imagine this saddle’s latigo strap just ripping apart while you are riding up a mountain? It has happened.

This is another Western saddle. Advertised as a show saddle, it has a bit of silver and some tooling to dress it up. But look past that. Notice the odd angle of the swells and horn? See the curling skirts and jockeys? Notice the stiff-looking tie strap? Also notice the attachment for the fenders to the stirrup leathers, you should not be able to see that.

I hope that this is helpful. I have tried to cover all the basics. Please, make sure that the tack you are purchasing is of good quality and strong. I want everyone to be safe on their horses and not have an accident caused by catastrophic failure of a piece of tack.

Bridle Shower

Show bridles and reins are steadily becoming more and more elaborate. This coincides with the trend in show saddles. It seems that no surface, no matter how small, is exempt from being covered in silver. I understand that part of the function of a show bridle is to frame the horse’s head and to bring attention to that part of its body. However, it seems that the silver has gotten a bit out of hand. I happen to like a simple bridle with perhaps some silver on the cheekpieces or earpiece with a lovely engraved silver bit. I also like braided bridles with romal reins. They are very fancy without being overpowering. I like stuff like this.

Now, in contrast we have things like this.

Really, that is just a bit much don’t you think?

Here we have another victim of the crazed Be-Dazzler. This is made by a VERY prominent saddle company and I am sure is NOT cheap. The sparkles sure make it look that way though.



Here are some other examples of over-the-top embellishment, there is more silver on these reins than there is leather. I would drive myself nuts trying to polish it, can you imagine these on a sweaty horse neck?

Really, is all this necessary? Are we trying to show off the horse, or blind the judges and distract them from the fact that some of our horses are lame on all four legs and we are terrible riders?

The Sparkly Fuzzies?

Recently, I was in a tack shop and while browsing through the bridle selection I discovered a bridle with an inlay of hair-on cowhide. I thought it was kind of neat, it had simple buckles and was done in a buckaroo style with the flaring cheekpieces. It looked very rustic.

Later, while browsing on eBay I started to run across pieces that were not only embellished with cowhide, but also had been attacked by the crazed Be-Dazzler person! It seems that nothing is safe from this deranged individual. Whereas I sort of LIKED the bridles and breastcollars with the cowhide embellishment, the addition of rhinestones turns it from rustic to just plain hideous. Check out this lovely piece.

Gigantic clear rhinestones on a background of tan and white cowhide.

Now, the first set is downright tame when compared to this bridle.

Really? Purple rhinestones on black and white cowhide? Gah! Of course it would match BEAUTIFULLY with this saddle. (Of course you would have to Be-Dazzle the saddle with matching purple rhinestones first)

Sunglasses may be wise before viewing these next few.

Why? Why must we do this? Why can’t we limit it to one type of embellishment? Why must we cover every available surface in layer upon layer of tacky?

Cafe Press Store

I have opened a Cafe Press store for this blog. Go check it out at... http://www.cafepress.com/TackyTack .

Friday Faves

Happy Friday everyone!

Today I want to do something a bit different and will continue this every Friday. I want to showcase something neat and interesting every week. These will not be my usual posts about the Tacky Tack in this world, but rather it will be about nice tack, artists, saddlemakers, and anything else tack related that is cool.

This Friday, I want to introduce you to the world of model horses. You know, like the Breyers we all played with as kids? Would you believe that there are thousands of adults around the country that still collect, customize and show them? There are also artists who sculpt original pieces and cast limited runs of them in resin and sell the unpainted, sometimes for thousands of dollars? There are people, like myself that specialize in custom painting and remaking ( http://www.freewebs.com/eponarisingstudios ) Then, there are tackmakers. These incredible artists make the most realistic and intricate tack you can imagine, all in scales ranging from the largest at 1:9 to the tiniest at 1:64. Yes, I said 1:64, that is less than an inch tall!! I have made some tack for my own show horses, but it has been limited to the large (henceforth referred to as Traditional or TR size) scale and to Western tack as there are kits readily available that are easy to put together. (If you are interested in one see http://www.riorondo.com/ they have everything you need to make lovely tack, including silver plates and tooling patterns.)

There are a couple of artists I want to introduce you to today. The first is Kirsteen Haley of KH Custom Saddlery ( http://khcustomtack.com/ ) . She makes the most amazing western show tack I have ever seen. Honestly, if you did not know it was for a model horse wouldn’t you think this was for a real horse?

Photo/Tack by K. Haley

The detail she puts into these is unreal. I am amazed at the intricacy and realism. It makes my attempt look very amateur.

Photo/Model/Tack - J. McCune

She also makes show tack for the 1:32 scale (Stablemate or SM, about 2.5 inches tall) models. I have NEVER seen SM tack so detailed.

Photo/Saddle K. Haley

This kind of work leaves me dumbfounded. I also found this parade set she did in SM Scale.

Photo/Tack K. Haley

Amazing, totally amazing.

The next artist I want to introduce to you is Jill Aman (http://www.modelhorsecostumes.com/) she makes native costumes for mainly TR scale models. The detail and research she puts into them is utterly fantastic. I have never seen such realistic and functional looking costumes. They are truly works of art. I especially like her Spanish and Portuguese sets.

Photo/Tack by Jill Aman

Can you believe that is for a MODEL horse? Check out these as well.

All photos/Tack by Jill Aman

So, over the weekend, take some time to explore the model horse world. You can find a ton of information at these sites. Have a wonderful weekend!!

http://www.modelhorsegallery.info/
http://www.modelhorsesalespages.com/
http://www.namhsa.org/

Hi-Ho Silver!!!

So, how much is too much? When it comes to show saddles, it seems that the more silver that can be crammed onto it the better. I have seen some that barely have any leather showing at all. They are so encrusted in silver, they must weigh a ton. I have always been under the apparently mistaken impression that the whole point in show tack is for it to compliment, but not outshine the horse it is on. That it should look clean, professional and above all not distract the judge from seeing what really matters, the horse. I prefer a small amount of silver accents on medium to darker colored tack. I do not like the heavily tooled, silver encrusted things I have been seeing. I especially do not like them when they are such light colored leather as to be almost white. This is a nice saddle to me.

It has minimal silver, is a nice medium color, and the tooling pattern is not so deep or heavily accented as to be too "busy". I would not be hesitant at all to use this saddle on my husband's big black mare. I would like to see what the stirrups looked like, but the photo cuts them off. With a nice dark colored saddle blanket or a nice patterned one, this would make a nice turn out. It would not distract the judge, but would accent the horse.



Here we have a nice black show saddle, not too flashy, and the tooling pattern doesn't overpower the rest of the saddle. I really like black tack, I think this would look nice on my little red mare.

I also don't think that a show saddle should HAVE to have silver. I think a nice tooling pattern looks just as good. I really like this saddle a lot.

Now, on to the complete opposite end of the spectrum. This saddle looks more like it belongs in the Rose Bowl parade or on Trigger than in a show ring. I am not sure if they COULD cram any more silver onto it. Maybe if they added silver stirrups and some silver around the edges of the fenders.

These three also bother me, they are just too busy. If I were judging a class and any of these were on a horse, I am not sure I could look anywhere else.

Here is one advertised as "dripping with silver", it is also that light colored leather. I also love how they have very kindly photo shopped in the "sparkles" , just in case you couldn't be blinded by the reflection off the silver alone. I also am bothered by the super busy tooling pattern.

I think in the case of show tack, we should lean more toward a polished, professional appearance. "All things in moderation," is a good idea in my opinion.

"Bling, Bling"

First, let me start by saying that I detest the term "bling". It has wormed its way into our vocabulary and even into our dictionaries. Worse still, it has wormed its way onto our tack. Now, I have no problem at all with some silver embellishment on show tack. Tastefully done, it can really make your horse stand out in a class. Tastelessly done however, it can make your horse look like some sort of beauty pageant reject. I have seen in my recent browsing of tack stores and eBay, an increasing amount of tack that is completely encrusted in rhinestones. I do not mind a few, say, on a browband. However, the things I have found would blind a judge from the glare of the arena lights reflecting off of them. They come in wild colors and on every piece of tack imaginable. It looks like some deranged person has attacked it with a Be-Dazzler. For your amazement and viewing pleasure I present (put on your sunglasses)....

Wow, really? Honestly, would YOU wear either pair of these in a World Show class?

Oh, here we have not only rhinestones, but purple ostrich leather as well...

Here is one with rhinestones and rawhide braiding...

I also found these gems...

Man, my eyes hurt.