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!
(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
by Lynn Ascrizzi
Oliver Saddle Shop is the oldest, family-owned saddle maker in Texas.
In these modern times, you might think that the iconic, working cowboy is fast becoming a rare breed. But, longtime saddle maker Richard Oliver, who owns and operates the Oliver Saddle Shop in Amarillo, Texas, has his own take on the subject. He and his small team specialize in building saddles for the working cowboy.
“This is cow country, and there are a lot of cowboys. The population of working cowboys in our area is staying about the same. One of them may grow old and retire, but it seems like a new one is always replacing them,” he said. And, he tipped his wide-brimmed hat, figuratively speaking, to all the cowgirls who also put in a hard day’s work on the range.
He speculated that the romantic appeal of the cowboy life might also attract some newcomers. But as Oliver well knows, a real cowboy’s work is fraught with hardships, something he takes into consideration when building saddles.
“A lot of people don’t realize that a working cowboy leaves before daylight, rides all day, and gets home after dark. So, you don’t put them in a roping saddle. The roping saddle is an uncomfortable saddle to ride. Folks compete in those saddles in the arena. They’re flat seats — not made for riding long hours. You have to put him in a comfortable seat, so that all day long he can perform his duties. A lot of cowboys buy our equipment out of necessity, because they’re safer, more comfortable and better on the horse.”
Read more: Building Saddles for the Working Cowboy - Oliver Saddle Shop
Is a horse farm one of your life’s dreams? Whether you want a small equestrian property for personal enjoyment or you plan to start a business, there are many considerations to include in your evaluation of potential equestrian properties. Buyers looking for raw land to build on, as well as those who want to buy an existing horse farm, can use these essential tips to find the right equestrian property. Find the acreage size that suits your needs and avoid unpleasant surprises due to zoning laws or flooding. Here’s what you need to know before you even start looking:
Initial considerations and research
Purchasing equestrian real estate is a big investment, so you want to be certain that you’re making the right decision. You should perform some research before you seriously consider purchasing a property. Here are some points that could make or break your final decision:
• Does the property fit into your budget? The value of the property may be in your price-range, but are you financially prepared to make any necessary updates to the residence or equestrian facilities?
• Does the property align with your long-term goals? Maybe you’re planning to expand your family, or you know that retirement is just around the corner. Once these changes occur, will the property still fit into your new lifestyle?
Read more: 7 Tips for Choosing the Right Equestrian Property
by Danna Burns-Shaw
Texas is known for many things: The Alamo, BBQ, Football, Black Gold-Texas Tea, Size (everything is bigger in Texas), Texas Longhorn, Texas Star, Chili, Hot Summers, and of course their slogan, “Don’t Mess with Texas.” Texas will claim that the first American cowboy boots were made in Texas, by H. J. “Daddy Joe” Justin in Spanish Fort, Texas. Folks from Kansas will argue the first cowboy boots were built by Charles Hyer, of Hyer Brothers Boots, in Olathe, Kansas.
Both historic entrepreneurs began their successful boot building operations in the 1870’s, Charles Hyer in 1875 and H.J. Justin in 1879. While Kansas may have been first by a few years, Texas has endured as the cowboy boot-making capital of the world. To understand the Fenoglio Boot Company in Nocona, Texas, it helps to know a little bit about the history of boot making in Texas.
BOOT MAKING TRADITION & HERITAGE
In a few years’ time, word had spread about the quality of cowboy boots being made by Justin Boots. With his business growing, Daddy Joe relocated a few miles south to the booming town of Nocona, Texas. The newly established railroad depot would mean a larger market of potential customers and a better connection to Fort Worth, with its stockyards and leather tanneries, which his business would need to meet the growing demand for his boots.
By Danna Burns-Shaw
Trying to find one title that best describes the Skyhorse’s is impossible. Loren and Lisa Skyhorse are a rare husband and wife saddle-building team that create out-of-this-world leather masterpieces. Once you meet and spend time with them, you will never think of them as just saddle makers; they are truly multi-talented, cosmic human beings. Lisa and Loren were given the “Skyhorse” name by Native Americans and adopted into their culture, as a gifted exchange for all the service and kindness they’ve rendered towards indigenous people around the world.
Residing outside of beautiful Durango, Colorado, the Skyhorse’s home/ranch sits at 7,500 feet above sea level, with a stunning backdrop of the La Plata Mountain Range and adjacent to picturesque Lake Durango. This is the earthly space they visualized and thoughtfully designed, which includes the horse property, sacred home, magical workshop and stunning playground. As Lisa states, “It’s all been a happy accident,” mentioning that the love of the horse brought her and Loren together and everything they do is based in that love.
Two Hands Become Four
Lisa began leatherwork while attending UCLA as an art major. In 1973, she took an apprenticeship with master saddle maker, Lawrence De Witt. At 24, she built her first saddle and began her love affair with working in leather.
Loren was a biologist that did much of his work on horseback. Lisa taught Loren how to build saddles. They studied in England, where they learned the art of English saddle making and they also studied Western boot making with Randy Merrill.
Read more: Lisa and Loren Skyhorse, Humanitarian Saddle Makers
by Nick Pernokas
They say that a good writer should never interject himself into his stories. They say a lot of things. When dealing with “legends” of the West, they say when the legend outshines the fact, print the legend. Only sometimes, you don’t have to and this is one of those times. Most of the story that I’m going to tell you came from Don King, in his own words, over a cup of coffee in 2005. The rest came from his friends who knew him best over the course of his life. And now, you’ll know him as well.
Don was the grandson of a cowboy who went up the trail with the herds eight times from Texas in the late 1800’s. Don was born in Douglas, Wyoming, in 1923, and his parents divorced when he was five years old. His father, Arch, was an itinerant cowboy and Don was raised on the road, sometimes spending only a couple of months at one ranch, before moving on to the next. The next few years were spent in Arizona. Sometimes Don would live in the bunkhouse with his dad and sometimes he would be boarded out so he could go to school. Later they would cowboy in Wyoming in the summers, and spend the winters in Arizona or California. Arch was a horse breaker and he would hire on to ride the rough string and get them broke for the other cowboys.
Although Don did okay in school, the gypsy life was hard on his education. In high school, he dropped out and went to work for a boarding stable in Phoenix. In his spare time, he’d go in and visit the stampers and saddle makers at Porters Saddle Shop. The work fascinated him, but most of the old timers in the shops he’d visited didn’t really want to teach a kid leatherwork. At Porters, his persistence paid off.
A young saddle maker named Cliff Ketchum told Don to get some leather scraps and showed him how to make stamping tools from nails. Don even made some stamps from wood and a simple swivel knife. It was simply a blade pushed into the bottom of a twig, with a piece of tin on the top for a yoke. A nail held the tin on and allowed the yoke to turn. From then on, Don couldn’t wait for some time off to indulge in his hobby. Eventually, he was stamping belts for shops in the towns where he was cowboying. His first large order came while he was working for a ranch in Palm Springs. The owner of New York’s famed 21 Club was vacationing there, and impressed with King’s work, he bought 24 belts to take back to his employees.
by Nick Pernokas
Ronnie Nettles’ legs were bothering him. His narrow oxbow stirrups, the norm for cutting horse trainers in the 1980’s, were rubbing on his shins. It probably wouldn’t have bothered a guy who just had one horse to ride, but as a cutting horse trainer at the top of the game, Ronnie had a barn full of horses to work every day. He got relief by wrapping his legs with Vetwrap every morning.
Still, Ronnie was one of the lucky few that have been able to hang out their shingle, and make a living doing what they love to do. Ronnie didn’t just make a living though; he was successful enough to be a major player in the National Cutting Horse Association events.
“Horses have always been a passion with him, not a job,” says Gala Nettles, Ronnie’s wife.
The Madisonville, Texas, trainer won the NCHA Cutting Futurity in 1984, which is the dream of every cowboy that swings a leg over a cutting horse. He followed this by being co-champion of the NCHA Superstakes in 1985, co-champion of the NCHA Derby in 1989 and numerous other awards along the way. Ronnie realized that even with the financial boost winning those titles brought, long-term security could be fickle when depending upon the luck of the draw. The oil boom, which had supported much of the horse industry in the Southwest, was coming to an end. Customers who had paid the training bills were starting to have hard times. He wanted something else to ensure stability for his family.
Ronnie had inherited a love of woodworking from his father, who had been a carpenter. He had a small shop where he built items for the ranch as a hobby. One Christmas, Gala had searched for an heirloom quality rocking horse for her first grandchild with no luck; none of them met her standards for size, appearance or sturdiness. Finally, Gala found a picture of one in a magazine that was really nice.
“Do you think you could build one of these in nine days?” Gala asked Ronnie. They had just returned home from a grueling two-week futurity in Fort Worth; Ronnie welcomed a different challenge. Working late every night, he cut, glued and sanded until he created a beautiful rocking horse. He topped it off with a replica of a saddle that he carved from oak. Only one thing remained – he needed to find some miniature stirrups.
“I wanted everything realistic, and to scale, and there weren’t any small stirrups to buy,” chuckles Ronnie, “so I cut strips of white pine, soaked them in water, then built a little jig to hold the pieces and glued it together.” The first Nettles Stirrups were born.
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