When you enter a horse tack shop for the first time, it can be quite an eye opener. You may only have a single horse or pony and yet the store is filled with hundreds of tempting pieces of tack, equipment and horse supplies to take home.
As a first time buyer of tack you can reduce the temptation and even overwhelming task by simply deciding on the basics to buy before entering the tack shop. The basic tack you will be looking to buy would consist of a bridle and saddle for riding, a halter and lead rope for handling your horse. That is only a few items and yet they can take up most of a tack shops space.
Firstly you should be set on a sport or discipline that way you will know whether you need to focus on Western or English tack. Further within each of those are sub categories such as dressage, show jumping, barrel racing or roping.
It is very helpful to either read up in a book about tack or talk to a knowledgeable horse person who can help you decide what will suit you best. Do you buy a general purpose saddle or a dressage saddle?
Knowing what each is used for will help you determine which suits you best. When money is limited you really want to buy the tack that is best suited to the job and has quality in workmanship. That way your tack will when well cared for, last a long time.
Another reason to know the basics about tack such as there uses, names and descriptions is so that when your instructor says that your girth is too loose; you know what he is talking about. You had best tighten your girth before the saddle slips and you're planted on the ground.
When you are first starting out with English riding you can keep it simple by buying an all purpose or general purpose saddle and a bridle with a snaffle bit. A general purpose saddle gives you the wider range of disciplines, allowing you to use the same saddle for dressage, show jumping and trail riding- competitions in these disciplines are excluded of course.
Protective boots are used on horses to prevent injury and some offer support to the limbs. Some people use bandages and others use boots, it is good for a rider to know the difference so that the horse has the best benefit from the tack.
Often people will buy additional tack once they have developed a working relationship with their horse. An instructor can also advise you as to what tack could benefit both yourself as a rider and your horse such as a martingale. You could use a martingale whilst training your horse for dressage to keep him from raising his head too high, but a martingale is not permitted in a dressage competition.
