Essential Equestrian Horse Tack & Horse Equipment

Whether you're a casual or professional rider, there are essential purchases you will have to make to properly care for your horse. Basic horse care includes regular grooming and exercise, high quality feed and abundant, clean water. You can simplify things for yourself by purchasing the necessary horse tack and equipment online. Online shopping for your tack and equipment is a convenient and cost effective way of ensuring that you have everything you need.

Properly caring for a horse is not simply a matter of hosing them down once in a while and making sure they are fed and watered. Horses depend upon their human owners and caregivers to protect them against disease and injury on a daily basis. You can significantly increase the health and longevity of your horse by providing the proper care.

Horse Care Products & Grooming Essentials

Grooming allows you to care for and inspect your horse's hide, hooves and overall condition, keeping an eye out for unusual blemishes, inflammations or other injuries. Having the correct grooming equipment handy makes this an easy job. You will need a tote filled with items such as brushes, sponges, hoof picks, a shedding blade, a scraper, a curry comb and a mane comb. If you do nothing else for your horse each day, be sure to inspect and pick the debris from the hooves and apply hoof care products. Foot injuries can be expensive and devastating. Always inspect your horse's hooves before and after riding.

Currying make your horse's coat shinier and healthier. During the spring and summer months when the heat causes extensive shedding, a shedding blade can remove a surprising amount of loose hair with very little effort. After currying, use a stiff bristle brush to remove the debris. If you are bathing your horse, be sure to use a quality coat, mane and tail shampoo and conditioner and be sure to rinse thoroughly. Soap residue can cause any number of skin irritations. A scraper makes quick work of ridding your horse of the excess water, which can be crucial in winter. Boost your horse's good health with supplements and a mineralized salt block.

Protective Equestrian Equipment

Horses are a significant investment and they deserve to be well cared for. Protective equipment such as bell boots, split boots and bandages can help to keep your horse safe and comfortable. Turnout sheets and blankets can keep your horse clean after grooming and warm in the chilly winter months.

If flies and other biting insects are a problem in your area, you can add to your horse's comfort with fly masks and fly sheets. Due to the fly's natural tendency to congregate around your horse's eyes, ears, nostrils and mouth, they can be a cause of infection, irritation and even injury.

Basic Horse Tack

As a horse owner, you will need some basic tack and training equipment. Your horse tack shopping list should include an English saddle, halter, lead line, lunge line, crop, lunge whip, bridle, saddle blanket and a martingale. Find an English saddle that fits you, your horse and your riding specialty. A hunt seat rider is going to use a flatter, close contact, forward style English saddle, with a fitted pad, whereas a dressage rider will use a more deeply seated English saddle with a square, white pad. In addition, a dressage rider will require very specific tack for showing. These items include dressage bridles, reins, girths, bits, stirrups and leathers, as well as boots and wraps.

It is important to clean and oil your horse tack and English saddle regularly. Not only does this increase the useful life of your investment, but it also allows you the opportunity to inspect your horse tack for loose or broken items that may cause risk or injury. When shopping online for horse tack, be sure to look for high quality workmanship and materials that will last.

Horse Riding Equipment & Replacement Parts

Life happens and things break. Purchasing replacement reins, stirrup straps, stirrups, stirrup pads and a girth can save you hours of frustration and delay. Investing in replacements of commonly worn out or broken items can simplify these potentially frustrating situations. An extra saddle blanket is another good piece of horse tack to have on hand. As the summer months cause increased shedding and sweating, you may find you need to exchange them more often. Having an extra saddle pad is something akin to having an extra pair of clean, dry socks -- you can go much further and do so more effectively.

Investing in high quality equestrian equipment can make your job easier and provide better care to your horse. Pampering and caring for your horse and your riding equipment will make your riding experience better than ever!