You Ask — We Listen!
The Two Horse Tack Team loves hearing from you, our customers and assisting you find, and fit the right equipment for your equine partners. A custom fit can be as simple as mixing the size of the pieces on a bridle; for example, shorter cheek pieces to accommodate a hackamore. Sometimes we have a request for a modification of an existing design, or even a brand new design for our product library.
We were recently asked by a customer and professional trainer if we could make a rolled nose sidepull similar to a design she was familiar with, but for which production had long been discontinued. Following some research into the preferred design, our team built our simple sidepull out of beta biothane, with a rolled leather noseband, and a removable jaw strap.
We then ran a brief field test (literally!) of the design and sizing, pressing two of our Equine Team Members into service. Our prototype was built in Horse size, with an extra few inches added to the jaw strap.
Our first model, Sweepit, is a 15.2 hh Thoroughbred mare who wears Horse size. The jaw strap and curb strap are much too generous for her, as is the browband, but the length over the poll is perfect, with the cheek rings sitting flat on the large, lower jaw bone, and the noseband safely on the bone bridge of her face.
Next we tried it on Tough Chukker (Polo), a 16.2 hh Thoroughbred Gelding who wears Warmblood/Thoroughbred size. Again, that jaw strap is too long, but the curb strap adjusts to fit well, and the browband fits beautifully. This did need to be let out to the longest setting for length.
We’ll provide this feedback to our tack makers so that they can modify the size template before building for our customers. A benefit of the removable pieces is that they are easily exchanged, and even better, can be hole-punched and trimmed of excess with a good leather punch, and a pair of utility shears that you may already have in your tack and tool box.
In addition to the sidepull, you might also notice another custom request – A lead line buckled to a bit connector, most commonly seen for showing in hand. Coming soon to the website!
Product development can take several weeks depending upon volume, while simple, custom modifications can usually be done within our published production time. If you have questions about fit, or need help to accommodate your equine partner, please reach out to us by email to 2horsetack@gmail.com. Include photos or links to photos, and details about your horse.
We can fit any horse – here’s proof!
Because our tack is made to order we’re often asked to take on tough-to-fit horses or tough-to-fit breeds. We were happy to be contacted by someone trying to fit a European Barbant. Never heard of the European Barbant?
The European Barbant comes from the Barbant province in Belgium and according to the European Barbant Registry of America is “considered the mother breed of almost all other heavy cold-blooded breeds around the world.” The Barbant is typically 16.2-17 hh at the withers with a heavy build and is often (but not always) a roany color. They have feathers around their lower legs and have short, thick limbs and a 45-degree shoulder slope.
Due to its size and heft, the European Barbant can be used for a variety of tasks, from farm and carriage work to forestry to combined driving and even dressage.
The European Barbant is a type of draft horse, so they have wide faces and often a straight or convex facial profile, but they’re not as large-framed as a full-blood Clydesdale or Shire. That can mean they’re a challenging fit, so we were happy to adapt a few pieces to fit these gorgeous models.
Have a horse who’s tough to fit? We can help! Drop our customer service team a line (and photos of the horse/pony/mule/donkey in question at 2horsetack at gmail dot com.
How To: Retie A Futurity Knot Browband
People really love our futurity knot Western bridle — but if you’ve ever found yourself confused about how to tie (or retie) the futurity knot, you’re not alone. That’s why we made this handy guide!
…And you’re done! We love this look, because it can dress up any bridle to make it ready for the show ring. As always, you can choose the size and color you prefer, and even add different types of colored padding. We offer this bridle in leather as well, in both traditional and fun colors.
A futurity knot bridle makes a great holiday gift. Take a look at our options here: https://www.twohorsetack.com/c-252-western-bridle-with-futurity-knot-browband.aspx
How To: Add A Bit To An Aussie/Barcoo Bridle
People love the simple, rugged style of our Aussie or barcoo style bridle.
The style shown above is our beta biothane Aussie bridle in wine. it’s shown with a hackamore attachment, but the steps are the same if you want to add a regular bit.
Because the Aussie bridle cheekpieces just have one buckle and some keepers, it may not be clear at first how you add a bit. We made a handy how-to guide to help:
Like all our bridles, the Aussie is available in beta biothane and leather, as well as our complete range of padding options. Shop here: https://www.twohorsetack.com/c-125-australian-bridles.aspx
How To Adjust A Conway Buckle
The default hardware option for a lot of our reins and bridles is the Conway buckle. If you’re used to this type of fastener, you’ll be glad to see the simple but durable choice on offer. Without moving the moving parts involved in a traditional buckle, you don’t have as many pieces that need cleaning or polishing.
If you’re not used to it though, it can be a little confusing the first time you put your reins on. That’s why we made this handy how-to guide:
Remember, if you prefer scissor snaps or roller buckles, we also offer those options in rust-free stainless steel, nickel, or brass.
As always, if you have any other questions about our custom horse tack, feel free to reach out to our customer service inbox at 2horsetack at g mail.
2020 Two Horse Tack Holiday Orders
Like many of you, we at Two Horse Tack are a little anxious about making sure Christmas orders arrive in time to be wrapped and left under the tree. That’s why our order deadline is a little earlier this year. Friday, December 18 is the last day orders can be placed to guarantee arrival by Dec. 25.
We’ve added a ton of new products and have a healthy sale section if you want to get a great gift at a great price.
Another padding update
A few months ago, we made this post to help you sort out the difference between our neoprene and our leather padding, which we’ve added as options to most of our halter, bridle, and breastcollar designs. (You can reread that piece here.)
Now, we’ve got two more types of padding in our shop! Each has its own particular attributes to suit your needs.
The softest padding we offer is deerskin. There’s really no way to tell from pictures how buttery this is to the touch, but believe us when we say that if you choose this padding you’ll wish we made deerskin-padded boots and gloves for you. Deerskin padding is available in nine different colors and the dyes end up looking especially vibrant with this material.
Right now, deerskin is only available on our turnout halters, but it’ll be coming to all our designs soon.
The other new padding is our synthetic padding. This is a closed-cell, sweatproof padding covered by a waterproof, colored vinyl. The vinyl is marine vinyl, which means it’s especially tough and resistant to fading. This combination of materials is popular with certain types of harness makers because it can hold up to so well to a sweaty horse on a long drive.
This padding comes in 17 colors to go with our already-extensive list of beta biothane base colors.
Whichever type of padding you choose, your horse will thank you!
Make any bridle bitless!
Our bitless bridles are, without doubt, some of the the most popular products we offer in our shop. Some folks love collecting different styles of bridles to use on their horses (and we’re happy to help them do that!) but for those who haven’t tried bitless bridles on their horses before, it can be intimidating. Who wants to buy a whole new headstall just to test out whether or not their horse will take to the style?
Lots of horses really love going bitless, but it’s not the best solution for everybody and you really never know until you try.
That’s why we offer several hackamore noseband pieces that you can use with your current bridle to test out the bitless life before committing.
We just introduced this padded hackamore noseband for people who want to add their own metal hackamore to an existing bridle. This customer from Instagram shows us how this piece is attached over the bridge of the nose to keep the hackamore attachment steady from side to side:
(This horse is modeling our Traditional Halter Bridle with their own hackamore and black padded noseband. You can order a halter bridle like this here.)
You can also fasten the bit ends of the cheekpieces on your existing bridle to one of our two bitless nosebands.
This is our sidepull bitless noseband, which will apply pressure much like a sidepull bridle.
And this is our Western bitless hackamore. It applies pressure in a similar distribution across the nose, however the Western bitless has two rings under the chin, which allow a rider neck reining or riding one-handed more precise application of pressure to one side of the jaw at a time.
There’s really no wrong answer to the type of bitless bridle or noseband you choose. And with prices as low as $25 for the padded noseband for hackamores, you don’t have much to lose!
How to choose the right English style breastcollar for your horse
You’ve read before about the differences between our Western breastcollar styles, but we’ve got a number of English breastcollars available in our shop, too.
Our standard English breastcollar is our longest-running design and is popular for being easier to take on and off. It can remain attached to the saddle D rings through the tugs, but can go on and off by using a scissor clip at the left shoulder — much easier than having to pull a martingale or breastcollar over the horse’s head. It comes with an over-wither strap that can be a good stabilizer for those occasional unexpected moments during your ride.
Our original design also has the option to add neoprene padding, and has two options for attaching to the girth — if your girth has O rings, it can be snapped on, or you can add a girth loop that slides over the girth. The original design is 1 inch wide, but we recently added a 1.5-inch width too, for horses with broader shoulders who could benefit from more stability.
We also offer a Jumping Breastcollar, which runs from the saddle side to side across the horse’s chest and over the neck. This can be a good option for horses that spend more time jumping or galloping; you’ll sometimes see this style on steeplechase horses for that reason. In those cases, riders may prefer not to have a strap that runs down to the girth in case it interferes with a hoof or a shoe.
For our polo customers, we also offer a similar style called the Polo Breastcollar. The polo breastcollar has a wide strap of elastic around the front of the horse’s chest instead of a beta biothane strap, for even more stability during intensive movement.
Whichever of our English breastcollar styles you choose, you’ll be getting a choice of dozens of colors of beta biothane, a wide variety of sizes and hardware options to suit your needs.
Adding holes to your beta tack
We sometimes get questions from customers about how to add holes to beta biothane halters or bridles that are just a little bit loose. We work really hard to offer a range of sizes from mini horse to draft horse with everything in between, so hopefully your gear will fit your horse perfectly. Sometimes though, it needs a slight adjustment on one strap to work for an individual head shape, without the need to size the whole piece down.
With a leather item, you can just pull out your leather hole punch and add what you need. Well, the same applies to beta! A leather whole punch will work on beta too.
Similarly, our friend Pecan recently reminded us that leatherworking tools can also be used to add nameplates to beta biothane pieces. We don’t sell nameplates at Two Horse Tack as of this writing, but one can easily be added if you pick one up from another shop.
Show us your gear in action! Post pics of your horse or pony modeling at our Facebook page.
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