I can remember being a kid and going into tack shops where you DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT EVERYTHING WAS. It was such an adventure, and everything seems like it was just for you. Plus stuff you had read about but never seen. And all the stuff the big kids had that you wish you had. And you could walk around and touch it ALL. I am sad that kids won’t have that experience.
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Yes. The local tack shop near me just closed last month when the current owners decided to retire. I had been going there since I was a kid, when the original owner was still there. I was very sad to see it go.
I loved the one in Gladstone as a kid but I haven’t been back since my parents moved away from the area. That being said, the last few purchases of leather goods that I made there left me super disappointed in the quality.
I love Bevals and would be sad to see it go…After The Saddler in Wilton, CT closed many years ago, Bevals was the place. I bought everything there, my Vogels as well as 2 Butets and custom chaps etc. I didn’t trust anyone else to measure or repair!
Sadly, their website never really felt like it was up to date. And I wonder if that segment of the industry with Dover and Smartpak etc., around helped weaken their market share…
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fundamentally disagree. All you had to do was be at one of the FL circuits this year to see that the economy is booming … they were basically standing room only. Devon, too, was busting at the seams and it costs a minimum of $6k per horse to go there. Beval was just terrible to do business with and let their quality decline as well, period the end.
In December of 2015, a giant Dover Saddlery opened on Route 7 in Ridgefield, CT, literally a few hundred feet from the venerable, much-loved All The King’s Horses tack shop which had been there for 45 years, and 10 minutes away from the New Canaan Bevals. At the time many of us thought that Dover location choice would “Wal-Mart” the older stores, possibly even intentionally. Another family-owned tack store 20 miles away in Monroe, CT also went under in 2016.
For decades, All the King’s Horses specialized in reasonably-priced goods for the young rider, Pony Clubber and riding-school student, while Beval’s high-end goods were often priced beyond the reach of all but the A-circuit elite.
They more recently devoted at least half their floor space to overpriced “sportswear” obtainable cheaper elsewhere. While these two mostly served two distinct markets, Dover’s engulfed both with, IMO, far lower quality goods.
New tack doesn’t even have that nice “new-leather” smell anymore; it smells like synthetic chemicals and either softens to mush or (like most new bridlework) doesn’t soften at ALL.
The recession of 2008 re-ordered many people’s priorities. There’s still tons of money around, but fewer people are willing to pay double or triple for identically functional goods just to flash a certain status “label.” Other major trends driving the tack and togs business down in the NY/CT area today:
Trainers determine and enforce what brands/styles juniors and ammies are to buy and wear at lessons and shows.
Fewer customers are actual horse owners compared to the numbers who ride as student, part-lease, seasonal participant, etc. Backyard barns are also a thing of the past due to high land prices and urbanization.
Most of the top-tier H/J showing is now centered on Saugerties, NY and points north like VT, rather than old venues like Ox Ridge. Dressage & eventing require ships of a minimum of 2 hours, barns doing these are close to nonexistent locally now.
Parental concerns with risk of injury, competition from cheaper sports, mainstreaming of non-competitive “fitness” activities in lieu of traditional sports and social media are all thinning the pool of children and adults who would once have wished to become riders.
I wouldn’t take A $6k/week or Wellington’s scene as a measure of economic health for anyone but the narrowest sliver at the top.
Bevals’ shelves aren’t representing the experience of the Everyman for sure. But it does represent a slightly wider swath of the horsing public.
I’ll bet you could rioting in the streets and some bona fide starvation AND have WEF go on without a hiccup.
Back on topic-- I wish I had been around to see The Saddler in Wilton.
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Interesting observations about the NY/CT scene. Thanks.
Isn’t that already the case regarding WEF?
I only got to The Saddler once, although I always saw their ads in magazines. For years and years and years, they sent me a little knick knack in the mail on my birthday. 
All the King’s Horses closed, too? I found that one driving between Danbury and Fairfield. I always stopped in to buy a little something. I always wanted to go to The Saddler when I was a kid thanks to A Very Young Rider. I thought it must be THE place to go :yes: Never did even though I vacationed in CT every summer (visiting relatives) but I was a kid and not a wealthy one so what are you gonna do, lol.
So sad that all these tack shops are closing! I remember begging my Mom to stop any time we went to that part of the state to see if they had something different. Once a year she would take me up to the old Stateline store and let me run around there.
Is the Avon Equestrian Centre (I think that was the name of the store) still around? I grew up in the Eastern part of the state so would usually frequent Smith Worthington for all my strap goods.
The Saddler was a fantastic place…the smell of the shop, personal attention and all those things that we were able to see and touch, as other posters mentioned. Mr. Aquino, the owner, was wonderful…
I still have my boot bag as well as coat bag from them, complete with that famous logo…they are in fantastic shape and I still use them.
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I grew up in CT, belonged to a large Pony Club, and rode all over on trails and farm land. We had a one-acre lot with a small barn and paddock; most of my friends did as well. Things are so different now. The PC I belonged to still exists but is small and struggling. There is one big H/J barn in my hometown that I could never have afforded to ride at. No one trail rides there the way we once did; too much forest and farmland has given way to development. There are no horses anymore in the neighborhood where I grew up; zoning laws have changed. It’s sad.
As for tack shops, I used to love going to Smith Worthington in downtown Hartford. They did all my tack repairs, and I bought a lot of stuff there over the years. I think the original store is still open, and they do a lot of business online.
I disagree in part. The local dressage scene is strong. Maybe not quite as large and obvious as it was when Lendon filled all the barns at Sunnyfield, but broader, with many smaller programs filling the void. There are quite a few well known clinicians coming to the area regularly. Yes - most of the larger shows are ~2 hours away, Saugerties, Mystic Valley, Sussex, etc. but we have smaller rated shows more locally - Kirby Hill, Sperry View, R Folly, etc.
None of the tack shops mentioned really catered to dressage, but many of us still shopped at them for universal things. Right now we have RIDE and The Horse Connection in Bedford - and can always pick up specialty items from the vendors at the shows.
I disagree somewhat with some of the comments about the economy. I don’t teach anymore but I do fairly high volume sales of about 40-60/yr. This winter in Ocala I saw more customers with over $100k to spend than I have in 5 years, most 2’6 Horses went for 40-50k. My customers are telling me their lesson programs are booming(different parts of the US) and those who don’t wish to buy are spending good money on leases. I do agree that in the quest to save a dollar at the tack store, many forget that they are neglecting the brick and mortar stores that may cost a few dollars more but are part of your community. The bigger chains tend to look at their customers as a number instead of a face.
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From where I’m sitting, I see that the middle class are being priced out of the sport - fewer backyard barns, fewer schooling shows, fewer lesson-only programs. There is much more push to lease, buy and show. The kind of riding I did as a kid, where I took a lesson a week, bombed around the trails, and did one or two shabby (but fun!) local shows a year is basically gone in the Northeast, and I’m not even 30.
But the higher end side of the sport is thriving and growing. Horse prices are high and horses are selling, WEF entries are up, clients are showing and shopping. 15 years ago the fancy H/J barn in my town went to VT for a few weeks, and that was the big barn outing - everything else was local A shows. Now a barn at that level likely does HITS and VT, then works their way south to Ocala or Wellington for the winter with a couple stops along the way. And those clients are shopping at those shows and online, not just at their local tack shop anymore.
There are still hundreds and hundreds of barns in the tri state area and little girls will always be falling in love with horses, so I have no worries about the sport’s survival - but the average income level of participants is continually rising.
True, but comparing the health of the economy to Beval’s completely overlooks the new retail market. The former lords of the universe, The Mall, is in decline. Amazon is not.
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It’s also a bit of a catch-22. As there are fewer local brick and mortar stores, more people get in the habit of shopping online. The more people shop online, the fewer brick and mortar stores exist. That probably applies to horse equipment even more than other things, since it’s a smaller slice to start.
It was probably at least twenty years ago when I first heard of a small tack shop shutting down because the owner said that people would come into her shop to try on things for size, then leave and buy the same item online for a tiny discount.
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right, but in either case you can’t infer that the horse economy is in trouble/buying power is reduced, only the way they spend their $$$ has changed. I mean it could be in decline, but a brick and morter store going out of business isn’t that indicator.
Agreed, mvp. The New Canaan store - at least in their glory years - was a wonderful experience (at least as a consumer; I can’t speak for their suppliers.) The luscious clothing for horse & human. Fabulous, high end strap goods. Both typically at eyepopping prices, of course.Sigh. Even the “proper,” almost old school supplies - muslin standing wraps, the crochet wither pads, and accessories like traditional wooden grooming boxes - all spoke to a wonderful history of horse keeping.
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