Walmart is trying desperately to compete with Amazon, so they carry nearly everything now (not just what you’d see in a Walmart store - but like Amazon, many products are actually sold and shipped by other companies). Some stuff is way expensive, but everything is free shipping or free ship to store. I just happened upon the feeder trying to find someplace that had free shipping (because everywhere I found the model I wanted tacked on freight AND oversized shipping charges to the tune of as much as $75 - on a $110 feeder). I liked the feeder, but didn’t like it that much! I didn’t get the color I really wanted, but on the other hand, I saved more than $50. So I call that a win.
I swear I saw a Hay Hut or similar in the Wal-Mart ad in my FB feed recently.
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I got my big gelding’s joint supplements through Platinum Performance. My vet recommended them. Good service and the supplement was apparently palatable because he ate it without a fight. Don’t know if they still do this but they used to have single serve bars for endurance horses AND humans!
Riding Warehouse and SmartPak have been my go-to’s for tack, largely because they offer free shipping at low order amounts and free return shipping on sized items. I’m leaning more towards Riding Warehouse lately due to SmartPak’s various issues, but I find that they are a little more limited on brands etc. I always avoided Dover because of their ludicrous shipping rates, but will probably try them again sometime now that things have improved there.
One useful thing I’ve recently discovered for horse-related shopping is PayPal’s “Return Shipping On Us” program. If you pay for something with PayPal, they will reimburse you for shipping if you need to return it. You can get 12 refunds a year of up to $30 each. I’ve used it at Adams, Bossy’s Bibs, Cinch Chix, etc. It is a great way to expand your shopping options without worrying about paying for return shipping if something doesn’t fit or isn’t as expected for some other reason.
Of course there’s Amazon, which is where I spend most of my online-shopping money, but it’s so-so on tack.
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I had not heard of this PayPal service. Thanks!
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State line tack was my go to for MSM and Uckele G.U.T. when I fed it. They always had the best price and fast shipping. I like Riding Warehouse, Big D’s and I do miss SmartPak before the issues.
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For gifts for horse and dog lovers my go to is dog & pony show hands down. Amazing customer service. Neat items.
Wilton tack is great but they deliver my feed so add my online purchases to that so I’m not sure about shipping.
Cheers
andrea
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The Connected Rider has nice stuff and has always been easy to deal with.
Well I live in MA, where SmartPak started and has a warehouse/office, AND Dover has an office and warehouse. So I often order from one of them. If SmartPak has it in stock in the Plymouth warehouse I get it in 2 days. Dover often takes longer. If SmartPak has to ship from another one of their warehouses it takes longer. I’ve had relatively few problems with both, and the one time I distinctly remember having a time sensitive issue at Dover they rectified the situation immediately.
I’ve also ordered from Bit of Britain multiple times for things SmartPak and Dover didn’t have, but it does take longer.
I think part of the problem is that one particular store had awesome shipping and customer service for a long long time while it was still a smallish company but now it’s much larger and has more large company typical issues, so it’s really just like ordering from any old place.
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Whenever I’m looking for something, I price-compare between: Smartpak, Big Dee, Chicks, Jeffers, Schneiders, Riding Warehouse, VTO, and Amazon. I’ve had great luck with all of them in terms of quality, cost, shipping, and customer service.
Some other places I’ll check if I can’t find what I want there include: Mary’s, Farm House, Bit of Britain, Stateline, Horze, Horseloverz, and Dover. I’ve never had horrible experiences with any of these, either, I just often find better deals or faster shipping elsewhere.
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@Wanderosa my Halter Ego shipment came in super quickly - 3-5 days. Honestly, I recommend them, but this was my first experience with them. I will definitely be buying from them again for sure 
Riding Warehouse is great. Sometimes, they just don’t carry what I need, but a lot of my smaller item repeat purchases come from there (Higher Standards, POMMS, gloves).
For blankets/horsewear, I usually check Adams and Performance Horse Blankets first.
Most tack I tend to order through various specialty stores / online stores for good LTS since the main local tack shop closed, and that’s usually dependent just on who carries X brand in the options I’m looking for. So, I’d look at The Tack Room, Mary’s, etc.
I’ve also had some decent experience with Tack Warehouse for some harder to find foreign brands, which they usually get drop shipped. Sometimes easier than ordering from Europe.
Typically Schneiders or Big Dee’s for supplements, whichever is running a sale on them as most of my supplements are not carried by Smartpak, and I make my own.
I buy my breeches solely from Smartpak.
Lately I’ve been ordering from Riding Warehouse and their prices are excellent, shipping is fast, and you cant beat that return policy. They are also partnering with more and more big name brands to offer items the other retailers are not.
For last minute items, or frequently used items, like bellboots I support my local consignment tack shop which sells new and used (Another Turn Tack & Apparel), as they have some good deals and prices, and tend to run more monthly specials on things I actually use than the big online retailers.
The Dollar Store is also my friend for things like epsom salt, rubbing alcohol, witch hazel, and other barn supplies like scissors, rags or sponges, dish soap, bleach, etc.
I pretty much only shop online for stable stuff that the feed store doesn’t carry. I’ve gotten the BEST blankets and turnouts from Schneiders—super well-made and reasonably priced. Just washed 6, one at a time, in my washer and they come out looking like new. Halters, I like kind of fancy! I’ve gotten 3 halters and matching leads from http://www.redhautehorse.com. Each of my boys has a different one although they all have blue in them. They also have dog things I think at a related site. Supplements, I use Platinum and get it from my vet for less than I can buy and ship it online. Water buckets, corner feed tubs, sparkly manure fork (!), all from https://kdequestrian.com in Gainesville TX. They have a great selection of colors and everything is sturdy. LOVE My corner feed tubs because they are deep, rugged and good-looking. Tack—we don’t have any English tack stores nearby. THere is a Dover store in Austin, more than an hour away but I’m picky about tack. I ride in my 45-year old Crosby PDN, and found a 2nd one on eBay hardly used for $200. So that’s my backup. I would like to get another bridle (have one TSS) so that my horses don’t have to share and I want Edgewood, so I would either order directly from them or from Quail Hollow Tack shop in Flower Mound—which is 5+ hours from here. I don’t care for the cheaper tack offered online but I’m old school. So it’s kind of all over.
As an employee of Dover, I’m glad to read that some of you have had better results the past two years. We have a CEO who’s been there just about two years, and he really, really pays attention and wants things to be better. We aren’t perfect, but I absolutely believe we’re moving in the right direction.
Dover started out as one store, and grew from there. Somewhere along the way, it got too big for it’s management style, and it took some tough times to get people on board with the fact that there had to be changes - some of them pretty major.
Okay - I’m stepping back off my Dover soapbox now!
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Riding Warehouse will price match.
“GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICES: Simply put, if you find a lower price, on any product we stock, we will match it.” with some fine print of course, but they DO price match.
I’ve also been able to special order things through them that they don’t typically stock, if they carry other items by that manufacturer. They’ve ordered me a saddle pad they didn’t normally carry.
Plus RW pretty much always has 20% off coupons floating around!
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I used to live an hour from the SmartPak store and got 95% of horse-related stuff from them. Now that we live in VA, shipping is slow…painfully slow (although the last two orders I placed with them came within a week so maybe things are on the upswing?). Both of my horses have been on SmartPaks and I pretty much live in their Piper breeches, so I still throw a lot of $$$ their way.
I’ve had good experiences with Dover and Stateline tack as well - Stateline had a 30% sale on blankets recently and I got my new Horseware blankets delivered in less than 22 hours!
I try to support my LTS as best I can - the Saddlery in Great Falls, VA and Another Turn Tack was also mentioned.
I was very pleased by the selection, price, and shipping speed of Breeches.com for my tall boots (and as a short person, I’m a hard fit for boots). Don’t know about their horse-related stuff, but for dressing the human, I’d recommend them 100%.
Good to know! There’s a few items on their site that caught my eye.
