What tack can you buy if you don’t own a horse? I’m currently leasing a horse but I might be switching. I’m considering buying a breastplate. Any other pieces of tack to buy if you don’t own a horse?
I was in your same boat a couple of years ago. Most horses, unless they’re crazy big or small, can wear the same halter, lead ropes, bridle, leg wraps, saddle pads, etc. I just gradually collected stuff over time as I found good deals then by the time we bought a horse we had it all.
I would start small - saddle pads, halter and lead, wraps, boots or polo wraps. I’d avoid buying expensive tack that may not be one size fits all.
I would buy items that promote the safety and comfort of the horse. The first thing I would buy is a high quality saddle pad. Also wraps and boots.
I would suggest you hold off on purchasing the actual leather tack until you select the horse. Horses come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You may end up purchasing a low withered WB chubby or you may find your perfect partner looks more like a tall shark finned TB-type. Two types of horses that will need two different types of saddles. Same goes for bridles. A petite head may need a cob bridle while a larger head may need an over-sized bridle. Same argument goes for standing martingales, girths, boots and even halters. Some horses need breastplates, many don’t.
Exciting times! Best of luck!
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Reins. Your absolute favorite type of reins. They always seem to come in handy no matter if you own or not. Maybe bits in the more common sizes, if you come across a good deal on them.
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I would try to keep it focused. Only buy what you need for a particular horse that you are leasing. If you need a breastplate or a particular bit for a particular horse, I’d buy whatever you need to get the most out of your leasing experience. I would not buy things in advance, though, I would just buy what you need. While you may not want to purchase super expensive top of the line stuff for a lease horse, I also wouldn’t recommend buying cheap tack. Cheap tack has zero resale value and ages poorly.
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Why are you considering buying a breastplate if you don’t mind my asking?
I never dont have a saddle since it’s not like I dump all my tack when I sell or don’t have a horse. I recommend keeping an eye out for a used mw county something.
a mid-range horse size bridle, like a smartpak brand. A couple of bits.
I always have a loose ring chunky snaffle with a lozenge and a happy mouth Mullen mouth or similar.
fleecy half-pad, i prefer thinline.
a couple of saddle pads
cheaper set of open fronts and short hinds
4 of the easy dover fleecy boots
48 or 50" girth with double elastic. It may not fit everything but it will fit a lot.
lunge line, lunge whip, crop, dressage whip, spurs.
If you are just leasing, I would advise against buying tack. As someone who has leased their horse to people in the past, I wanted them to use my tack because it was fitted to my horse. If you are a hard-to-fit rider, buying a good quality used saddle in a MW tree is a reasonable idea. I also like having a shimmable saddle pad that allows me to change the fit of a saddle within reason. A nice halter is always a good thing to have. I’m not a saddle pad collector – but I keep a couple of nice fleece pads for hunting. For daily use, I ride with a Supracor half pad. They are pricey but the last for ever and they are easy to keep clean, they absorb concussion and they keep a horse’s back cooler. I’m not a fan of polo wraps. Maybe a set of galloping boots. Otherwise, buy the things YOU need for yourself – boots, half chaps, helmet, dressage whip, etc. A breastplate would be one of the last things on my list.
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I am in my 30s, and began lessons at 4 years old. I have never in my life used a breastplate. I know they have their uses, but I’ve yet to find myself in need.
Wait, moderate lie, when I rode ranch horses in Texas they almost all had breastplates.
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One of the first things I bought for myself as a non-owner rider was a set of reins that felt good in my hands. I don’t like the feel of the popular laced reins, am fussy about rubber reins (they MUST be flexible and not bulky), and anything too narrow makes my hands hurt in no time flat. So I purchased a set of rubber reins that felt right in my hands (well, they were actually cotton web reins with rubber woven through the cotton web) and used them til they wore out, and then when I discovered the joys (and beauty!) of plaited reins I bought two sets - one brown and one black.
I also bought a Thinline Ultra halfpad, one of the plain black thin shaped ones, before I bought my pony. I found it helped me be more comfortable in saddles that weren’t necessarily the best fit for me. I also feel better using one, period, as I am a huskier rider and I like that the pad doesn’t change the saddle fit at all but it still gives the horse a bit of extra shock absorption for dealing with my fluffy behind.
Saddle pads will work on just about anything, so finding a few you like isn’t a bad thing.
I wouldn’t buy polos unless you can wrap correctly. They can do more harm than good if wrapped wrong. A set of basic galloping/brushing boots will work for any type of riding you do, but if you’re doing mostly jumping then a set of open fronts and ankle boots might be a better way to go. You can find nice sets of jumping boots (fronts and ankle boots) for not a lot of money. Shedrow (from Greenhawk in Canada), Horka, and BR are three of my favourites (even though the Shedrow ones don’t fit my pony - horse size is too tall and pony is too small widthwise, they’re still nice boots for the price).
Another thing to consider is getting your own stirrup leathers and irons. Nothing is worse than having to wrap the leathers when your legs are half the length of the horse’s owner’s! Being able to simply slip off the leathers and slip on yours can make life super easy. It also means you don’t have to put them back on the owner’s hole after every ride too. And having your own stirrups means you can use whatever feels best to you. For example, I can no longer ride in regular fillis irons. They don’t support my bad leg properly, and since I cannot feel it I am very worried that I will hyperflex that ankle and re-injure it. So I have stirrups with a wide tread that offer a slight bit of shock absorption in the footbed (Compositi Reflex irons if anyone is interested). I keep a set of regular irons on their own leathers for other people to use because out of the few people who ride him occasionally, I’m the only one who likes my special stirrups. Plus, as I said earlier, it’s nice not to have to worry about my stirrups not being put back to the right length!
Other than that, unless you’re showing, I wouldn’t get too much else. Maybe your own set of brushes (just remember to sanitize them between horses!). But things like bridles, bits, saddles, etc, you really need to ask the owner’s permission before you try to use that sort of stuff on their horse. Some owners don’t like when leasers use their own tack, for various reasons, so you need to respect their decision.
If you need and want a thing to better enjoy your riding and leasing now, and you can afford it, buy it. I bought my first bridle when I was showing lesson horses. It gave me a great deal of pleasure to own it and I still own and use that bridle today.
Now, do you need to buy anything? Probably not. Are there some purchases that are less productive than others? I’d avoid buying a saddle if you have one you can use, and I wouldn’t buy a bit unless there was some reason you couldn’t use the bit that came with the horse. If you do buy a saddle, buy something used so you can resell it for a reasonable percentage of what you paid. Be frugal, and know what you’ll use and enjoy in the future.
When the horse you’re riding comes with yucky tack, though, it can be so much nicer to substitute your own, and in the grand scheme of things, it will probably be a small percentage of the money you spend on your riding.
Can we count brushes as tack? 
Get the Hands-on Grooming Gloves. And also all the other brushes. And a shop vac. And the EZ wash wand attachment for the hose.
Otherwise, well, saddle pads if there aren’t enough around are a good idea. But seriously consider if you’re going to have the time/patience to swap reins or stirrup leathers every ride, especially since they can get a bit stiff. (Maybe your lease allows you to leave these items on the owner’s tack full time?) I can’t even be persuaded to swap these items on my own tack as often as I should.
Also don’t forget to save up for your own perishables (you know, boots, helmets, gloves, breeches, those things). I wish I had the money back on a few tack items that I don’t use since I have holes in my breeches again…
I foxhunt, so a breastplate is pretty standard. But I rarely use one when just hacking or schooling.
Yes, totally standard for fox hunting. I only rode baby would be fox hunters, so it wasn’t really something I needed to jump little logs in a flat field or ring 
My daughter half leases and we’ve bought quite a few things in the past year. In her case, it is just easier to have her own gear since she rides at a lesson barn (barn owner’s horse) so she would have to use shared tack. This sometimes means some one else is using what you need/want to use since she rides outside of lessons.
We started off with grooming supplies and saddle pads, then girths (I hated looking for the right length and found some second hand ones for good prices), halter and lead rope and we ended up getting a used saddle. The horse she leases actually didnt have a saddle for a few reasons. I was fine buying one and it came with leathers and stirrups. Now its fly spray and whatever else. I’m fine with this- not everyone who leases buys everything but I don’t mind and it’s just easier to know we have everything she needs. We just bought some used reins.
For xmas she will be getting a bridle.
Much of this will fit another horse if she ends up switching but since I buy second hand I figure I can sell and buy again if needed.
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With a few exceptions, I wouldn’t buy in advance for hypothetical needs, It couldn’t hurt to have a schooling bridle, so that you are using your own and not the owner’s in the event something breaks or is damaged. But in general I would buy as the needs arise for the particular horse you are riding/leasing. The exceptions for me were that I found it helpful to have my own saddle, saddle pad and shimmable half pad, because what fits me is not the most common seat and flap configuration. Having the half pad with shims also gave me adjustability on the saddle fit, which comes in handy if you are switching horses.
I’ve always bought as needed, but over the course of half-leasing 4+ horses and being a bit of a tack addict I’ve amassed an entire closet of tack. As has been mentioned, I started with saddle pads, and that bumped to half pads depending on what was needed to fit my saddle. Shimmable Mattes and a plain Thinline have gotten me along way.
I’d avoid a bridle unless you specifically need one, as getting into sizing makes things harder to swap between horses. However, I have ridden horses in different bits than what lesson kids/other half leaser was using, so I’d pick up a nice second hand bridle to have the second bit ready to go. Or we moved over to a figure 8. Shorter reins, extra reins for 3 ring bits, things like that. Over time it really adds up.
I’d super recommend buying the best you can, second hand. Most of my tack I’ve kept because I could never replace it at the same price I got it. FB groups and eBay can be your best friends. This is also useful if the next horse is a different size, if you want to sell to replace, you’re going to be a better price with nice tack that maintains some value. Or hoard it for the next next horse, like me, ha.
I don’t quite see the purpose of buying just reins. wouldn’t you always be taking them off when you were done after every ride? sounds like more work than needed. spoken as someone who has inherited one saddle, got talked into another, and i have zero horses.
my trainer’s mutton withered arab pony wears a breast collar.
I would just buy what is needed. If the person you are leasing from has really expensive tack they don’t want you to use in lessons/all the time then see what they would like you to have on your own and buy it (I prefer used!) but other than that don’t try too hard to spend your money. Save it!
