References for tack and customising.

Hey everyone, in answer to Alice’s call for blog posts here is one on reference material.

Good references are vital to success in both tack making and customisation, so here is a brief rundown of what I use

Firstly for tack making.

Google. Google is a wealth of resources for just about anything you could dream of and more punch in what you want and voila pictures.

Books

Oh all the horse books I have, it’s not funny. Here are some of the best for tack making.

Firstly and NZPC manual it will set you back about $45 dollars but is really worth it, trust me. In addition to being a treasure trove of diagrams and images in all aspects of English tack. It is also a really good resource regarding horse care.

Next, I am not sure if this is still in print or not but as well as having good English references it has good western and side-saddle ones. I think I got this from a $1 book sale or an op shop but if you see a copy I can recommend buying it.

Another thing have found to be surprisingly useful is advertising brochures as they often have

Many very clear pictures. Don’t throw them out.

A bad picture trying to show what I mean.

I only recently got this one for my birthday but am sure it will be very helpful for customisation as it shows all of the horse's gaits in all stages.

In terms of other online resources,

Braymere Custom Saddlery’s tack index is very good as is her blog itself. I mentioned early that google is good. Another thing I thought I would mention is youtube if you look up how to put a particular item of tack on a horse it can give some good insight into where different straps go.

Happy tack making.

Emily