Tacking Up

The Gear

Tacking Up

If you're a beginner, don't be put off by the prospect of having to handle a large strange horse and know how to tack up (put all the gear on) during your first lesson. Riding schools will generally have your horse ready for you to ride when you arrive. (Just remember to check your girth)

If you want to learn how to put on and take off your horse's gear or generally help with the horses, you will find that you are most welcome to. You might like to start by taking your horse's gear off after your lesson. There'll be less of a time constraint and taking gear off, is easier to start with than putting it on correctly.

Tack

The sorts of gear (known as tack) that you may come into contact with as part of your riding lessons are; the saddle, bridle, head collar or halter, lead ropes, boots and blankets. If your horse has more complicated gear on than this, like a martingale, ask why, as this may mean that this is not a suitable horse for you to learn on.

All tack is done up from the near side and many items either have buckles only on one side or have more buckles on one side than another. This is a visual clue for you, when you are putting tack on, as to which way around it should go. Everything seems very simple in the books and pictures but when you are confronted with actually tacking up the first few times, you'll appreciate all the clues you can get.

The Head Collar, Halter or Head Stall

Head collars may be made from leather, webbing, nylon or rope and are the most basic form of control over your horse.

If the halter is leather or webbing it may have one or two buckles that both do up on the near side and a couple of 'O' rings where the noseband and the headpiece join on. Generally you will only undo the buckle on the headpiece (see photo right) and then slide the noseband down over the horse's nose. Connect to the Internet if you can't see this image.

Head stalls technically are the basis of a bridle, without a bit or reins. Halters may be made in such a way as to teach your horse to lead with some manners, that is they may provide a 'halting' action on either the poll and\or nose of the horse (much like a hackamore). These sorts of halters are usually made from rope, the various joins being made from slip knots to allow the halter to change shape in order to provide this halting action.

On This Page

Halters, Head Stalls
Putting a bridle on
Boots
Putting a saddle on
Blankets

Related Pages

Trivia
Safety
Sore Backs
Gear Links

Putting a Bridle On

Before taking off the horse's halter, slip the reins over the horse's head and down his neck. This will give you some control over your horse if he should take fright or misbehave when you are trying to put the bridle on.

Note: Horse's behave in different ways to having a bridle put on, some are so eager or used to the routine, that they literally open up their mouths for you and help take the bit in, others are more tentative about having all those bits of leather near their eyes or may remember a bad experience with a bit and others take delight in teasing you. Be calm, positive and workmanlike when tacking up and be considerate of your horse's sensitivities to items near their eyes or ears.


After putting the reins over the horse's head, remove the headcollar. In this case it is sufficiently loose to simply slip over the horse's ears but with most halters you will need to unbuckle the headpiece.		With one hand hold your horse's nose, to keep it steady and slide the bridle up in front of his face.	Use one hand to hold the bridle and use the other to guide the bit into his mouth. You may need to use your thumb to press his gums toward the back of his lips to ask him to open his mouth	Once the bit is in place, slide the headpiece over the horse's ears. Make sure that you keep sufficent tension to keep the bit in place until the headpiece is secure.
After the headpiece is in place, bring the forelock through	Do up the throatlash. Make sure that you have one rein looped over your arm.	Make sure the throatlash isn't too tight, you should still be able to get your hand through.	Fasten the noseband. In this case, it's a dropped noseband but you should do up the noseband appropriately for the type.

Boots

neoprene brushing boots

Neoprene boots come in a variety of colours too!

Boots for horses come in many shapes and materials, including leather, synthetic and neoprene. Boots are most often used to protect the horse from knocking his own legs against one another or against obstacles in jumping.

By far the most common boots for everyday use in New Zealand are neoprene brushing boots, they're relatively cheap, easy to keep clean and fit any size horse. They wrap around the fetlock of the horse, and have long velcro straps to keep them on. You simply position them on each leg and wrap the straps around.

However different horses have different requirements depending on their action. Bell boots protect the front legs from overreach injuries, tendon boots help support tendons and protect them from cuts or bruises, floating or trucking boots try to protect the entire lower leg including the hocks and knees while a horse is transported.

There is also a huge range of specialist boots to protect horses for competition and for therapeutic purposes including sliding boots for western competition, magnetic boots and hose boots which allow a horse's legs to be constantly cooled with water.

Saddling Up

*If you are saddling a horse for the first time, make sure that you have someone on hand to check your work. A badly placed saddle may be dangerous for you and painful or harmful for your horse.

Begin saddling by brushing your hand over the horse's back, this both smooths down the hair and checks for any injuries or items stuck in the coat that you may not have seen.

[PHOTOS BELOW] [1] Then place the saddle cloth or numnah on the horse's back making sure that is sits neatly and evenly. Do not place the saddle too far forward or it will restrict the horse's shoulder and may cause pain or injury. Place your hand on the shoulder blade and check that there is 2-3 fingers of room before the panel makes contact with the wither. [2] Place the saddle quietly on and [3] bring the saddle cloth up under the pommel of the saddle so that it doesn't pinch or put pressure on the withers as the girth tightens on the saddle. [4-5] If there are straps for the numnah, do these up now.

Connect to the Internet if you can't see this image.

[6-8] Finally bring the girth around to do up. [9] Leave a hand's width free, at first, to allow you to smooth the skin down under the girth. This makes sure that the girth isn't pinching before you finally tighten it up. [10 & 11-12] Ideally the girth should sit approx 1 hands width behind the horse's front leg (elbow) however this may vary with the horse's shape, type of saddle and the girth fittings.

Blankets & Rugs

Like everything else, rugs come in a wide variety of shapes and materials. Frequently horses may have a number of rugs, and wear more than one during the colder winters months. The inner rug can be a warm quilted rug that doesn't have to be waterproof since it is shielded by the heavy waterproof outer rug. If you're helping to put a horse's rugs on, the important thing to remember is that you make sure that the fastenings aren't going to rub on the horse or get tangled up in his legs.

Connect to the Internet if you can't see this image. New Zealand Rugs: Commonly used in New Zealand this is a heavy waterproof canvas with simple fastenings that allow the horse freedom and yet keep the rug on, no matter what. Overseas these are even known as 'New Zealand' rugs, although the version sold overseas often have more complex fastenings (they just can't stop themselves from making life more complex than it need be).

New Zealand rugs tend not to be 100% waterproof since they are just canvas (although it is 'proofed') they are however intended to provide protection from the worst of the weather and keep a horse used to living out 24x7 dry and warm in the temperate NZ climate without 'coddling' it.

A New Zealand rug has just 2 sets of straps. The rear leg straps go from just in front of the hind legs, are passed between the legs toward the tail, crossed over the opposite strap and twisted before being clipped onto 'D' rings at the back of the rug. The twisting is done so that the straps do not rub between the horse's rear legs. Clips are done up through the 'D' rings of both rugs (if an underrug is being worn) and face the horse's body. The spare leather is then fed through the clip ring, protecting the horse from both the clip and the rubbing of any spare strap leather. (In British books you will see the instruction to clip to the Dee away from the horse's body - but this is because the leather is then simply left hanging)

At the front the straps are simply done up. If an under rug and/or protector is worn then the strap of the under rug is passed through a loop on the protector to stop it from sliding around underneath the rugs.

Synthetic Rugs are light and flexible Synthetic Rugs: Synthetic rugs are becoming very popular as they are lighter and more waterproof than canvas. They do tend to be more expensive than canvas rugs and the fabric tears more easily than heavy canvas. However, newer high-tech fabrics with greater strength and even some stretch are coming onto the market. When putting rugs on your horse remember that they have more problems shedding heat than staying warm, so don't wrap him up too warmly! Hay provides a very efficient central heating system for your horse.

Anti-Rub Vests: Some horses also need a small poncho-like nylon or satin protector to help stop heavy rugs from rubbing on their withers or shoulders. These may also use fleece patches for additional protection and all should have some method of attaching to the outer rug to stop it from slipping around.

Home | Welcome | What's New | Help | New Zealand