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About Us
How We Got into the Tack Business
by Lucy Curley
President, Top Tack, Inc.
 It
all started because of a broken lungeline. My friend, Mary Baechler, brought
home a lungeline for her 16.2 h.h. warmblood. When she got it home, it
wasn't long enough to make a decent circle and it immediately broke! She
complained about it the next time we were riding together, and said, "It
can't be that hard to make a really good lungeline..."
That's really how Top Tack started. Mary had business experience as president
of Racing Strollers, Inc. and I had 15 years experience teaching riding
and we both had experience handling horses. We jumped through all the
legal hoops and formed a company to sell our first product, the World's
Finest™ lungeline to other riders who, like us, wanted something
better.
 It
wasn't long before we were making other training items that we needed
and weren't finding at the local tack and feed stores. As a riding instructor,
I was already experimenting with things like schooling straps and cotton
training reins for my beginning students. And after many years of teaching
lungeline lessons I had a pretty good idea what side reins were supposed
to be doing for me and my horses. The ReBalance™ Sliding Side Reins
are the result of a year's worth of fiddling around with webbing and hardware
in order to get a particular horse to stay round while doing his lungeline
work. Imagine my surprise (and delight) when the prototype Sliding Side
Reins also improved the way of going of the other horses in the neighborhood!
We put them on as many horses as we could find: Hollow horses, crooked
horses, tense horses, pullers and leaners. They all started to carry themselves
better and looked happier too!
Our company motto is: Made for riders, by riders from innovative ideas
with quality manufacturing. That really sums up the purpose of our manufacturing
company. It's really frustrating to be involved in an activity you love
(riding and training horses) when you can't get the right equipment. Or
the equipment available to you is badly designed and poorly made. Most
of the Top Tack products you see on these web pages came from suggestions
made by active riders who were desperate for a piece of equipment that
worked better, was made better or was more convenient to use.
 So
now, let me take a moment to complement horse people on their generosity.
I am a founding member of the Central Washington Dressage Society, have
been a USDF member since 1974, and have been riding, training, teaching
and competing for over 40 years. Even with all that experience, I could
not possibly manage to manufacture and sell tack without the help of my
riding friends! We hear from tack store owners who tell us what their
customers want. Instructors and trainers call us to give feedback about
our products. The local CWDS riders are always willing to let me measure
and test new products on their horses, and are happy to give me their
opinions. A heartfelt Thank You to you all! You are a special group of
people.
What happened to Mary and Lucy, the two who started out with the broken
lungeline? After giving Top Tack the best of her business expertise, Mary
went into the breeding end of the horse industry with her Swedish Warmblood
stallion, Amorex. You can see Amorex, and her new stallion, Pehrsson,
and her new stallion, Pehrsson, at Magpie Farm in Yakima WA, or on the
web: www.magpiefarm.com.
New Owners!!
And, now Top Tack has moved to the next level of development with new
ownership. After 17 successful years in the equine industry, I have sold
our business to our associates at Custom-Tack, who have been the main
producers of our quality equine and canine goods over the past 10 years.
Patty Reno, at Custom-Tack, will continue to manufacture and sell the
product line you see on these pages, with no reduction in quality or service.
Click on the Riding Lessons page to
see more pictures of the horses who test and model our products!
Photo Credit: The pictures on this page were provided by Anne Buckler
of the Central Washington Dressage Society. To see more of her pictures,
visit the CWDS web
site.
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