How to Start a Horse Tack Business

If you enjoy working with horses and horse owners, a tack shop can be an excellent part-time or full-time business. Horse people are always looking for the latest supplies and gadgets. If you can supply those needed items at a competitive price, you can do quite well. As with any business, it pays to be creative, and to find new and innovative ways to advertise and market your business. It also pays to scope out the competition and look for better ways to get horse owners the tack they need.

Things You'll Need

  • Tack
  • Sales fliers
  • Business cards
  • Horse trailer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Decide where your tack shop will be located. If you plan to locate your tack shop business on your home property, check with your municipality to make sure zoning permits this commercial use. If you plan to rent space, check the rental prices, and look for a spot with plenty of vehicular traffic. Locating your tack shop on a widely traveled road in a rural area can maximize the number of horse owners who pass by. An urban or suburban location would not be as appropriate.

    • 2

      Visit other local tack shops to get a feel for how busy they are, and to check out the prices of the tack. Visit at different times of the day, and on both weekdays and weekends. If the existing tack shops in your area are doing well, there might be room for an additional competitor.

    • 3

      Consider opening a consignment tack shop instead of a traditional one. Most horse owners end up with at least a few pieces of tack that they no longer need, and they would love the chance to recoup some of their money. Selling tack on consignment also helps to keep prices down, giving you a leg up on competitors who sell only new and more costly saddles, bridles and other tack.

    • 4

      Solicit a few tack consignments from people you know. This will give you enough inventory to get started while you build your business and market your consignment tack shop. You can add new items later, if you wish, but working with consignments is a low-cost way to get your new tack shop up and running.

    • 5

      Print business cards and fliers advertising your new tack business and soliciting quality tack consignments. Be sure the fliers include your phone number and email address so interested buyers and sellers can contact you.

    • 6

      Load your horse trailer with tack and go to as many local horse shows and events as you can. To market your tack shop business, you need to be where the horse owners are. Bring plenty of saddle racks, bridle racks and tables to display your wares. Horse shows are the perfect place to sell tack, since chances are at least one competitor has forgotten a vital piece of equipment.