Plastic Tack

I love leather.

I love the smell, the feel, the weight. I love the cleaning and conditioning process--seeing dry leather transform into supple glory.  It looks timeless, classy, and harkens back to a different era dominated by horses. Working with leather is working with a living organism: if you don't feed it, nourish it, or care for it properly-- it will crack, fall apart, and ultimately die. Nothing beats well-maintained, broken in, luxuriously soft leather.

loveeeee

But all these endurance people use their plastic tack in god-awful colors and rave about how freakin wonderful it is. Easy to clean, strong, soft, blah blah blah. Whatever, it's ugly, I can't deal with it. But everywhere I look...there it was....plastic tack! What is the big deal...

I just cant...

My hunter/jumper background was screaming at me, I could feel the eternal judgment of George Morris haunting me for even considering such blasphemy. But I needed a breastplate for my saddle so I figured this was a good starting place if I was ever going to venture into endurance tack land. I bought a breastplate in black, because I just can't quite make the leap into colored tack just yet (baby steps people...). I looked up decent brands and settled on a biothane Zilco breastplate: 

"I'm just going to itch my face and ruin everything while you try and take decent pics"

But I'll be damned if I didn't fall head over heels for plastic tack. And trust me...I went in skeptical and wanting to hate it... because it's PLASTIC. TACK. How could something so silly compare to the glory that is leather tack? But ugh, it did an excellent job keeping my saddle secure and fits Calvin really well. In fact, he's filled out quite a bit in his shoulder/neck and he went from the tightest hole in "horse size" to now being in the middle of the settings. Needless to say this breastplate is super adjustable. 

Plastic tack in action

Also if you stick it in the dishwasher (hehehe) it comes out looking brand new. But most days all it needs is a quick rinse with the hose. I've had it for over a year now and it still looks as good as the day I bought it. Plus there is something about spraying tack with a hose that is just so satisfying.

Spray with water and voila

While leather still holds my heart, I have learned to accept the plastic tack for what it is: convenient, easy, and functional. I'm pretty sure my next piece of tack will be biothane as well. Damn you endurance people.