Most tack these days from the big shops come from overseas, which means a larger carbon footprint and often lower quality goods. It also means synthetic materials that can irritate your horse. In this post, we highlight the best brands doing things the old fashioned way, by hand, heritage producers of heirloom horse tack.
At LeafScore we’ve spent years on non-toxic bedding, cookware, and the pet aisle — and horse tack belongs on that list. Horses sweat and wear leather and rope against their skin for hours, and some chrome-tanned leather can shed chromium into sweat at levels well above safety limits. Where your tack comes from matters.
A big part of assembling this piece was checking sourcing for the handful or artisan makers we could find. Sadly, the western equine world has been taken over by a lot of non-horse people, and by private equity. Dover Saddlery famously went public, and rumor has it is now under the control of private equity, as many of the large online retailers are.
Below, we list our top picks for the highest quality Western tack brands.
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Our top pick: Wibaux (formerly Andrea Equine)
Wibaux
The best quality western tack brand based on our research process. Handmade across the board from artisans located in the USA. Reviews consistently praise the quality of the leather and rope in particular.
You may know this tack as Andrea Equine, founded on California’s Central Coast by trainer Andrea Cao — who rode for the Stanford equestrian team and competed on her own gear. When Andrea changed careers, a horse family bought the business and rebranded it Wibaux, named for the founder’s great-grandfather, who homesteaded 4,200 acres in Wibaux County, Montana. It’s still handmade in the USA from American leather, in family shops paid fair wages.
It’s not just the leather. Wibaux’s rope, leather, and bits are regarded among the best in the world, held up alongside clinician tack like Clinton Anderson’s. The leather is hand-cut American hide that arrives soft and ready to ride; the rope is prized for its weight and feel; and the Western snaffles are sweet iron with a copper inlay and a dee-ring shape built to stop the cheek-pinching of cheaper bits.
One rider, comparing it to pricier trainer sets:
“The quality of the Andrea Equine is equal to or better than the more expensive set. The rope has the same weight and movement and the halter gets the same response from my horses as the other trainer sets. After a few months of testing I ordered a second halter and lead rope set.”
You can see from the reviews that Wibaux also serves the European and Italian markets in addition to the US and Canada. Some of their reviews are written in Italian.
Martin Saddlery – best for saddles
If you’re shopping specifically for a saddle, Martin Saddlery — “The Company Cowboys Keep” is the saddle specialist on our list, and it answers the questions we care about: it’s handcrafted in the USA on the brand’s proprietary Axis® tree, and built with Hermann Oak leather — the benchmark American tannery. The line spans every Western discipline: barrel, roping, ranch, show pen, and all-around, in seat sizes from 11″ to 17″. Where Wibaux is the all-rounder, Martin is who we’d point a serious rider to for a handcrafted saddle on a proven tree.
Still confirming: is all of Martin’s leather vegetable-tanned Hermann Oak, or chrome-tanned for some lines? What’s the Axis® tree built from wood and rawhide, or synthetic? And are the pads and linings natural or synthetic?
Circle Y — best for trail & barrel
Rounding out the list, Circle Y is the heritage name here — a saddle maker trusted for 60+ years and recently revived under new ownership. Its calling card is the signature Flex2® tree, a flexible tree built for close contact and all-day comfort that has made Circle Y a long-time favorite for trail and barrel riders in particular. The full range covers trail, barrel, ranch, roping, youth, and more. If Martin is the custom-tree specialist, Circle Y is the proven, widely available pick with a tree built to move with the horse.
Still confirming: are Circle Y saddles still made in the USA after the change in ownership? What’s inside the Flex2® tree? And how is their leather tanned?
The Bottom Line
Consolidation and a lot of corporate influence has come to the equine industry. It is harder than ever to find brands doing it the right way. In the list above, we give our top three choices, with Wibaux as the clear winner because of its small size and commitment to artistry in producing tack. If you are looking for something off the beaten path, from an independent brand with a very cool origin story, and want quality that means built to last, it’s hard to beat Wibaux right now.