Any Vegetarians or Vegans who ride?

hannabanana

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Just seeing if im not the only one whos veggie and rides. Do you use leather or substitutes when it comes to saddles and boots ect. Tbh i think its pretty hard to be veggie and own a horse, but i just try to limit my usage of leather ect. whats your thoughts?...oh please no sly comments about veggies, i get that ALL the time on Yahoo when it comes to these kind of questions:D
 

KitKat_89

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I am most deffinately a carnivore! But I know several veggies that ride, so dont worry you arnt alone! :D

Though im not sure they have particularly thought through the leather side of things like you have.... quite happy to have leather tack ect. :eek:
 

nelle48

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I'm veggie and i have my own horse :D
She has a synthetic saddle, but a leather bridle. I don't really mind, but i would prefer synthetic in the 'ideal world'. The only other leather thingi have are my boots and that's all. Bella can do without leather imho :D
 

FionaMc

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I'm vegetarian (bar the very occasional sausage sandwich) not vegan though so dairy & leather don't bother me. It's mainly a lifestyle choice, rather than a moral thing, although I don't think I'd go back to eating non-line caught fish, and I think I'd only become a regular meat eater again if I knew it were from my local, non-intensive farm. Ho hum.
 

hannabanana

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really? i have synthetic leather look boots and saddle, my bridle is leather but planning on getting a wintec bridle once i have some spare cash. but im sure that in some horse feeds there would be things like cod liver oil. But i think it would be unfair to stop giving a horse something because its got a bit animal in it. well at least im not the only one, its an arse at shows when there is just a burger van that doesnt even sell chips!! ...that was a very hungry day :(
 

hannabanana

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well wintec do synthetic leather look, but once you buy that, the reins and a martingale it can be a bit pricey. but they are the only ones i can find that do them, i dont like webbing so leather will have to do.
 

BeckyX

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i am a strict veggie in the food sense but i do use leather tack ect... i feel so bad about it but synthetic isnt as durable ect... you are making me feel so guilty!! i am veggie because i dont like the slaughter...i just bouught new gaiters i feel evil :( i do think that i will go vegan when i leave home its to difficult at home so when i am on my own two feet i will try to be 99% eco!!!
 

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I'm veggie but its because i don't like meat, i don't eat fish or eggs either but still eat dairy. So i have no problem with leather saddle etc. I get even more questions because i hunt as well.
 

Malibu_Stacy

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Hey, I'm a vegan who rides....in fact this is my first post, but I feel I have a fair amount of practice when in comes to finding non-leather tack! :)

I don't eat or use (as far as possible) any animal products including leather tack on my own horse (even she was rescued by a friend and then given on to me) though I'll use other peoples leather tack as I feel that's their decision as to what to use with their horse.

I use a wintec saddle, and have for ages used libby's webbing bridles and a kincade webbing one. Of recent, as my horse is finally (sort of) reliable enough to go out to parties I've been looking for a slightly smarter, leather look bridle. The wintec bridle is quite nice (but sadly didn't fit my mare's head :confused:). For a similar price you can get leather look bridles made by Zilco (google it, there aren't many UK stockists, but I found a couple, they mainly do racing/harness/endurance stuff, but also a fairly nice bridle for about £30) or I think the name is Tekna - you can find this on equestrian clearance.

If you have slightly more money then pinkequine do a range of things using a material called lemico (this is wha I've ordered). The lemico bridle is about £60 but that does also include reins, so overall doesn't work out any more expensive than the wintec ones. Slightly more expensive again, my friend recently found that Kieffer do a range (the Jessica bridles) using a leather-look material called Secu. There aren't many stockists in the UK, but I've seen them on a couple of websites, or ship them from Mainland Europe.

I also don't feed my horse any supplements containing animal (and I don't think she's lacking anything from it, she's all round and shiny at the moment :D ), plus you'll find a lot of the larger brands of horsefeed/ supplements (eg D&H) will say on the bag that they don't contain animal products; farriers formula for example is a registered product with the UK vegetarian society.

This has been a mighty long (and probably quite dull, for anyone not interested in buying non-leather tack!) first post, but I hope it helps :)
 

badgerdog

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I've always wondered how veggies cope at competitions when the only food available is a bacon roll??????

It's tough! I always take sandwiches, you can't rely on getting anything edible at a show.
As for the tack, I feel a bit guilty as I have a leather bridle but synthetic saddle. I'm a strict lacto vegetarian but I don't beat myself up about having a bit of leather tack. It's not ideal but I don't live in a perfect world.
 

hannabanana

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i always feel bad when i put my bridle on, i keep thinking that i'm putting a dead cow on his head, but what can i do? there should be some kind of equine veggie range. I have a wintec saddle but its no where near as comfy as my old leather one. but i decided to make the sacrifice. Dont worry BeckyX your not the only one XD i hate slaughter. Its really difficult living with my dad whos a complete carnivore.
 

hannabanana

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wow Malibu-S thanks for the tip!! you have no idea how long ive been looking for leather look bridles other than wintec. i take my hat off to you!! thanks a bunch. Another thing i found, i had a look at the ingredients in my trusty healing cream for cuts and scrapes, that contains fish. Its amazing what things contain animals, i just wish everything was labelled NOT VEGGIE or VEGGIE. its a pain in the arse standing like a spanna reading ingredients in shops n supermarkets for animal bits.
 

Malibu_Stacy

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I've just read your post Malibu-S and I'm now feeling guilty! I'll look up your recommendations for leather look tack. Thanks for the post.
No probs! To be fair it took a LOT of procrastination at work to find all that! :D

Hannabanana and BeckyX, (sorry haven't figured out how to do multiple quotes yet :) ) I didn't become vegan until my final year at Uni, and I'd essentially left home too. My parents were very supportive of the vegetarianism, but I was ahem 'encouraged' by my mother to wait until I became fully vegan, so it wasn't quite so inflicted on them too!

As for eating at shows/out in general, that's what chips are for! :D:D
 

Malibu_Stacy

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i just wish everything was labelled NOT VEGGIE or VEGGIE. its a pain in the arse standing like a spanna reading ingredients in shops n supermarkets for animal bits.

Tell me about it! I have come to loath the words 'whey powder' over the past couple of years, I mean really what does it add to a food!
 

hannabanana

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oh and Geletine....bloody hidden among other ingredients. Been plenty of times people have bought me sweeties ect. and i have to say sorry you keep it i cant have it XD
 

Sarah Sum1

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well wintec do synthetic leather look, but once you buy that, the reins and a martingale it can be a bit pricey. but they are the only ones i can find that do them, i dont like webbing so leather will have to do.

I no longer have a horse, but when i did i bought a synthetic bridle off e-bay, prob not the best quality but the fact it wasn't made from leather mattered to me more :D It was only about £20 inc martingale and rubber reins. Saddle also synthetic, along with everything else.
 

Sarah Sum1

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It's tough! I always take sandwiches, you can't rely on getting anything edible at a show.
As for the tack, I feel a bit guilty as I have a leather bridle but synthetic saddle. I'm a strict lacto vegetarian but I don't beat myself up about having a bit of leather tack. It's not ideal but I don't live in a perfect world.

Please don't take this as a dig, coz it's not :D I don't know your reasons for being a vegetarian, but the part you wrote saying 'you don't beat yourself up about having a bit of leather tack' doesn't make sense to me. You may aswell eat the animal if it has to die to become your leather bridle. I know that sounds extreme, but if every vegetarian still wore and used leather, there would be no point to not eating the meat. But like i said i don't know your reasons for not eating meat, could be medical rather than moral so hey ho :D Not a pop just find it odd that you would avoid one part of a dead animal yet use another. Also there are so many options for leather alternative, it is pretty much a perfect world as far as that goes :p
 

hannabanana

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i see your point sarah sum. but there is alot of views on veggieness. i suppose some people may have already had leather before turning veggie and decided 'well why get rid of it when ive had it this long' or so on. like i have a leather bridle that ive had for donkeys but i do plan on getting a synthetic one when i get the spare cash, i have other things more important or in desperate need of to buy XD. the joys of being skint! :)
 

Sarah Sum1

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i see your point sarah sum. but there is alot of views on veggieness. i suppose some people may have already had leather before turning veggie and decided 'well why get rid of it when ive had it this long' or so on. like i have a leather bridle that ive had for donkeys but i do plan on getting a synthetic one when i get the spare cash, i have other things more important or in desperate need of to buy XD. the joys of being skint! :)

Oh yes i fully agree, there are many reasons and i wasn't meaning to be a grump :D So many things are made with animal bi-product these days (like some electrical items!) it would be impossible to avoid it altogether. Gah just ignore me, in a strange mood tonight:D Definitely check out e-bay for the bridles though :) x
 

hannabanana

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No your not being a grump, i totally understand your point of view. i have checked ebay lots but unfortunatley nothing came up apart from webbed bridles and the odd wintec thats not a full size, but i will keep my eyes peeled. and Electrical products? such as? i havent heard of electricals made of animal! :)
 

Sarah Sum1

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No your not being a grump, i totally understand your point of view. i have checked ebay lots but unfortunatley nothing came up apart from webbed bridles and the odd wintec thats not a full size, but i will keep my eyes peeled. and Electrical products? such as? i havent heard of electricals made of animal! :)

I read it somewhere ages ago that animal bi-products are in so any things you wouldn't expect it to be in and they used a phone charger as an example, not sure what bi-product or why but it wouldn't suprise me.

Very odd though :D
 

d_s

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I'm veggie but its because i don't like meat, i don't eat fish or eggs either but still eat dairy. So i have no problem with leather saddle etc. I get even more questions because i hunt as well.

thats me too^

i dont eat meat or fish, and i dont eat cream, ice cream, milk, butter and i try to avoid cheese and chocolate; because i dont like the taste or texture and it makes me gag. its not a moral reason
have no problem with leather. and i am for hunting shooting etc... and ive helped my uncle pluck chickens on his farm lol.

at competitions; my mum packs a picnic for us. noone else is veggie, but she finds it cheaper to take a picnic.. especially because of my diet!!

x
 

Malibu_Stacy

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So many things are made with animal bi-product these days (like some electrical items!) it would be impossible to avoid it altogether.

That's so true; I try to avoid it wherever possible, but there comes a point where you would just go insane trying to not have any animal by-products at all (and yet I still keep a-trying!). Overall, I try to think of it in terms of 'overall animal suffering', i.e. me persuading someone that it is possible to, even if not become veggie/vegan but eat less meat, probably has a greater impact on the number of animals that suffer than being uber uber strict (which is just off putting, although on saying that I am still fairly strict with myself in most cases).
 

hannabanana

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I read it somewhere ages ago that animal bi-products are in so any things you wouldn't expect it to be in and they used a phone charger as an example, not sure what bi-product or why but it wouldn't suprise me.

Very odd though :D

Well thats food for thought! It is actually impossible to avoid animal consumption. Honestley the debate for and against veggies could go on til the end of time. Its the same with Hunting, i dont like it due to the killing of the animal for no reason, but its to control numbers. As foxs can wipe out a whole chicken coop and just leave with one chicken. and rabbits spread disease ect. But i just dont participate XD. I just try to keep my consumption to a minimum. I think its hard enough being vegetarian but god i dont know how you manage malibu-stacey. It must be a nightmare when you go shopping, does it not cost a fortune for soy ect?

i am suprised at the amount of replies on this thread!
 
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