Horsatack in Milton Keynes - anyone been yet? Any good?

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BeckyD

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I noticed a new tack shop on the hockey stadium roundabout a few weeks ago but haven't been yet - looks a bit big and supermarket-y if you know what I mean. Wondered if anyone has been there and what it's like and what things it sells?
 
Not been there but zero out of ten for the marketing work experience person ( surely can't have been a pro?) who made up the name!
At first glance it looks like Horseattack. as in attack on a horse,so I leapt to this topic thinking a horse had been attacked!
 
ME !!! I went yesterday, so I am EXPERT
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It's OK, i think. On the plus side, its nice and light and airy, there is plenty of space, so you can stand and look at stuff without constantly having to get out of people's way. They had a good selection of jods and tops and casual stuff, as well as inexpensive show jackets. Everything was very well-labelled and given enough space so you could look at it properly - i HATE searching through disorganised racks of breeches trying to find my size, or where everything is so crammed onto a tiny rack that as soon as you remove one pair of breeches / top /jacket, everything else falls onto the floor.

As well as clothing, they sell all the usual stuff - hats, BPs, stable stuff, etc. They stock Cobra and Rodney Powell BPs (still no Racesafe, sob). There is a small selection of grooming stuff, I wasn't majorly impressed to be honest. They sell the Bates and Wintec range of saddles, although I am not sure how thye'd manage the fitting as there is no way to bring your horse there. They also sell supplements and a small range of veterinary items. They also have a reasonable range of rugs.

The very best thing is, they have a mechanical horse ! It looks very cool indeed, i wanted to have a go on it. I believe its for the saddle fitting service, but wasn't too sure.

On the down side, a lot of the items look a little bit shoddy. They stock a lot of clothing from a brand called Foxwood including the aforementioned cheap show jackets, and sorry, but they do look cheap. They might look better on, but they all looked rather sad and sorry on the hangers! Some of the own-brand jods simialrly look very thin and I do wonder how well they'd stand up to regular riding.

I beleive Horsatack is connected to Weatherbeeta, as there was quite a limited range of brands - Bates, Dublin, Weatherbeeta, Wintec, with only Joules and Mark Todd as the more "premium" brands. They do stock Sergio Grasso & Mountain Horse boots, but again, most of the boots are Dublin branded. The other saddlery was mostly Kincade or another brand that I hadn't encountered before, along with some Mark Todd stuff.

I think it will be a good cheap-and-cheerful sort of place (my 5 year old was very keen on the purple sparkly jodhpurs, and the sparkly whips). I suspect it won't take a huge amount of business away from the other saddlers in the area though, its a different class of stuff.

I bought a saddle stand and some treats for the Moose. They also sell the most awesome PURPLE stirrups....
 
Boo it sounds a bit disappointing. I'll carry on trekking all the way over to RB!

Thank you for the full and thorough summary
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I feel like I know the place now!
 
it was a bit of a blather, wasn't it ! I think i will be sticking to RB as well, to be honest, even if they DON'T have a mechanical horse - the staff in there seem much more approachable for one thing, and there is more choice of brands.
 
I went, twice. i really like it and found the staff nice, had a joke with them and overall, like their stuff.

It's just round corner from me so ideal really
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It is the flagship of a new franchise business connected to Wetherbeta, so most of the stock will be related to them. The mech horse Stu is there to try the saddle for yourself then you get it fitted for the horse. The prices seem quiet competitive, though I think the suppliments might be more then R&B. Most places start off with a soft opening to give staff time to find where everything is, make sure tills are working etc. The big opening is 12/13th July and Mark Todd and Ben Maher are expected to be there. I did notice 2 indentical shirts one more expensive yet the Foxwood one looked no cheaper. The same with a tack box we looked at only difference was Roma on the outside, everything else was the same except the price!
 
Mmm I went there the other day following on from my original post. The focus on Weatherbeeta/Roma/Mark Todd brands was a bit disconcerting. Don't get me wrong, I love all MT stuff, and weatherbeeta rugs too, but it's just all a bit "samey". I like to pick and choose what I want from a load of different ranges. The bridles range was VERY limited. And numnahs.

Prefer RB overall, but Horsatack is pretty cheap - certainly compared to Olney saddlery (now a DH) which is my local.

Bonus is it's only 2 mins drive from my office
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I have been in there a couple of times and am not overly impressed tbh.

I felt it lacked the feel of other places such as RB and Denne's but that could be due to it all being very new. I agree with Trundle in that it managed to make some things look inferior although not sure how as one of the things I thought looked naff was a Mark Todd rug!

I think I will stick to RB, Denne's or Dennis' at a push if I fancy a trek although the opening hours are handy for any emergency purchases ont he way home from work. (although I guess there is no feed so that will probably be limited to emergency fly spray lol)
 
Rideaway is meant to knock spots off this store, problem is it is nr York!! I text my friend the prices for here & she says they are about the same. Rideaway do a catalogue so going to get one sent, but she reckons it is even better then Robinsons.
 
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