Equestrian shop expands

With the expansion and new location of A Bit Less Tack, purchasing or selling horse equipment, riding apparel, and equine-related gifts has become a lot easier. Sisters Heather Naasz and Teresa Roff own A Bit Less Tack. They chose a location that’s easy to find, accessible for horse trailers, and able to contain their vast inventory of consigned and new horse products.

Originally the store was run by Naasz and was located by Costco. When Roff decided to move over from the Willamette Valley and be closer to her grandchildren, the sisters became partners in the business. To make sure they were offering the best products and services, the women asked their customers what they wanted in the store, and that’s what they stock. The new location at 370 SE 3rd St. in Bend is much larger, and better suited to accept saddles, tack, riding apparel, and other equine supplies and products for consignment. They’re also the only place in Bend that’s carrying Haystack brand feed.

The store has about equal amounts of new items and consignments.

“We have new blankets, clothing, and barn supplies,” said Roff. “We offer equal numbers of English and Western saddles. Right now, we have 178 saddles in the store, which is probably the biggest inventory in Oregon. We have more new Western saddles, but more used English saddles. There’s a wide variety of saddles at different price ranges.”

She noted, I’ve been a 4-H leader for years; in fact, this is the first year I haven’t done it. I have a soft spot for kids who have a hard time affording what they need to participate in 4-H and OHSET. They can purchase things here for a fraction of the cost. You could come in and buy a saddle for $150 or purchase a high-end saddle for over $4,000.”

Roff says their store also has the largest inventory of new and used endurance saddles and tack in the area.

All of their consigned saddles are available online through their website. Depending on the type of tack, they also sell through other platforms like eBay and Facebook. But when buying or selling tack, having a brick-and-mortar store offers benefits not available if you’re relying solely on a few online photos.

“People can come in and check out a saddle for five days and return it if it doesn’t fit their horse.

There’s no fee to do it.

They can check out more than one saddle at a time, too,” said Roff.

“We know it can be hard to fit your horses with all kinds of tack, so we take returns on everything.

We have people come in all the time with their horse trailers and try on saddles in our parking lot.

We try to keep our price points a bit less and under the suggested retail price.

We’re trying to be competitive with online options.

Our goal is to eventually have all our store items available online but we’re not there yet.

People can buy items and pick them up or we can ship them.

We sell out of state as well as in Oregon.

We move a lot of saddles.

Since July, we’ve gained 200 new consigners.

We keep receiving more saddles but we’re moving a lot too.

We carry the new Barefoot saddles for endurance and sell new and used Circle Y saddles, too.”

The sisters are also offering some fun social opportunities to meet more horse people and learn how to paint. Once a month on Sundays, they do paint parties at 5 p.m. Because it’s so popular, signups are required. Tickets are $45 per person and include painting materials, beverages, and snacks. After paying the artist, proceeds go to a local charity.

“We have an artist come in and we all paint something. Last month we did a horse. Thirty people took part in that one. Most recently we did a barn. The artist teaches how to paint the subject step-by-step,” said Roff. “Next month’s paint party is January 22. We’re asking people to send in a photograph of their animal and the artist will sketch the outside of the shape. People can paint their own horse or dog. Everyone will paint the face and fill in the colors. It’s fun! We find it builds community for the horse people in the area. All people have to do is show up; everything’s included.”

A Bit Less Tack is located at 370 SE 3rd St. in Bend. Consignment agreements and requirements are on the website: www.abitlesstack.com. To learn more about the painting parties or the products they carry and consign, call 541-323-3262.