Tucker Visits Horse Saddle Shop

Steve Tucker has been in the saddle industry a long time. This experience has given him a vast knowledge about what riders and their horses like in a saddle – particularly trail saddles. If you’ve ever ridden a Tucker saddle, you will agree that his knowledge and desire for quality is clearly seen (and felt) in his saddles. While most saddle manufacturers make saddles for many riding applications, Tucker Trail Saddles focuses strictly on trail saddles. This focus has been extremely valuable to Tucker in developing the best trail saddles in the world.
Horse Saddle Shop was privileged to get a visit from Steve, along with longtime associate Darrell Nephew and Rob Thomas from Circle Y. We enjoyed a time of conversation in our new Outlet store (opened in Feb 2011). Later we enjoyed dinner together sharing mostly about life and a little about business. Steve is a quality individual and we’re proud to be the #1 dealer of his quality line of saddles. Check them out on our website and see for yourself by clicking here.
Pictured above from L to R: Charlie Hueni, Steve Tucker, Rob Thomas, Chuck Klockow, Darrell Nephew.

Cake for Horse Lovers

We recently added Breyer Toys to our lineup of new products on HorseSaddleshop.com. While I was adding the toys to the store online, a certain little saddle-expert-in-training noticed these exquisite hand-painted horses. "You have enough toys," I replied. A few days later we were together at HorseSaddleShop Outlet and she sought them out to sigh over them. It's true that the pictures don't do them justice. Breyer toys aren't like the horses you'll find at the dollar store, with paint hardly splotched in the right places---the type of toys you're only too glad to throw in the Goodwill pile because you're sick of stepping on them. These horses are very realistic and, for lack of a better word, compelling. Everything from the hair on their manes to the muscles on their legs is perfectly formed.

But we still didn't buy any. :) However, my little horse lover is persistent. A few weeks later I asked her to pick out what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. She tracked down a cake that looks like a pasture, complete with plastic horses. Then she sweetly reminded me where I could buy some.

I gave in. The Stablemate series is the perfect size for cake toppers, around four inches long by three inches high. The hardest part for me was choosing which horses, but I finally narrowed it down to the mustang and the quarter horse. The cake was a cinch to slap together, and my

daughter was extremely pleased to finally add some Breyer horses to her collection. If you'd like to make a cake for your horse lover, instructions follow. This would be especially fun to model after your own pasture.

1. Make a cake of the flavor of your choice. Use a 8 or 9 inch

round or square cake pan. I chose to make chocolate so that any crumbs that showed through would just look like dirt.

2. Color homemade or canned frosting grass green. Using Wilton's gel-based food coloring will produce a stronger color than the liquid.

4. Use some green food coloring to color some coconut. Sprinkle the top of the cake to make grass.

5. Use some decorating tips to recreate whatever weeds....oh, I mean flowers are in your pasture.

5. Use pretzel sticks to create a fence.

6. Add your horses. Resist the urge to play with them yourself.

If you make your own pasture cake, don't forget to share the pics with us on our Facebook page!