Are you in need of a new halter? Better yet, do you already have a million halters, but you can’t say no to amazing quality leather at a STEAL of a price? I’m the later, so obviously I bought a new custom leather halter from Central Kentucky Tack & Leather. I have like 5 ish leather halters, and 2 nylon ones… for one horse. One of my leather halter has been on Rio like 3 times. Maybe 4. So I REALLY didn’t need another, but I have zero regrets. None. Nada.

MM turned me on to these halters. She picked  up a couple while showing in Kentucky a few weeks ago. When she sent me a pic of them and I instantly coveted them. I ADORE good leather. Like, I cannot turn down the opportunity to acquire high quality leather if it’s a good deal. And these are a hell of a deal.

So what kind of deal of we talking about?

You can get the Turnout halter, with no name plate or add-ons, for $38. THIRTY EIGHT DOLLARS!!!! A high quality leather halter for $38 bucks.  Want a snap throat latch and a name plate? $55. Yup. $55. The name plate comes already attached, and is just lovely- much higher quality then the plates you receive from SP and Dover. And the leather guys, you feel it and it’s like “Ohhh this is what leather is supposed to feel like!” Not plastic/fake feeling at all. Super soft right away, no need to oil or condition it to break it in.

Other customizations offered by Central Kentucky Tack & Leather are a double buckle crown piece (+$8), an English chin (+$3), or a Catch Strap (+$5). I chose the Turnout halter for Rio, because that is exactly what it will be, a turnout/everyday use halter. I want it to be able to break if necessary. I also already have a a SP Wellfleet with fancy stitching for shows, so what I “needed” was a new halter for him since his current Red Barn one is looking pretty ratty.

The Track Halter (which is built for durability, with more stitching and thicker leather) starts at a base price of $70, and you can choose to add a name plate for $8. The Track halter is what Soctti is modeling for us.

Want a something fancier for shows? They offer padded halters in 2 base colors (black and dk brown) with 19 different padding color options starting at $88, or even custom color stitching in addition to color padding starting at $106. You can check out all their halter’s here.

Basically, they have an option for every budget. The best part? The leather quality is amazing even on the cheapest option. Just because the price is lower doesn’t mean you get crap leather, like on a lot of big box store leather halters. In fact, I firmly believe the leather quality on my $55 Turnout halter from Central Kentucky far exceeds the leather of my SP Wellfleet, which typically retails around $120 (although I got mine on sale). You don’t need to wait for a sale to get Central Kentucky halter though- because they are always amazingly priced.

Oh ya- the sizing on the website can seem a bit weird. For example- the Turnout halter size options are geared towards breeding facilities. They have everything from newborn foal to 2 yr old, and then they have broodmare and large broodmare. I chose broodmare for Rio, which translate to a typical horse size (what he normally wears even though he’s mega tall). Large broodmare translates to oversize. They have a handy size guide with all the exact measurements if you want to triple check before ordering!

P.S. I paid full price and get nothing from Central Kentucky Tack & Leather for writing this sleazy car salesman type post, I just get super excited about sharing what I perceive to be high quality products at a great value with fellow equestrians!

P.P.S. Rio is doing good! Trainer Julie lightly hacked him yesterday (W/T only) and said he was very good. He is getting a few hours of turnout time a day, and will hopefully transition back to overnight turnouts soon. His elbow wound where he had stitches still looks kind of gross, but it appears to be healthy tissue that is working on healing. His stifle and other abrasions look much better, and only being wrapped overnight at this point.