July 2002

Serving Horse Owners Across the State

Product Review 

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BIOTHANE TACK 

This month I want to let everyone know about tack that a lot of people are not aware of.  It is biothane.  Leather seems to be the material of choice by most horse owners only because that is what has been available for the last 300 years!  I am surprised by the number of people that have not heard of biothane.  

Now, or rather, in the last 20 years, there has been a new material that endurance/competitive  riders are very familiar with, called biothane.  It is wonderful for many reasons, but mainly because of how easy it is to take care of it.  Nylon used to be a second choice next to leather because it was easy to take care of and it is, except that when it gets dirty and wet, you have to scrub it to look good, if it even does then.  With biothane, all you do is dunk it in a bucket of water and take it out.  CLEAN!  Mud does not stick to it, it does not get dull and dirt can’t hide in the crevices because there aren’t any. 

I have one set of reins and a bridle that I have had for about 8 years, that looks fairly new.  It has been used extensively, but you just can’t hurt this stuff! 

Biothane is basically nylon straps of many different widths covered in urethane.  It does not absorb sweat , it is easy to clean and stays flexible even in the coldest of weather.  It comes in an array of colors, both shiny and a matte (called beta) and makes for excellent headstalls, bridles, reins, etc. 

There are many distributors and sellers of biothane and I believe I have bought from every one of them.  

One thing that I absolutely love, other than my tack, is a sponge with a biothane strap to attach to my saddle for dunking in ponds on hot days to cool off my horse.  It clips to my saddle with an alligator clip and the biothane strap is about 3 feet long, for dunking !  My horse loves to be cooled off from any pond we run across and actually waits for me to dunk the sponge and squeeze it over her. 

If you have any questions about biothane or even want to see what it looks like, I will be glad to mail you a piece of my tack to check it out.  I’ll bet you have some of your own once you use it.  I am waiting for saddles to be made out of biothane!