Blog

New Website Features for Central Saddlery and Feeds    

Avonbridge based Central Saddlery & Feeds has just expanded their web site, offering an online feed ordering facility. Customers will now be able to order in quantities of one bag of feed to tonnes of feed. We offer a next day delivery on most items and pallets will arrive on average within 2-3 days, we can offer a next day service if required. Central is also extending the range of paddock equipment that is available on line to include electric fencing and posts etc. All the main brands of horse feeds and supplements are also represented including Spillers, Baileys, Blue Chip, Top Spec and Dodson & Horrell, to name but a few.The Feedstore has also enhanced their range of dog and pet products, and now includes an extensive range of dog food, toys and accessories. Brands include James Wellbeloved, Bakers, Autarky and Chudleys to name but a few. Another popular department in the store is the Poultry and Smallholder area. Many customers are now enjoying the benefits of living the "Good Life" and make use of our broad range of small holder and animal husbandry products.  

Central Saddlery & Feeds will be offering bulk discounts on feed when ordered by the pallet or half pallet, to make it more cost effective for the larger yards. We will also offer mixed pallets of anything you need, this service would be perfect for a yard with a few people ordering together to save on delivery costs. Just think how nice it would be to have your monthly feed order delivered straight to your door. No need for that trip to the shop in the bleak winter weather to load you car up every week or so. Plus you can get any products you wish from the saddlery shop along with it. We also deliver hay and shavings, however these products can only be delivered locally, as they are harder to transport. If you do require a large quantity of either hay, haylage or shavings i.e. a lorry load, this can be arranged for wider range delivery. Please just give us a call or email if you require more details.  

The usual wide range of clothing and tack will still be available on the site and anything and everything can be ordered from a brow band to a saddle. A rider should be able to kit themselves and their horse out from head to toe, or indeed hoof, without leaving their armchair. The upgraded website http://www.centralsaddlery.co.uk/ is now able to match the service and range of products offered at the home store. Both shop and web offer very competitive prices, on a local and national level.  

All members of staff are happy to help with queries and requests, between them they have experience in many areas, having worked widely in both Equestrian and Agricultural Industries. We have a qualified SQP onsite at our Registered Shop to dispense and discuss Wormers, plus Electric Fencing Engineers and trained staff to help with your feed and tack enquiries.   

Back by popular demand this year, we are holding a big Clearance Sale on 4th & 5th September. With discounts across the store and special clearance lines it is definately a date for the diary. Starts at 9am on Saturday.

Look online at  http://www.centralsaddlery.co.uk/ or give us a call 01324 861 229 for more info.
 

 

Electric Fencing Tips

 It's that time of the year again when you need to dust off your electric fence energisers and get things ready for the horses going back out in the fields.

I thought I should do a wee blog, giving people some pointers in how to set up their fences and a few tips that can make your electric fence just that little bit better.

If you are starting from scratch the first thing you need to do is work out how long your fence is going to be, this can be done by simply pacing it out, but if you are not very good at measuring by paces, get a measuring tape and measure between two of the fence posts (don't pick the posts close to the ends because they are often different from the norm) and then just count the number of fence posts in the line and you can work the distance out from that. It will be rough but it will be close enough! Also if you can measure in metres, not feet as the rope or tape you will be buying is measured in metric, it's just easier.

Now all you have to do is decide how many strands of tape or rope you are going to use. This is dependent on what animals you are keeping in or out for that matter.  Multiply the number of strands by the distance of your fence and you are all set.

 Next you must decide if you would like to use tape or rope. The advantage of tape is that it is easily visible; however in windy spots it can really catch the wind and pull the fence over if it is on temporary posts. Rope however is my preference for most applications, it is much easier to handle especially in a temporary situation, due to the fact that it doesn't catch the wind as much and you can roll it back up with much less hassle.

Once you have worked out what distance you are covering and decided between rope and tape it's time to pick insulators. These vary depending on how permanent a fence you are creating. For a temporary fence you will probably need plastic fence posts, strainer insulators for the ends and possibly a gate if necessary. One thing I would advise is an inline strainer for rope, the one I would recommend is the Rutland Easy Way Strainer Nylon (http://www.centralsaddlery.co.uk/product/rutland-easy-way-strainer-nylon-5/) ,using one of these really makes your fence work well and looks professional. There are hundreds of insulators to choose from, so I can't really suggest the best, because each work well depending on your particular job - but here are some of the ones I find work well!

Now it's time for you to pick an energizer, people always get confused about the difference between batteries and energizers. Batteries provide power to the energiser and the energiser converts the voltage and current to a suitable level to shock the animal without causing damage. The shock is delivered as a pulse. Now that that is cleared up we shall continue lol.

So if you have access to a mains plug, I would always suggest that you use a mains energiser unit, as it just makes life better not having to be worried about flat batteries and all that kinda stuff. Should you not have access to a plug your other options are 12 volt wet cell battery powered energisers, dry battery powered energisers and solar powered energisers. There are also units that work with multiple power sources.

Here's a wee description of the different type of batteries.

  • A wet battery, often 12volts, is like a car battery but not one, you need a leisure battery for electric fencing not a car one! The main difference is that after repeatedly discharging the battery a normal car battery will get what's called a pan in it causing it to take less and less of a charge each time you use it. This will cause it to stop working as well, however a leisure battery is designed to be repeatedly discharged completely and not get the same problems, if you used a leisure battery in a car it would stop working due to never being discharged fully.
  • Dry batteries come in various shapes and sizes - they work just like a AA battery you might use in a torch or remote control .You basically just buy one and when it runs out you chuck it away or better still recycle it.
  • Solar energisers and solar assisted energisers are a funky idea and work well in sunny locations. They do work in the shade too, but just not quite as well. They save enough power in their batteries during the day to last through the night. The solar assisted units are based on battery energisers and use the solar panels to dramatically increase the time between charging.

The most important thing to remember with energisers is to get the earth correct, a rusty old bit of metal you found in the back of a shed is not good enough, the rust insulates the steel and stops the unit working properly. The post should be driven deep into the ground and be preferably galvanized or anodized NOT painted, paint also insulates the post. I have seen people spend hundreds of pounds on all the best kit and still not get a good fence because they didn't get the earth correct, it's as important to get the earth right as it is to have your fence well insulated. Another thing worth doing is to run a strimmer under your fence line to keep the grass from touching the line and check there are no overhanging branches hitting it either. This stops the unit earthing via vegetation touching the line. A proportion of the energy will be lost decreasing the efficiency of your fence. If you get the insulation right it will increase the lifespan of your battery and help give a better shock when animals touch it.

Just remember when fitting a gate, make sure you use under gate cable, otherwise when the gate is open parts of your fence can become disconnected from your energiser.

I hope this is of use to you all and if you have any other questions just drop us an email or give us a call

Central Saddlery

01324 861 229

Sales@CentralSaddlery.co.uk

Mark

Blog. 17 July 2009

 

 

 

 Fly Control!!

 You tack up your horse and go out for a long relaxing ride on a warm afternoon but the dreaded midge and other pests strike again grr! Before you cancel your ride out and retreat back to the stables there are lots of products to keep these dreaded flying pests at bay.

Horse fly sprays, wipes and gels are a good way to start off reducing the flies. Sprays are a quick, easy and efficient way but if your horse dislikes sprays then wipes are a good alternative and gels like the Power Phaser Durativ with a sponge attached can be just as quick and effective. There is also a huge variety of natural fly sprays and gels to choose from, I know myself, I do not like to apply chemical based fly repellents to my horse's coat too often, ‘cos I think they build up and dry his coat out. My theory anyway! I like to give his coat a rest by using a more natural fly repellentJ. If you prefer a more physical barrier, there are fly rugs and fly masks that stop these pests from landing on your horse's skin. These are often made from durable soft polyester mesh or a nylon mesh which is cool for those hot summer days but soft enough on their skin, with nylon lined shoulders. Some specialised equine fly rugs have also been treated with insect repellents by the manufacturer. Do remember that mesh rugs are not waterproof. BUT................ Horseware Ireland has brought out a waterproof rug liner that will attach to any of their equine fly rugs - just in case it rains, fingers crossed it doesn't! (With our weather no chance! lol)

Some horses suffer from a condition called sweet itch, which is an allergic reaction to the saliva in the bite of the midge. Symptoms include severe itching, hair loss, skin thickening and flaky dandruff, weeping sores may occur. The top of the tail and the mane are most commonly affected. The neck, withers, hips, ears and forehead may also suffer. The poor horses are driven crazy with the itching! There is no cure for this condition but there are lots of helpful treatments on the market. You are best to try them and see what works best for your horse, as everywhere and every horse is different. Don't forget to try the obvious like garlic granules or garlic powder in your horses feed first, a lot of horse owners use this generally to help fly control. These may not work for your horse but it's worth a try. Also using things like tea tree shampoos regularly can work wonders too! Soothing ointments are also popular and Chinese herbs are very ‘in' at the moment and seem to be having a huge effect!

There are hundreds of brands of lotions and potions, so try some and ask people you trust for advice and for their experiences, and then choose what suits you and your horse best, and try for a fly reduced summer!

Hannah

Blog. 17 April 2009 

 

 

 

The New Website

 

We launched our facelift website at the start of November 2008 and so far it has been a huge success, we had a busy run up to Christmas and have continued to be busy into 2009, obviously we hope this growth will continue in the coming months and years, this can only done by making our site as good to use as possible and by having the stock that you the customer wants!

At Central Saddlery we are all about customer satisfaction and we always like to hear any comments from our customers about possible ways we could improve our Site, Stock & Service so if you have any comments please don't hesitate to email us (sales@centralsaddlery.co.uk) no matter how small they may be. It's the little things that can make your shopping experience so much better. How often do you use a site? Or anything for that matter , do you think  it's good but wish that a button was just a little bigger or that the text is just a little small for you to read. It's all these silly little things that can just make life so much easier -so please tell us if you find anything that you think could be better.

Currently we only have a fraction of the stock in our store online, but we are working hard behind the scenes to get everything else online. As you can imagine these things take time. So if you have been into our shop or you think we may have something that is not on our site, please just drop us an email or give us a call (01324 861229).

All of our staff have horses and have worked in the horse industry for many years. We all have varied experience in lots of different areas of the equestrian industry, including Showing, Hunting, Eventing, Prix Saint George Dressage, Show Jumping, Endurance, Team Chasing, Grassland Maintenance, Agriculture, Machinery & Mechanics, Fencing, etc. We like to think this gives us the experience needed to advise you on the best possible solution to all those problems that come from owning a horse.

So basically please just moan at us about our site and we will do our best to fix it just the way you like it!!

Mark

Blog. 07 March 2009

 

 

 

Shavings Shortage

Well, I wonder if all of you are having the same difficulty finding shavings for bedding your horses. Scotland definitely has a shortage; this lack of house building sure is having a knock on effect with horse shavings being in short supply. However horse owners are fairly inventive and have changed brands, raked round the countryside for quantities and generally just got on with it without moaning! The positive effect is that we are all being much more conscious of how much we are using. As one rider put it, when mucking out, the straw and shavings that are only semi-dirty, stay put now, whereas she would have heaved them into the wheelbarrow before - so even difficult times produce some good! I dread to think what we'll be bedding our horses on by the end of the winter! We may have to be more inventive with our stable management than any of us think.

Jacqueline

Blog. 10 November 2008