Tack and Supply Shopping Made Simple with Professional, Ring Tested Picks
by Royce Armstrong, An EquestrianMag Advertiser Sponsored Article

It can take a lifetime to find the tack and nutrition products that really perform for you. And when it comes to being the best, it takes more than fine horses and superb riding. Ask Laura and Bob Kraut, a couple which has been center stage in international show jumping competitions for more than two decades. It also takes outstanding tack and feed supplements to provide the cues and energy to make winning horse and rider teams.

“The best use the very best,” Bob Kraut said recently. “When it comes to tack and horse nutrition products we use only the very best that we can find. When you spend six months of every year going to competitions around the world with 30 or more horses, you quickly find what works and what doesn’t.

“These are products that we use every single day. We live with them. We know that they work. We know that the quality is there. We use these products a lot and we use them hard.”

Kraut, from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, is talking about the tack, boots, supplements and liniments offered through the Summit Tack web store. The items offered through the e-store are the very same products that he and his wife use to compete and to win.

“We use these products. We win with them and we believe in them,” Kraut said.

Laura Kraut began riding at age three. Since she burst onto the international show jumping scene in 1988, she has been one of the superstars of the sport. Her successes include the U.S. Olympic team, dozens of national and international medals and hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, including the $100,000 Budweiser AGA Championship in Florida.

Bob also rides professionally, trains horses and provides marketing and management for the competition team that includes other professional riders. When they are not in a show arena or on an airplane the Krauts are working with horses on their farm in Wisconsin. The farm produces show jumping horses that are among the very best for customers throughout the world. They enjoy a reputation built over many years.

With so much at stake, the Kraut team has continually sought the very best tack items and feed supplements available anywhere. Many of these product makers also become proud sponsors of the Kraut team.

“We do not use products because the manufacturer wants to be a sponsor. We use them because we believe they will help give us the best opportunity to win,” Bob said.

The product makers look to the Kraut team for more than just victories and promotional value. The Kraut team also provides a testing ground and gives feedback on product performance. “Actual competition is the very best testing laboratory,” Bob reflected. “If something is not quite right, it shows up on the jumping course. We soon know about it. We are then able to work with the manufacturer and help them modify and improve their products.”

Kraut said that every equestrian sport, from show jumping to pleasure riding is demanding. To be the best, you have to have the best horses, the best riding, the best training and the best equipment. That philosophy led to the introduction of summittack.com, the web store for many of the great products the Krauts use.

“We use these products. We win with them and we believe in them,” he said. “With the web store we are able to help other people benefit from our experience and our knowledge.”

Bob said the products offered through summittack.com are not discipline specific. Show jumpers know them and use them but anyone working with performance horses can benefit from them. For example, he pointed out that Walsh halters offered through the store can last for years, even for a lifetime with a little care. The halters and all of the items are the very finest quality materials and craftsmanship and sold at competition prices. “These are just great products for anyone to use,” he said, “regardless the type riding or competition.”