Mkulu Kei Horse Trails

Tack Shop

Mkulu Kei Horse Trails and Saddlery

A new division of Mkulu Kei horse trails, the saddlery was identified as a Technology Top 100 Emerging Qualifier 2009

The Technology Top 100 Awards are recognised as South Africa's showcase for technological initiative and the measurement of achievements against the best of the best.

Held in Vodadome at Vodaworld, Midrand on 28 April 2010

At Mkulu Kei we manufacture and sell saddles directly to you from our equine factory shop. Before purchasing your saddle come try one out on one of our rides, then either purchase off the shelf or speak to Don, our saddle maker, to custom make one for you.

Please See our Equestrian Products and if you don’t see what you are looking for contact us with your requirements.

Contact Cheryl and Don for an appointment to come view.

cheryl@mkulukeihorsetrails.co.za

Cell: (+27) 83 632 7298 During the day.

Tel/Fax (+27) 43 841 1525 Please contact us after 19h00 so we can discuss your requirements.

Our tackshop is situated on a horse stud farm outside Morgan Bay, South Africa, north of East London on the R349 off the N2 highway just past Cintsa. An easy hour’s drive through from Buffalo City, East London.

Its our attention to detail that makes your equine experience with us in a whole new class, whether it is the quality of the horse you are allocated to ride, or our unique approach to teaching, we go that extra mile to make your horse ride worth telling your friends about.

Mkulu Kei horse trails, a safari equine holiday along the South African, Wild Coast, riding horses on the beach and swimming through the rivers and estuaries. The hot African sun baking down with the ocean breeze a cooling effect. Sand, salt and rain making your equine adventure special for you but incredibly hard on our tack especially the saddles. Leather saddles need to be maintained especially with the salt water. Keeping the leather in good condition requires hours of tack cleaning, however the more one conditions the leather the quicker the stitching rots. We purchased synthetic saddles and where not happy with them at all, then with the growing demand of our rides we found ourselves in the position of having to buy a large number of saddles at the same time and constantly replacing the bridles. With clients ranging from very young tiny children through to large adults we have to carry a wide selection of different size saddles. Our clientele is as diverse as the terrain we ride through, and as a large number of our clients are new to riding and the number of hours our horses are under saddle we required a saddle that is not only comfortable for the riders but for the horses too. We found that the average beginner rider was sitting on the back of the saddle and not in the seat; as a result the saddle was pushing unevenly on the horses back with the rider’s unbalanced weight aggravating the situation. The nervous clients while trying to hang on the front of the saddle and were sitting incorrectly and were therefore unbalanced.

Our enthusiastic little riders where kicking the saddle flap and not the horse or pony. The result; we started making our own saddles designed to be light, durable and practical, keeping in mind that it needed to be both comfortable for horse and rider. We are very happy with The Mkulu Kei saddles, having tried and tested a range of riding saddles, we required a special general-purpose saddle that would fit different horse’s shapes but more hardwearing than any we could find. We researched what we required in a saddle and adapted the best features of the English and Australian saddle to meet our high requirements for both horse and rider. We have for some time been making chaps, saddle blankets, numnhas, girths, webbing and leather bridles and halters, for our own use so it was a natural progression to also manufacture saddles for our own use. The Mkulu Kei saddles have now been tested and used on the horse trails under extreme conditions and so Mkulu Kei tack shop was established from our riding clients interest and tack is now for sale directly from the manufacturer to you.

Our trails demand that our riding tack is extremely durable and hardwearing, we put our horse equipment through conditions tack would never normally be expected to endure. Wooden trees and leather saddles are not made to swim in salty river estuaries and the sea. Having tried numerous brands and makes of saddles we needed to find a more hardy working saddle at a good price. Spending months testing saddles we diverted our energies and researched what we required in a saddle and started manufacturing our own. Riding clients made enquiries as to the availability and where they to could be purchased and Mkulu Kei tack shop was born. We keep a small stock and are more than happy to discuss your personal requirements and manufacture especially for you.

Would you swim with your saddle?

 I didn't want to do the whole 'seperation' thing in terms of moving either of them off the property as I do believe that mom/baby connection is a good one and is needed a lot longer than we often realise - anyhow without giving you a bedtime read here. I had tried to start them off by keeping in seperate paddocks for a while and then discovered that, contrary to what my
grooms said, they had discovered the 'mom, you stand there by the fence and I'll just feed through the rails' method !!! soooo then it was seperate paddocks seperated by another paddock during the day and then back together at night (plan was to do this gradually) - filly was fine not stressed but my mare was absolutely distraught which obviously concerned me terribly - I managed to do this for 5 days and couldn't take it anymore and put them back together full time. I then googled "foal weaning halters" and magically your site appeared as the last one on the first page of results. The rest of this bit you know :) I put the halter on Ambika on Saturday and left all horses out together as normal. Within about half an hour Kersey (mom) had 'made' her own mind up about suckling and would not let little one near her hindquarter (no matter how much slooshing and 'awwww mom please' went on !).

A weaning halter that works

At Mkulu Kei we go the extra mile to make your equestrian riding holiday exceptional, we make the effort to not only make your riding holiday personalised but to make sure that both our riders and horses are happy and comfortable. The best of equestrian holiday safaris. Whether you are novice, intermediate or an advanced rider we have the product for you. Well-trained trail horses and management team and staff that want you to have the best equine adventure and know a range of quality equestrian products direct to you from the factory.