Lifland

I love tack shops. I've worked at three and visited many, so I was very curious to see how Iceland's Lifland stacked up.

Honestly, it reminded me a lot of Dover.

Similar exteriors.

Similar interiors.

The products, 

the displays,

the mannequins...

It all felt very familiar.

That said, there were some significant differences.

Iceland is an island nation with a small population.

Nearly everything is imported, and while they still had a very good selection, the number of brands is limited.

More significantly, since there's only one breed of horse in the country and, by and large, one type of riding, the tack selection is incredibly specific.

One type of saddle.

One type of bridle.

There are, of course, variations in quality,

decoration...

and price,

but it's not like here are the Western saddles, here are the English saddles.

It's not even like here are the jumping saddles, here are the dressage saddles.

The whole store is geared towards Icelandic horses and nothing else.

That made it a really good place to learn about Icelandic tack.

For example, I learned that while reins may be made from a whole variety of materials,

they are all extremely skinny.

These would be called curb reins in the US, but in Iceland, they're just reins.

The vast majority of the bridles were a a single bit hanger that buckled on top of the crown with a browband and no throatlatch. They are generally used with a separate dropped noseband.

There isn't much to say about the halters...

No real differences, just lots of fun colors.

I suspect stable tools are more or less the same the world over. Certainly, that was the case in Lifland.

Ditto horse care products and supplements.

Here's something you don't typically see in an American tack shop: an entire section devoted to shoes.

So cute and tiny!

There was also a lot of clothes, but honestly, I don't find that terribly interesting so I didn't take a lot of pictures. Some of it was show apparel, but mostly the emphasis was on rugged, warm and waterproof.

In case it isn't obvious, I really enjoyed my trip to Lifland, and I managed to spend a good whack of money there.

The only thing Lifland was missing was a shelf of Breyer horses. For a country that loves horses as much as Iceland does, horse models are in short supply. Come on, Iceland! Your horse girls deserve better!