TW: Xray and Splinted Photos!
Hi everyone! I wanted to hop on here and give you a little background on how exactly we got started. First of hello my name is Tiffany, and I am the owner and proprietor of Toby's Tack Shop and Western Boutique.
5.22.2001 - I was given the best birthday gift any little girl could ask for, her very own horse. I was gifted a beautiful 4 year old OTTB named Toby for my 12th birthday.
In November of 2013, I tragically lost my heart horse Toby to a pasture accident. He had gotten kicked just above his knee on his right front leg, by a horse with rear shoes. Despite telling the owner that this horse had no business having rear shoes due to not being raced at the time, they insisted. Unfortunately, it was not repairable and even if they tried, he had a 10% chance of living comfortably even after an attempt. Plus, it had compounded so they basically told us to consider that infection was already present. His quality of life would have been bleak. I was in hysterics (so much that I think the girls at NBC thought I was insane) but I made the selfless choice to not try surgery and have him humanely euthanized. So 11.12.13 is a day that will forever live in my heart. I had owned him just shy of 13 years at that point and when I tell he you he was a hell of a horse, he was a hell of a horse. Honest as the day is long and did anything you asked of him, he tried his heart out for everyone. He touched so many little girl's hearts when I was giving lessons on our farm. He will forever live on not only in my heart but all of theirs. On a side note, we just sent his best friend Reo over the Rainbow Bridge this past November - weirdly enough it was 11.15.23. Exactly, 10 years and 3 days to the day we lost Toby. We know they are together running free in Heaven's lush green fields.
Prior to all of this we had gone to the Ludwig's Corner Horse Show on Labor Day weekend and if any of you are Chester County natives like I am - you know all too well the weather all weekend is either an absolute monsoon or about 9000 degrees. I was showing Toby and Bay (my ex's QH) and of course the weather was the latter. Of all things I forget, it was fly spray. I went around to all the vendors selling equine related items (tack, etc.) and none of them, yes you read that right none of them were selling fly spray. The last one that I stopped at was Diamond Appaloosa Ranch's stand and asked, she too didn't have any but lent me her personal fly spray out of her trailer. I thanked her profusely and told her I'd be right back. So, shout out to Danielle Yusko - I've never forgotten that!
And that my friends was the whole reason I got started with my mobile unit back in 2014 - forgotten fly spray. My sole purpose was to bring riders (and horses) the essentials they might just need on the go, in case something was forgotten or broke while there. We ended up branching into carrying other products on a limited basis and some consignment.
In 2016, however I ran into some major issues with my business partner and needed to shut down and step away. So, for 8 years I focused on myself and personal life and as of this year I finally decided it was time to re-open as enough time had passed that I could re-devote myself to the business. So, I researched and studied the sales trends and what was popular and threw myself in, working long days and nights getting the site ready on top of working a very demanding FT job. As of right now we are focusing on an online only platform. I reached out and reconnected with the many wonderful vendors I dealt with in the past. They are just as excited that I am back as I am. The only major difference being the addition of the western boutique. Our next goal is to re-add a mobile shop/boutique within the next couple years and a brick-and-mortar location after that.
