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NEWS
Celebrating
13 years
in business!
Y Knot Rope Tack
began in
March, 2007.
Thank you to my many customers for your support and loyalty!
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Event Schedule
Midwest Horse Fair
Madison, WI
I will no longer be attending as a vendor
for full story
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We have moved! Check out our new address on the contacts page.
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New flag colors:
black, yellow,red,blue,purple
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with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26
NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP PRODUCTS
Unique Trim ~ Leather Accessories
Custom Orders
Rope Halters, Lead Ropes, Long Lines,
Reins, Sticks & Strings, Hackamores,
Headstalls, Mecates & More
Please scroll down the page for the full story about the Midwest Horse Fair.
If you want something fast, you'd better go somewhere else.
If you want a high quality product, I'll take your order.
General Product Information
Y Knot Rope Tack products are "made in the USA" (in northern Illinois) with "made in the USA" rope. All supplies (rope and halter cord, waxed cord for finishing halters and sewing splices, leather for lead rope poppers and rein connectors, fiberglass rods and grips for sticks, hardware including snaps and rings) are purchased from US companies - most of which manufacture their materials here in the U.S. The exceptions being hardware (most hardware manufacturing has been outsourced long ago) and leather (most leather is tanned outside the US).
All rope products are made by hand - by me. My husband, aka my "tech guy", keeps the computers and printers running, carries heavy spools of rope, and helps with various things (sticks, leather items) but I am the only one who ties the halters, splices reins and lead ropes, braids the trim and fancy knots, designs new products, etc. You can be assured that your equipment has been made and/or inspected by me and has passed the highest standards - mine! This means that you will most likely have to wait longer for your order than if you purchased mass produced items. Most of my customers say that it is well worth the wait to get the high quality equipment that I provide.
Y Knot Rope Tack products are in high demand. I have a steady stream of orders year round and I don't remember the last time my in-basket was empty - I always have a backlog. I usually have very little in stock and mostly make items for orders as they come in. I make no guarantees as to delivery time but please let me know if you need something by a specific date and I will get it to you by then if at all possible. While I will make every effort to fill orders in a timely fashion, I intend to stick to my motto:
Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9 ESV
Discounts
I sell my products at reasonable prices and while I normally don't have "sales", I do offer these discounts:
5/5: Purchase 5 or more Standard items - any combination of halters, leads, reins, sticks - and receive 5% off the total
10/10: Purchase 10 or more Standard items - any combination of halters, leads, reins, sticks - and receive 10% off the total
Training Package: Purchase your choice of any rope halter, lead rope, long line, reins, stick & string or flag - 1 each at one time - and receive 10% off the set of 6 items. (Minimal custom work only, please)
The 5/5 and 10/10 discounts apply only to standard items - no custom products - and for items priced at $15.00 or more.
I do not offer discounts on custom products - they cannot be included in the 5 or 10 item total. I can sometimes spend several hours discussing details, etc. so by not charging a fee for the extra time I spend on taking custom orders, those customers are already getting a nice discount.
Turn-Around Time
To manage my backlog of orders, I have to juggle those for standard items and custom items plus trainer and wholesale orders. It can take up to a week to make one complicated custom order (not to mention all the time spent on the phone or email discussing details with the customer) and usually longer than that to complete a big trainer order. I will sometimes bump the more simple orders (one or two items) ahead of the very complicated and/or large ones in an effort to make the most people happy the soonest as possible - or to make the best use of the time I have left before the post office closes for the day!
I do the best I can but there are only so many hours in a day. And due to the stress that tying halters, braiding knots and splicing rope puts on my joints, there is a limit to how many items I can make in one day. The turn-around times noted below are estimates only - actual time will vary depending on the size of my backlog, time of year, size and complexity of the order, etc., and of course, the unexpected events of life.
Clarification of terms
Standard items include equipment with little or no braided knots or trim. Center knot on reins, small marker knot on lead rope, custom sized halter would be acceptable in this category.
Custom items include anything with braided trim and knots (more than noted above), new products or variations that require additional time to figure out and make.
Estimated Time Frame
Rush Order Fee
I can sometimes place an order at the top of the stack to meet an important deadline, etc. The order must be only 1 or 2 standard items and I charge a fee of $5.00 per item in addition to the normal cost of the product. If my workload is overwhelming (like usual!) or I have several deadline orders already, I may not be able to do a rush order.
Event Schedule
Midwest Horse Fair - Here is the full story for those customers who relied on me being there every year.....
I will no longer be participating at the Midwest Horse Fair as a vendor. I had a vendor booth - outside in a tent - for 11 years there. The first year, I was on the sidewalk alongside the Expo building. The remaining 10 years, I was in the same spot in the outdoor mall, across from the main entrance to the Expo building.
Over those 11 years, the weather was usually not ideal - very windy, cold, wet - but I always did well with sales and I enjoyed talking with customers - especially those who stopped by every year. But after a particularly windy year in 2019, the tent said "no more!" So we were faced with getting a new tent and continuing to suffer outside in the wind and cold or purchasing a trailer to be more sheltered. (Cost of an inside booth is out of my price range so that was not an option.)
We found a suitable used horse trailer that we could turn into a vendor booth but before we purchased it, we made a special trip to the Alliant Center to measure the space to make sure it would fit. The trailer had an 8 x 20' box with a 3' bumper pull hitch. My spot was a 10 x 20 space but there were several feet on all sides that were un-used and un-useable. (around utility boxes, benches, etc.) We were assured that the trailer would fit in the space available with plenty of extra room and would not encroach on any other vendor or the sidewalk. I then asked permission of the Midwest Horse Fair to put that trailer on my spot instead of a tent. They refused. Even when I offered to pay for the additional length (the trailer was only 8' wide so there was already extra space width-wise), they still said no. I pointed out that even though I always kept my displays within the tent, several outside vendors use extra space by setting some items, tables, etc. outside their allotted space. Why not consider a few feet of extra space "payback" for outside vendors having to put up with the bad weather most years. And one would think that after having been a vendor for 11 years - and 10 years in the same spot - they could cut me some slack on 3' of space, especially when it was just for the hitch. Apparently not -- the management would not budge. They said the only space that would accommodate the trailer would be a 20 x 30' spot. Paying 3 times the price for 3' of additional space for a trailer hitch -- NOT!
So we took it as a sign to stop exhibiting at the fair. I always have a backlog of orders and I would have to put those orders on hold a few weeks before the fair every year to make stock and samples, which would then make the backlog even bigger when adding the fair orders to the stack. And the weather was usually always very cold and windy - pretty miserable to sit outside for 12+ hours a day for 3 days! I will miss visiting with my customers but by not going to the fair, the spring backlog should not get as big and the stress level should be lower. For those of you who came to my booth every year to purchase tack, to pick up orders or to just say Hi, I am very sorry I won't be there. But you can always call or email to place an order... and visit for a while!
Thanks to all my Midwest Horse Fair customers for your business and your loyalty over the years!
As it turns out.... it was a good thing we did not purchase the trailer and do all the work to convert it to a vendor booth since the Midwest Horse Fair was cancelled for 2020 due to the Coronavirus.
" .... all things work together for good for those who love the Lord! "
Other events
I may participate in local events - fundraisers, etc. - throughout the year, but I do not plan on attending any large expos or fairs at this time.