Business of the Week: Marin Tack and Feed

Marin Tack and Feed

1599 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Fairfax

(415) 456-2929; www.marintackandfeed.net

What Marin Tack and Feed offers?

Marin Tack and Feed offers English and Western riding apparel and fashion-oriented equestrian clothing for adults and children. The disciplines for which Marin Tack and Feed provides apparel and tack include Western pleasure and trail riding, dressage, hunter/jumper, and three day eventing. 

Customers can find tall leather boots, short paddock boots, helmets - a safety item, pants, gloves, socks, and shirts. For dressage, the store has show coats, show shirts, accessories, boots, and breeches. For Western, they are happy to special order casual shoes and boots. Store inventory includes Kingsland Collection from Norway jackets, RJ Classics shirts, Sticky Seat pants, plus boots and breeches by locally owned Ariat.

Riders can choose from various styles and colors of English and Western saddles, tack - bridles, reins, breastplates, cinches, crops, stirrups, spurs – as well as brushes, horse grooming products, blankets, and horse cookies. The store also offers shoeing supplies and can special order replacement parts for saddles. High-end consignments of tack and clothing are very well priced.  

Marin Tack and Feed also sells bulk feed for horses, everything except hay, in 25-50 pound bags. They have mixes for chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, pot belly pigs, goats (yes you can have a goat in the town of Fairfax depending on the zoning of your property), sheep and wild birds.  

How long have they been here? 

In 1981, friends and neighbors Joyce Lashbrook and Joanie Gash brought the store from Madeline and Paul Hill. Gash knew everything about farm animals, and Lashbrook brought the equestrian skills. Neither had any retail experience. Madeline Hill had to give them a two-hour crash course on how to operate the cash register.

In the early days, Reddy the rabbit ran around loose in the store and Miles the husky wolf mix decorated the windows. Many of the girls who helped out there were "horse crazy", as Lashbrook recalls, and now they bring their daughters in.

For every item they sold, Lashbrook said, they bought two more and the store slowly grew from a hobby into a real business. Gash retired in 1996 and to this day they remain good friends.

Who are they?   

Current owner, Jessica Lashbrook, grew up in the store and took over from her mother in 2006.  She laughs that her mom trained her well for this business, making sure her first word was "horse".

Jessica, who rides both English and Western, was raised in Fairfax and Holland. Sierra, a red chestnut quarter horse, was her first horse. Currently, she keeps her three rescued horses at Spirit Rock, but lives in the Fairfax hills with several dogs, her grandmother's cockatiel, and a cat. She is very active in dog rescue, works with several agencies, and spends much of her time retraining dogs for new homes. She's also been an active board member on the Marin Horse Council for the last four years.

Why are they business of the week?  

Marin Tack and Feed is the go-to store for anyone interested in horses and riding. It's where people finds out where/how/from whom to purchase a horse, where to board one, the best places to ride or take lessons, appropriate saddle, tack and clothing for English or Western, how to understand the various riding disciplines, and where to find an instructor suited to the rider.    

A passionate member of the Marin horse community, Jessica takes great pride in the store itself, and encourages her customers to appreciate horses and the benefits and beauty of riding as much as she does.

Olivia Vance, 11, from San Anselmo, has a pony named Noah and is a major collector of Breyer horses which cost $40-50 and are typically named after famous horses. She makes fabric saddles for the models, and sells them on consignment for $13 at Marin Tack and Feed.

Her mother, Amy, said that Jessica is very supportive and helpful with kids who are interested in animals. "Olivia is now raising chickens. We have been coming to Marin Tack and Feed for horse related items, and now for chicken feed, since my daughter was little," she said. 

Nine-year-old Isabel Fitzmaurice and mom Marilu both take lessons at Baywood Equestrian Center and purchase all their riding clothes at the store.   

Jessica said that even with the present economic downturn, her business is only down about 3 percent, because people often take care of their animals before thinking about themselves. 

"Sometimes," she said, "they won't eat until they are sure their horse has been fed."

Happy store. Happy owner. Happy customers. Happy horses. Happy trails.