Beval Saddlery Helps New Canaan with All its Horsin' Around

With the summer months here, the kids are going to be home and parents are going to be looking for something to keep them busy. It Can be a time of discovery as kids find new passions in new hobbies and sports. Beval Saddlery at 50 Pine Street should be a good place to start in that journey.

"We're heading into the summer months now and kids are going to start heading to horse camp," said manager Shannon Shaffer. "Right about now, we start seeing all the kids who are new to riding visiting us."

Bevel Saddlery covers every aspect of riding of which a new rider could dream, from custom horse clothing and equipment designed on site by owner Mark Walter for both hunter-jumpers and dressage-different types of horse riding-to custom clothing for the riders themselves by Master Tailor Umbelino Martins, who makes everything from scratch.

They offer specialized food, supplemental and care products for the animals, stable supplies, and have a sports clothing section for humans.

"A lot of our products are designed and made here," Shaffer said. "We sell to other tack shops as well... We carry a lot of supplies our customers tell us about via word-of-mouth that we'll go research."

Beval Saddlery has been in business since 1955, in New Canaan for almost 30 years, 25 of them in their current location on Pine Street. Fred, who's a "jumper," is famous around town with the kids and sits out front displaying various goods available at the store.

"Many people don't realize horses have a lot of clothing," Shaffer said. "Sheets, blankets, shoes, boots."

She said working at Beval, it's never the same day twice and she gets to interact with riders across the spectrum of experience, from beginners to world renowned riders.

"All of us who work here love horse," she said. "They're these 12, 1500-pound animals and they're the gentlest creatures. You develop such a strong, life-long bond with them. We love the animals and get to talk about them all day. There's a great little community of 'horse people' in this area."