Re-Ride Consignment Shop provides used riding gear at affordable prices

Don’t know what to do with those outgrown boots? Looking for a hard-to-find piece of tack? Wanting to outfit your daughter for riding lessons, but don’t want to spend a fortune?

Green Creek’s Re-Ride Consignment Tack Shop may have the answers. Brittany and Carson Annis purchased the shop from Paula Mierop in February of this year. According to Carson they hope to shift the store from a thrift store atmosphere to more of a department/retail store.

“We want to make it more like a retail store with a home town feel,” said Brittany.

With that in mind, the Annises have been working to expand their inventory to include all disciplines of riding. This means in addition to the popular hunters and jumpers in the area, they are trying to reach out to the western, gaited, driving and draft communities as well.

“There’s a really large population of ponies, cart driving and draft horses here,” said Carson. “We want to have something for everyone.”

“For example,” said Brittany. “I grew up hunter/jumper, but now all I ride are Pasos.” Pasos are a gaited horse breed originally from Spain.

Working toward that goal, the Annises have added to their room full of approximately 90 or more hunter/jumper saddles, some high quality western riding and roping saddles, some park saddles (used for gaited riding), Australian saddles and even a “beavertail” saddle used by exercise riders to gallop racehorses. The hunter/jumper saddle inventory itself includes something for everyone from high-end brands such as Voltaire, to lower cost synthetic saddles.

Other rooms in the 60s style brick ranch house currently serving as their store, are full of breeches, coats, books and helmets. Tucked away in corners might be a harness and a pair of hames (the wooden pieces resting on the collar to which the traces are attached), a set of pinks (the red coat and white breeches worn by staff members of a hunt) or a hunting whip (a long piece of leather with a handle used to guide the hounds more than hit them).

Down the wooden stairs to the basement one can explore walls of halters from simple basic nylon to a bright red halter with shiny sequins. Bandages are stacked neatly on shelves and horse blankets hang on racks that are easy to sort through to find the perfect size and weight.

On the back wall are rows of bits including everything from simple snaffles to driving bits. Of course one can find bridles in all sizes and quality from high end for the show ring to a simple western trail or endurance bridle.

On a recent Saturday, Lauren Brooks and her parents, Nicole and Wilson Brooks visited the shop from Boiling Springs, N.C. looking for boots.

“This is our first time here,” said Nicole. “We’ve heard about it and wanted to check it out.”

“I’m looking for some used boots so I don’t have to break in new ones,” said Lauren who is a member of the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy Riding Team. She is currently taking lessons and plans to start showing hunter soon.

As Lauren began trying on boots, she realized she had forgotten her socks. Not only was she having difficulty sliding the boots on, she couldn’t really get a good fit. Carson swung into action, jumped in the truck and quickly drove to the local Dollar General to buy some socks. Upon returning, Lauren asked him what kind of boots she needed for showing.

“You’ll probably want the dress boots if you’re going to show,” said Carson indicating a pair of shiny knee high black boots.

Lauren and her parents were amazed by Carson’s efforts. “They’re really accommodating,” said Wilson. “Going to another store to get a new pair of socks – not many places would do that.”

The service at Re-Ride apparently doesn’t stop with socks. Carson and Brittany explained that unlike new retail stores, customers could bring their horses to Re-Ride to find a saddle that fits their horse, or take a saddle home to try it out.

“We have plenty of trailer parking in the back,” said Brittany. “Rather than trailering, some people just ride their horse over and tie it to the rail.”

Brooks’ family members are not the only ones who love the hometown service they find at Re-Ride. Lauren and Josias de Wet brought their 8-year-old son, Silas, by that Saturday morning to look for halters.

“I love this place,” said Lauren de Wet. “They let me demo five saddles to find one to fit my off-the-track thoroughbred.”

While Silas crawled over the racks and racks of saddles, Brittany commented that they were trying to expand their children’s inventory. “It can cost a lot to buy everything new for a growing child,” she said. “You can get perfectly good items for half the price here.”

Carson and Brittany decided to buy the store as a way for her to be home for their children, 10-year-old Zane Annis, and 5-year-old Chance. Brittany is originally from Lenior and has worked in horse and farm retail stores such as Tractor Supply and the Hay Rack. Carson is in the Navy and works as a recruiter in Spartanburg. The family currently lives in Rutherfordton.

“We wanted something we could do as a family,” said Brittany. “When I worked at the other stores, I couldn’t have my kids there.” The boys spend afternoons after school and Saturdays at the store helping out when they want or playing with the gray striped store cat, Alice, and the family dog, a Chihuahua mix named Baby.

Of course Re-Ride also has a rescued pony named Gulliver as a mascot. Brittany said Gulliver makes an appearance at all the store events and both children and adults enjoy painting the pony.

Some of the events the store has sponsored are a Christmas in July sale and local tack swaps. “Our parking lot was full for the Christmas in July,” Brittany said. “We had five people selling at the tack swap and lots of people came to buy.”

Future plans include moving to a new location just down the road in Green Creek Plaza sometime in October. Brittany said the new location will give them more room and a better floor plan, which will make events much easier to plan. In addition to more tack swaps and the Christmas in July event, they also hope to have speakers, demos, and other fun activities to involve the community.

Carson added that the new location would give them room to start selling trailers and tractor equipment on consignment as well. “Anything equine related,” he added.

Re-Ride is currently located in the Green Creek area of Columbus at 7423 South NC #9, Columbus, NC 28722. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. •

Catherine Hunter’s journalism career spans 20 years of writing for newspapers and magazines, including The Chronicle of the Horse, The Western Horseman, the Tryon Daily Bulletin and Foothills Magazine. In 2000, Hunter received a South Carolina Press Association award for reporting in depth. She is the author of “Sacred Connections Horsemanship: Empowering Horse and Rider through Chakra Energy.” Email her at catherine.hunter@tryondailybulletin.com.