Tack Review: Teddy's Tack Trunk (Leistner Brushes)

Yes, I jumped on the fancy brush bandwagon. No, I don’t regret it one bit. You can't take it with you, right?

Fancy new brush kit!

The summer I got Jack, I placed a big Stateline order with all those little basics you need for your first horse -- my mom still had some of her old tack, but I needed new brushes, a saddle pad, fly spray, the works. And that was all I owned in terms of brushes through purchasing Jasper and then Trigger. Pretty sure I had a rubber curry, stiff brush, soft brush, face brush, hoof pick, and mane brush. That’s it. No frills. 

Don't judge me.

Once I added Tres and Topaz to the mix, I started accumulating more brushes. Most of them came in a lot that I bought used (and then obviously sterilized) from one of the tack stores I frequent in St. Louis when I’m in the area. Occasionally I would replace a brush with whatever was on sale at Tractor Supply or Orscheln. The only one I was really picky about at all was my mane/trail brush -- I really dig the Oster mane brush, and it was one of the few “name brand” brushes I had, and would happily pay retail for. With 5 Spanish mares at one point, mane/tail care was important!

Even with her tail up, Ruby still has a full tail.... haha.

That multi-colored mane tho....

So fast forward to the last few months. Two of the blogs I have been religiously following for the last 9+ months, the $900 FB Pony and SprinklerBandits, have both posted about how awesome the Leistner  brushes from Teddy’s Tack Trunk are (reviews here and here). So I browsed the website and thought to myself “nope! I’m too cheap for these!”

Champion brush set (photo from TTT website)

My (obviously non-professional) photo at the barn.

But I kept coming back to the website over and over again. And re-reading those reviews. And stalking TTT on Instagram. And trying to justify the expense to myself. At one point this spring, I had someone contact me about buying some 5+ year old photos from a shoot, and what they wanted to buy would cover the cost of one of the brush sets, so I pulled up the website and got ready to buy them... only to have the person back out. Rats.

"Country" mud brush (photo from TTT website)

Finally an old western saddle I had for sale found a new home. Having some unexpected extra spending money in my PayPal was too much of a temptation for me, so I went to buy the brushes -- except the set I’d been coveting for months was no longer listed on the website! I shot off an email to find out if it was no longer offered, or just gone because it was out of stock. And then I understood why not only were the brushes being raved about, but the customer service -- within less than 12 hours I had a reply explaining the link was just gone from the website because 3/5 of the brushes were out of stock, but that she had reposted it on the website and offered to email me when they were back in stock. I took her up on that offer, and a few short weeks later had my very own set of Leistner brushes. 

Natural bristle dandy dust brush (photo from TTT website)

It didn’t take long before I was a convert. I love these brushes. They’re high-quality and incredibly durable. Not only do I love them, but they make Ruby look great! At our second lesson, the instructor commented on how shiny she was -- some of that is from good nutrition and being on night turnout (so her coat isn’t getting dull from the sun), but the Leistner brushes bring out even more shine! 

Even with terrible lighting, she's "glowy"!

Goat hair face brush (photo from TTT website)

I love the little card that comes with them explaining how to clean them (it’s tucked into my grooming tote so I don’t forget!). I bought the Champion set: the natural bristle "Country" mud brush, the natural bristle dandy dust brush, the natural bristle "Prinze" body brush, the natural bristle dandy coat shine brush, and the luxurious goat hair face brush. Now I’m eyeballing their Sweepy brush, but I haven’t sold enough of my culled tack to pull the trigger on that one yet (but soon!). 

Awesome care card!

Prinze body brush -- my favorite! (photo from TTT website)

And again, in case I didn’t make my point strongly enough -- the customer service! Wow. Not that I’ll ever be a huge spender on grooming products (because fundamentally I'm cheap), but whenever I need something new, I’ll be looking at Teddy’s first. 

Dandy coat shine brush (photo from TTT website)

Price: 4.5/5 (I knowwwww you get what you pay for, but if DH or my mom reads this and finds out what I spent on brushes, I might have to start blogging from beyond the grave)
Quality/Durability: 5/5 (Quality is TOPS. I haven't had them long enough to really comment on the durability, but considering how long my cheap brushes have lasted me, I feel like I might actually use these brushes until I die. It's a distinct possibility).
Color Options: N/A (but their website does offer a lot of fun stuff besides just brushes!)