U.F. opens its first superstore for horses
Store lauded as largest equestrian center east of the Mississippi River
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

Rick’s Saddle Shop at 282 Route 539 in Upper Freehold offers riding wear and other gear. The store is celebrating its grand opening until May 22. The store is lauded as the largest equestrian center east of the Mississippi. Pictured below, saddles piled high in the superstore.

Rick’s Saddle Shop is hosting a two-week grand opening for its new equestrian superstore in Cream Ridge.

According to owner Rick Wills, the 30,000-square-foot building is the largest equestrian store east of the Mississippi, and second in the U.S. only to the Broken Horn in California.

The store features 12,000 square feet of selling space, as well as a 100-seat, 2,000-square-foot classroom/meeting room for equine and animal organizations, complete with audio/visual equipment.

Wills said that the New Jersey Equine Advisory Board, the New Jersey Association of Equine Practitioners and the New Jersey Farriers Association have already booked the room for meetings. Outside the room is a fenced-in area for demonstrations.

Wills, who lives in Manalapan, has owned the property on the corner of Burlington Path Road and Route 539 for many years, and operated a feed store there. He also has feed and tack stores in Englishtown and a tack store in West Chester, Pa. He said he made the decision to build the superstore 41/2 years ago because of its proximity to the Horse Park of New Jersey, on Route 524. A great many horse farms were in the area, he noted, and there were many small farms being established.

“There’s a strong possibility of the Olympics at the Horse Park [in 2012],” he said. “That would be a big plus for us.”

The state-of-the-art store features everything a hunter/jumper, dressage or Western rider could want for their sport, Wills said. Other disciplines may follow. While Rick’s initially won’t carry driving equipment, the store might decide to in the future, Wills said.

The brands Rick’s Saddle Shop carries include Ariat, Toklat, Weatherbeeta, Irideon, Passier, Kieffer, Stubben, Circle Y, Double R, and custom boots by Vogel and Dehner. For all horse owners, Wills said they have the biggest selection of liniments, wormers, shampoos, grooming aids and supplements that he knows of.

Willas said breeches are becoming trendy wear even for those who don’t ride. He said he recently saw women wearing breeches in New York City for their style and chic.

Along with clothing that will delight both the horse enthusiast and the fashionistas, the store also features a huge warehouse for feed and supplies.

“If you have any sort of animal, we carry feed for it,” Wills said.

Rick’s, a major Purina Mills distributor, carries food for everything from elephants to hamsters. There are five aisles devoted to dog products and another five for cats. Besides horse feed, the store carries feed for ferrets, rabbits, parrots, cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, gerbils, hamsters, cockatiels, fish, chinchillas, guinea pigs, primates, llamas, kangaroos, wallabys, ostriches, emus, turtles, trout or deer.

Wills said, “We’ll enhance ownership of animals in the township. If you have an animal, we’ll have everything necessary to take care of that animal at any given time.”

He said his store may help with the zoning controversies going on in Upper Freehold.

“People will want more property because it is convenient,” Wills said. “It will be one of the most convenient places in the U.S. to have animals.”

Wills said the store is targeted to attract customers from a 150-mile radius. He commented that the township could not have been nicer when he went before the Planning Board for approval two years ago, which was completed in one meeting.

At the time of approval, then-Township Planner Richard Coppola said, “There’s a distinct quality here.”

Since then, the township’s Economic Development Committee has used Rick’s as an example of the sort of agriculturally based business they want to attract to Upper Freehold.

The grand-opening celebration is being held May 12-22. Equine celebrities such as Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte and Olympian Anne Kursinski will be making appearances.

A grand-prize drawing for a Cottner horse trailer will take place on May 22 at 2 p.m.

For more information, call (609) 758-7267.