Have you always wondered how the King's Troop gets its tack quite so shiny for ceremonial duties? We asked Captain Nick Watson to take us through the unit’s tack cleaning routine
“It looks halfway to being parade ready,” says Captain Nick Watson of the King’s Troop, eyeing up some tack that would earn any civilian a best turned out accolade.
There’s no hint of irony from Nick, but when you consider the spectacle of gleaming horses that we associate with The Queen’s birthday parade or the pomp and ceremony of a state occasion, these steely expectations add up.
We visited the unit at its Woolwich barracks, where it has been based since 2012, on an early September morning to find out about its stable management routine — and how it gets its tack quite so shiny…
The King’s Troop’s tack cleaning routine
1. Start by wire-wooling the leather back down until it’s completely bare, taking off any wax or polish.
2. Use normal shoe polish to brush the tack, like you would do with your shoes.
3. Next is a process called “nobbying”, using a rolled-up set of old tights to bring out a good shine.
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4. From there starts the process of “bliffing” which is done using a rag. Put a very small amount of shoe polish on to it and work it in with small circles.
5. For the metalwork, a process called “rifting” is used. First, cover the metal with a metal polish. Next attach the metal to a pillar or post, which is then attached to a leather strap that goes around the waist of whoever is cleaning it to pull it tight. Strips of old guardsmen’s tunics are wrapped around the metal work and pulled backwards and forwards quickly to create friction and heat, bringing the metal up to a high shine.
The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery have been enjoying the sand and surf in Cornwall on a training exercise
Don’t miss our full feature in the 24 September 2015 issue of Horse & Hound magazine, where we go behind the scenes with the King’s Troop
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.
