About Us

Janie Amdal, Owner and CEO/COO
David Amdal, Co-Owner, Sales and ‘Navigation’
Maren Amdal, Warehouse Manager, Shipping Director and Webmistress

Chimacum Tack: A History

Chimacum Tack began in 1992. It was started in response to a need for a local tack supplier in rural Jefferson County, WA. The Amdal’s’ youngest daughter Maren was beginning to show horses through the local 4-H program, and the nearest tack store was more than 20 miles away. And to top it off, the owner was rude and the prices were high!

David Amdal had sold Antiques for many years and had a retail store in the front third of a 30x70 foot pole building on their property. Janie Amdal, a professional educator in North Kitsap County, knew that one day she’d be ready to retire from teaching in elementary schools. She knew there was a need for a tack store nearby. So, they figured out how to borrow enough capital, built a 6x8 foot addition onto the antique store, and the Chimacum Tack Shack was born!

The first few years brought new products, new distributors, new customers and, as the story now goes, Janie continued to “bump Dad’s Antique’s over” to make room for the expanding tack business. Janie soon realized that if the store was going to be successful it needed to branch outside their little rural community. At this time, the Amdal’s middle son was earning his degree in computers through the local community college. After lots of discussion, everyone agreed that joining the internet revolution was the thing to do and that a nitch market was the best way to achieve success on the World Wide Web. Janie had developed a relationship with an Amish harness maker in Iowa who made custom-order high-quality leather goods. A few clicks of the mouse were all it took to realize that equine driving equipment was hard to come by. And so it was that www.horsedriver.com was born and Chimacum Tack joined the dot-com world of the 1990’s.

Patric remarried and began working for Microsoft in Redmond, WA. Maren graduated High School, the horses were sold, and she moved away to college. Janie and David discovered a fondness for miniature horses, and their owners. They began hauling tack to shows, eventually hiring local customers to “watch the shop” on weekends during the summer as they traveled to miniature horse shows throughout the Pacific Northwest. An expanding retail location supported the development of the growing web business, and all was ready to support Janie when, in 2002, she retired from teaching after 25 years.

In early 2005, Janie and David decided that they were ready to take advantage of the time freedom their retirement provided and came up with a plan; They would sell the retail location and the house, and travel the country in a motor home selling tack at miniature horse shows. They found the perfect truck, and the perfect fifth wheel toy hauler. They found the perfect buyers for the shop. The details all fell into place when in October, Maren, who had since purchased her first home in Minneapolis, agreed to create a new website and manage the warehouse and shipping. The sale of their property finally closed in April of 2006 with Janie and David already at their first show of the season in Oregon.

So here we are, in 2006; A successful family owned and operated business. With so much growth and change over the years, we are all pleased to continue to provide our customers with the kind of friendly service they have come to expect. We thank those of you who’ve supported us throughout the years with your patronage, and look forward to serving many new customers in the fruitful years to come.