Truthful Tuesday

 

This one was a legit surprise to me. When I built the barn, I made sure to move alllll the horse stuff out of my house and out to the barn where it belongs. Or so I thought anyway. This weekend I was in the closet in the guest room looking for a tote bag I had in there. I don't dig through that closet too often, it mostly houses my show clothes and has known to also house a rodent or two. Ew. So yeah... I kinda avoid it. 

Anyway, so I was in the closet looking for a tote bag, and do you know what I found?! A brand new Mattes hunter pad. BRAND NEW. I don't even remember buying it. 

I have regular Wilkers pads to show with for the boys if they should go in the hunter ring, but Shiny uses these pads with the built in half pad. I do have one for her, but it's not as nice as this one. Plus, it's nice to have two since you can't really wash and dry these over night. 

The only negative is that at some point it did have a mouse napping inside it. No damage other than some poo stains I need to scrub. 

Gross.

Have you ever discovered something like this hiding in your house?! (Not the mouse poo part, just the really nice item part.) I usually do a pretty good job of knowing what I own, but this was a pretty nice surprise. Wish I could remember how it got here.

Truthful Tuesday: Saddles again.

 

I've always been a little old school with saddles and saddle fit. I felt that for the most part, most saddles can work just fine on most horses. And while I realize this isn't a popular opinion, generally, I still think it's true. However, I'm not so naive as to think that there aren't exceptions. Of course there are! You'll remember that last year I finally bit the bullet and got some better fitting saddles for the boys. (And me... My butt did NOT fit in my old one anymore.) I'm not sure if I've noticed a big difference in how they go in all honesty. But it is nice to know that they are comfortable in them as confirmed by my body worker and vet. 

My exception to the "most saddles fit most horses rule" has of course been Shiny. When she first arrived (nearly two years ago already!) I plopped my saddle on her only to discover it couldn't work, not even temporarily. At the time, I had my Hermes with the teeny tiny 3.5" tree. Fortunately, I also had the old PJ that I had used on Mowgli. It still wasn't wide enough, but worked for a quick first few rides with her. I got super lucky with an ebay search and found an extra wide Butet with short flaps for a ridiculously good price and that's what I've been using on her ever since.

In reality, French saddles are not shaped like British/American ponies (she's welsh/quarter horse). Not even a little. Shiny here, is basically a wine barrel with legs and a neck attached. Even this extra wide Butet isn't really quite wide enough for her. An extra wide Butet is only 5" wide. For reference, below is Pammon's wide Butet (4.5" tree) that I plopped on her to look at how the flaps hit her:

It's like the Lincoln Tunnel... You could drive a dump truck through there!

This has a slightly forward flap, so you can see where that's not ideal.

So I've been casually looking for something that would fit her. I mean, with all of our issues lately, I can't help but wonder if saddle fit is part of our problem. My realization was that nothing I like would work for her. 'Cause I love me some French saddles. The bright side to that is the saddles that would fit her tend to be a lot less expensive. So, bright side I guess?

What I needed was something round, with a 17" seat for my lady size butt, but nothing with long or forward flaps. Not exactly easy to find. I really had hoped to find something with a short flap, but also, near impossible with a 17" seat. 

I've been stalking used saddle pages on Facebook and the internet in general, and following along on all the ISO's that people post for anything similar. I promise I'm not a poacher! I only inquired if OP's passed. And finally, this past weekend, I think I've found what we've been looking for. It's not exact, but I'm hoping it will work.  It's a county with 6.25" tree.

The flap is about the same length as Pammon's which might be a little long for her (especially since this one would be sitting a lot lower thatn P's!), but it's not as forward. I hate the idea of the flaps taking up half her body, but I think a comfortable tree is probably more important. It was cheap enough that I'm confident I can resell it without losing money if it doesn't work. Also, it's wool flocked so that leaves more room for improvements too. It should be here Friday, so cross all your parts that it fits her please!

Do you have any experience with County saddles? It seems like they mostly do dressage and all purpose type saddles, but this is obviously a close contact. Hope I don't hate it. But if it fits her, I'll learn to love it, amiright?!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Um... I had a few tackcidents recently. I was supposed to be not shopping so I can pay my taxes this month. But I'm on track for that, and so I had a few little slips... Okay, not that little. Worst part? They were the things I'm not supposed to buy any more of! Namely, boots and breeches. Also bad? I bought two of each. Oops.

So first up is breeches. Karen had a pair of RJ Classic breeches in the best teal color on her insta for a great price, so of course I needed those. To be fair, it's a color I don't have. I don't have a photo though, they are currently in the mail. Sorry about that. And the other pair of breeches? Well they are amazing, and also second hand, so I feel like that makes my purchase more acceptable. Plus... how do you NOT buy these:

Why yes, those ARE tie dye Pikeurs! I've seen a purple pair floating around the sales pages on FB, and I REALLY want them, but I've only seen them in a teeny size. So when these popped up, I got really excited. And then less excited because they're a size smaller than I normally wear. The seller said they had plenty of stretch so I took a chance and they actually fit great.

So then the boots... First was a pair of boots from Epplejeck. Problem with them is they arrived and the calf is too small. BUT they don't have an elastic panel in them, so I'm going to see if I can find a boot repair place to add one. They should fit if that gets put in. Anyway, these were on sale for just over $100 so I couldn't resist. Even with the alteration, they will still be pretty inexpensive. So whatever. Here they are:

Fun right?! These were XLW so I thought they'd be wide enough, but I have enormous legs. They didn't have a size chart for the calves so it was a risk. Hopefully I can get them to work. If you have a recommendation on where to send them to get the elastic put in, let me know in the comments please!

The others I feel a little ashamed about... It was a total impulse. Celeris posted on IG that they had some sample boots available. I ALWAYS look when they have samples because they sell them for less than half price and that's just a really good bargain. They never have any that would fit me though because I'm such a weird size. Fairly long calf (for my height), small feet, large WOMANLY calves. Most people don't have those dimensions. But this time? This time there was a pair of boots basically in exactly my measurements. Plus they're the Bia boots (full laces) so I can adjust them if needed.  And they are CRAZY. Like legit, would never, ever have these made. And probably if I wasn't so excited to see my size available in a sample pair I wouldn't have bought them. They're a lot, even for me. But I did it. I ordered them right there at first sight. They're already in the mail to me. Wanna see them? Of course you do. Here you go:

I told you. They are A LOT. But I'm here for it. I might even pair them with the tie dye breeches... I mean, 2021 is really just 2020 the sequel so I think we all could use a little too much in our lives. 

So there it is. I fell off the wagon. Whatever. If you feel the need to judge me, just move along. But if you're here for it too, let me know!

Truthful Tuesday

 

Geeze. You guys. This weekend, I was working on the Clothes Horse blog hop that Amanda started (I'm aiming to publish Friday, wish me luck) and well... It seems it may be time to admit that I have a problem. I was going through all the horse clothes. But it wasn't really ALL the horse clothes. Because I have tubs of them in storage too. Anyway. I added up all the horse clothing items that are somewhat in use. Final tally (at least I think it's the final, I keep remembering I have other stuff floating around) is 106. 106 pieces of horse clothes. That is insane. For 3 horses! Again. It doesn't include what's in storage. So yeah. Perhaps it's time to admit that I actually am a hoarder. Crap. Someone help. I need help. 

These are pretty though right?! They're 18 years old.

Here's my dilemma. When the horses moved home initially, I bought them all matching clothes. I was fortunate that Beval made fairly inexpensive very high quality blankets in my barn colors. I mean, that's impressive. AND they came in little Mow's size too, which could be a challenge. 

Mow and Rio modeling the Beval T/O sheets.

So they all had a full set of these clothes and all was well. But then Beval imploded and stopped making them. I don't have any of them in Shiny's size (nor did I have Ducky's size back when he was around). Most of the Beval blankets were still in use up until I lost Rio. Then the horses went to the boarding barn for the winter and had to wear those required blankets. And then Kentucky made the most luxurious blankets I've ever seen... So you can see how it spirals.

ANYWAY, all that rambling to say, I'm kind of attached to the Beval blankets which are still in good shape so they are packed away in storage (and not in my tally save for one or two). My decluttering self says I probably should sell them off, but my emotional self wants to hang on to them. They were Rio and Jampy's blankets. Mow's. The OG home horses. And they're really quite nice. So likely I'll keep them. I have the space to store them. And it remains to be seen how the current outfits will hold up. I may need them again! 

Do you have guys have anything like that? Something you're not really using but just can't seem to let go of? Am I total hoarding weirdo? (Maybe don't answer that.)

Truthful Tuesday: I did it again... sorta

 

Okay... I admit. I did place an order with Celeris about a month ago. And while it was for boots... it wasn't boots for me. It was boots for the ponies! And they surprised me this morning by arriving a day early. 

I already have horse boots that match the less crazy Celeris boots I own so I just decided to order brushing boots to go with the wildest pairs I have: The Cow Print and the Unicorn boots. Obvious choices. Cleary.  I ordered just fronts since I don't use hind boots often. And since Shiny is little, I had to get two different sizes. I am a little worried the Shiny boots will be too tall. But Pammon has short cannons so he can wear them if they don't work for her. Hopefully we can pull them off though. That's the smallest they make right now.

But anyway... how amazing are they?!

I can't wait to make outfits with them... I'm not sure the boarding barn can handle them though. Ha!!!! Never stopped me before, don't worry. 

In other news, I made pumpkin cookies AND pie last night, and still have this much pumpkin left. 

Good thing I ordered more flour with this week's groceries... Maybe I'll do some pumpkin bread Friday.

Anything you all need to confess? Buy anything, um... unnecessary this week? Or any plans for the big sales this weekend? I'm about half done with my holiday shopping, but I'm stumped on a few gifts. Hoping there will be some kind of sale that awakens my imagination for those.

Truthful Tuesday

 

Um. You guys. I've been watching Love Island. I don't watch that type of show really ever. I like me a nice scripted situation comedy. Medical dramas. Crime shows. I do not watch reality dating tv. But apparently I do now? It's really a terrible show. I'm super ashamed. And yet. I keep watching it. It's on a lot. Someone send help.

Phew. Okay, now that I have that out of the way, I'm also going to confess to buying a temporary saddle. What's a temporary saddle you ask? Well... I've mentioned my saddle woes a few times. I have a couple issues. The Voltaire doesn't fit either of my horses. The Hermes fits them fairly well, but not me. I've been making do with the too small Hermes because I love it. But with horses in two places, I have the Voltaire at the barn for Pammon and it's making him back sore. So I really needed something sooner than later because that is not ideal. I had finally made the decision to talk to reps for my two front runners (Hermes and Butet) but then realized neither of my horses jumps and I want to test a potential long time saddle over fences before committing lots and lots of my money. 

Enter the temporary saddle. I found an older model Butet on Facebook in my exact specs and preference for seat depth for a VERY reasonable price. AND the current owner works one building over from a friend of mine who lives in my town, so no shipping required. I should have it tomorrow. I'm allowed a two week trial too. Hopefully it works out because it seems like saddle fate! 

Alright, that's it for today. Do you have anything you need to confess this week?

Truthful Tuesday: A Tack-cident and other tack related woes

 

I've been SO GOOD about not buying crap lately. Like really. Very good. At least for me. But I've been waiting to get Shiny a holo bridle (I already have a horse sized one) and it finally came back into stock. So obviously, I also had to buy some other things to make the shipping from New Zealand worthwhile. Let's just say the equine will have some well decorated legs soon. In a few colors. Oops. I just can't help myself around Punk Ponies limited edition boots. 

Speaking of spending lots of money... When doc was out prior to Pammon injuring himself again, he was concerned about the Voltaire's fit. It doesn't seem to be working for Pammon. (It also doesn't work for Eros.) And we all know my beloved Hermes really no longer fits me. So clearly, I need to get moving on a new saddle. But then I realized, how does one try saddles when one doesn't have a horse that jumps? I wouldn't want to buy a saddle with jumping in a test model first since I do plan to someday jump again. Unfortunately, I didn't come to this realization until after briefly chatting with an Hermes saddle fitter. She agreed I should wait. And I guess it's fine since Pammon isn't getting ridden right now anyway. (Doc didn't make it out last week, so no updates yet, sorry guys!) I guess it's actually good news sort of? I don't have to buy a saddle yet? Lol. Ugh. Sheesh.

In any event, I'm going to sell the Voltaire and I also have an extra (also too small) Hermes saddle to sell. (I'm keeping my beloved one. I can't let him go.) Just debating where to send them as I don't want to deal with selling them on my own I don't think.

What have you all done to sell saddles?

Truthful Tuesday: Black Friday Edition

I'm almost embarrassed to write this post. Almost. But like... you guys get me, so I think it will be ok. Let me preface this by saying I had zero plans to get more boots. I haven't even broken in the ones I have. And let's be real, I have almost all the colors covered at this point. But...
There's always a but.
I'M A SUCKER FOR A DEAL OK?! And if that deal is limited? It's too hard to pass up. I mean, if it's meant to be, you can't ignore fate, right? Right.
So I'll get to the point. I've been drooling at the Celeris boots for awhile. I tried to get some leftover boots from them once but the only pair in my size was a dressage boot with a side zipper, so no luck. Well. They were offering 20% off a custom pair to the first twenty people to respond at a certain time on Black Friday. So I figured I'd give it a shot. I was already late when I saw the post (it was an hour and half after it was posted) so I figured I wouldn't get there in time. Well. I did. I haven't placed my official order yet, just the deposit to hold my spot for the discount.
I bet you want to know what I'm planning though, huh? I've  been wanting a black boot with rose gold accents to match my fancy new One K helmet (and maybe the horses have some rose gold stuff also... Too bad Eros will look terrible in that shade.) So that's going to be my color scheme. Fairly simple in the color department, but I think they'll be really pretty.
I'm going to mix and match a few things. I want a field boot (laces), so this model:

Picture it black though...

I don't want that top on it, I want this one:

Everything here that's gray, will be black, and that black part will be metallic rose gold.
And then for fun, I want to change the toe to this one:

No leopard obviously. The leopard will all be black, and the brown barn would be the rose gold.
And then I'm hoping to add rose gold piping around the laces and heel details. I'm also going to ask for an elastic panel in the back. I know the whole point of custom boots is to not need the elastic, but with the way my legs swell, I much prefer having a little give.

So yeah. Boots. I wish that was it... but I also have another pair in the works with Fama. Because I had a brain storm, and they were having THIRTY PERCENT off! So... you know. And they will literally do anything you can think of if they're able. So here's what's happening there (tentatively, awaiting approval from the boot maker if it's possible.
It's going to be a field boot, much like these:

But, the boots will be green, like these:

I'm not doing that fancy top like this one has... Instead, the boot will be all one color up top. And I'm having my logo cut out of it.

It has to be simplified some for it to work, the horse shoe and ribbon will need to be solid instead.
Behind the cut out will be (hopefully, this is what we're waiting on approval for) this shiny gold leather:

So it will look like this boot top, but instead of the horse, my logo:

And then I'm hoping to do the toe cap and heel in the same gold leather. Or maybe just do something similar to the Celeris foot with the gold. That might be better, not sure how well that gold will hold up on large surface areas.
Of course, it would be really selfish to only get myself presents on Black Friday. The bay boys really have everything they could ever need, so they didn't really benefit too much. Rio got some new wraps and flavored sugar. Jamp got a pair of Back on Track hock boots. I also got a set of quick wraps they can share (in GREEN!).
Eros made out the best since he has less stuff. He went on a Back on Track shopping spree... Tack of the Day was giving away a pair of quick wraps if you got a mesh sheet, so I got him one of those in navy (to match his barn's colors). Also grabbed another pair of quick wraps for him, so we can do all four legs. Not even sure I'll like quick wraps... But I love how the BOT stuff makes me feel when I use it, so I figure they're worth trying. Grabbed him a navy neck cover also.
Then I was perusing the interwebs for some things for my blogger secret santa gift and found this browband for $35 that would look fab on Eros:

He also got a wool color from PS of Sweden in navy and a saddle pad. Seriously, that horse is spoiled. Other random stuff was a pair of George Morris breeches in navy from Riding Warehouse ($59!), some bell boots for Eros (his went missing already), and I got an Ariat sweater from RW also.
Needless to say, I went a little nuts, and selfishly, most of the expensive stuff was for ME. Oops. Well, me and Eros really. He did quite well this year.
So what about you? Snag anything exciting in all the sales? Have anything fun on your gift list that you're  hoping for? On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being totally amazing & fun, not ridiculous at all, 10 being out of control, there should be a rehab program for people like me), how ridiculous do you think I am with the boots?
And lastly, (but most fun) if you could design a pair of boots all on your own, what would they look like? Let me know here, or get creative and write your own blog post about your dream boots!

Truthful Tuesday: The one that should surprise no one.

Alternate titles:
Someone stage an intervention
Houston, we have an addiction
My boot closet is better than your boot closet
Shut up, these are emotional support boots.

I've posted all over the social to share the fun news that Fama 4 All is having a great deal on their custom boots right now, so you should already know that. I get no kick backs or anything for this, I just love my boots and wanted to share the awesome price.

They are marked down to 300 Euro which is currently $355 US dollars. Shipping is around $70 which is high, but they come from Portugal. Still a great deal for custom boots!
Thus it should come as no surprise that I MIGHT (definitely did) have ordered another pair. Yep. Right after I said I didn't need any more boots. (I mean, if I'm lucky I ride once or twice a week right now... Whatever. These boots are for my emotions.)
I'm not 100% sure what I'm getting yet as far as actual colors. Rebecca is hunting down some leather swatches for me and then I'll pick. But generally, they are going to be some version of brown or tan boots and the accents will be an exotic leather of some kind in green. I'm hoping for an awesome snakeskin. But we'll see what she can find. Whatever she finds will determine what color the actual boot is. I may even switch to black. We'll just have to wait and see! I also asked to have a strip of elastic put in to accommodate my swollen legs. Some days my boots fit perfectly, and some days I can't zip them. So that will help alleviate that issue.
But while I'm confessing my boot purchases to you all... I should also admit that I absolutely ordered both of the these last week too:

So yeah. Maybe I need help. But probably I just really need a horse. I could probably get one if I stopped buying boots.

Truthful Tuesday

I'm ridiculously behind on laundry. My laundry, the horse's laundry... and don't even think about the Pug's laundry getting done! But that's not really what this post is about. Not exactly...
So since I'm behind on laundry, that meant I had no hind no-bow wraps for Jampy after our awesome jump school on Saturday (more on that tomorrow). So I dug out some old pillow wraps for him to wear instead. They're on the thinner side for pillow wraps so they certainly were up to the job of bubble wrapping my oldish man after a day of jumping big (for us).

Obviously, we used the matching front wraps cause Jampy cares about what he looks like. So here is where I must confess. Those pillow wraps are older than Jamp. And he's 18. This brand doesn't even exist anymore! I have two sets of these pillow wraps. I got them in high school to use for shipping which is the only reason they're still alive. I had a pair for Bud and a pair for Christy. They traveled together so obviously I wanted them to match.

Bud, aka Just Humour Me, my junior hunter, and the only horse to rival Rio for the best horse ever title

Christy, aka Opulence. The most amazing children's jumper to ever walk the earth.

So Bud was a shredder. He was perfect in every single way except for that fact that if it was considered horse clothing, he would eat it. Thus it's a true miracle that those wraps are (gasp) TWENTY YEARS OLD! Since he only wore them for shipping, he never really had much chance to sink his little teeth into them. And Christy generally refused to wear hind wraps, so her set didn't get too much use. But over the years, they've been pulled out to use when the no-bows are all dirty.
I don't know if I'm impressed or depressed that I have twenty year old wraps. On the one hand, that's a feat to keep them in working order so long. On the other hand, how am I old enough to have twenty year old wraps?!

Do you have any items still in rotation that are older than you may have realized? What's the oldest equine product you have still in use?

Truthful Tuesday

Um... I bought some things in Florida... None of them are here yet as some are being made and others are being shipped cause I didn't have room in my suitcase. AND I got to see a sneak peak of my indiscretion at Equine Affair! Which should also be arriving pretty soon. So today's confession is that I dropped as small fortune while visiting Badger. Not counting the small fortune that he's costing me. (Seriously friends, if you hear me mention acquiring a baby horse, please arrange an intervention.)
I'd hate to ruin the actual surprise of my awesome new stuff, so I will just provide some teaser photos for you. Let your imaginations run wild, and see if you can guess what everything is in the comments below! (Also, you will get some hints most likely in What's Up Wednesday!)