And finally: clothes. Although to be honest, there wasn’t really an overwhelming amount of interesting stuff. I did fall completely in love with one brand and see a few interesting things from others though, so that’s mostly what I took pictures of. Lovers of burgundy and/or hunter green, you’re going to have a good year.

We’ll start with the cheaper stuff and work our way up, just because it’s more fun that way. First up, the standard and very low budget Horseware coat now comes in burgundy and hunter green. I know lots of you out there are going to be pretty excited about that.

RJ Classics also added some hunter green and burgundy to their line.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen or felt RJ breeches. I wasn’t much of a fan when they were the cottony fabric, but now it’s more of a tech fabric and feels a lot nicer. I’ve heard mixed things on the fit though, so we’ll have to wait and see what they’re really like.

They had lots of cute shirts too. They’re definitely a little bit sheer in the white part and the fabric on the sides isn’t as luxurious as higher end brands of similar styles, but for a low budget option they have a sharp look to them. I actually like their cuff/collar fabric patterns a lot more than most of the TS or Essex ones.

Colorblocking seems to be the new thing among sunshirt brands, but I have to say that I think EIS has done it best. Their new navy and white shirt is super sharp.

Asmar has a new merlot color that is probably going to prove super dangerous to me. The sweaters look AMAZING in this color, and they even had a merino 1/4 zip.

Samshield lovers, take note: they have jackets and vests coming out!

They only had the jacket, but it’s a nice lightweight softshell with removeable hood, and the hood is decorated to look like the top of a Samshield. Kind of a cool item from them, and the basic gray color makes it easy to wear with anything.

But my absolute favorite apparel that I saw? The entire Cavalleria Toscana A/W 2016 collection. I’ve seen this brand pop up here and there over the past few years (I’ve put a couple of their items in blog posts before, even) but this is the first time I’ve a) seen it in person b) seen such an awesome collection from them. There was a lot of burgundy and navy with some gray and taupe and hunter green thrown in. They are high end pieces, and they look it. The attention to detail is second to none. There wasn’t much in there that I didn’t like.

This show shirt was one of my top 3 favorite items of the entire show. They’ve really mastered the art of being different while still being simple, elegant, and classy.

Pretty excited that Luxe EQ will soon have CT in stock! She picked out some awesome pieces for the shop, from shirts to sweaters to jackets to breeches to show coats. I’m dying to try the breeches and see how they fit. CT might be my new favorite high end brand. Super impressed!

 

The tack and equipment at AETA is generally a little boring to me. A lot of it seems like exactly the same stuff over and over, and when I go looking for something new and exciting there isn’t much to be found that I actually like, because I’m picky. I did find a few pretty neat things this time though, even if I liked some more than others.

First and foremost – the new Majyk Equipe boots. Y’all know I’m a big fan of their XC boots, and I’ve been waiting not-so-patiently for the new line of open front and ankle boots to come out. AETA was their debut, and I was not disappointed. I fell truly, madly, and deeply in love with their new stud closure leather boots.

I’m not usually even drawn to a leather boot but these are wow. The breathable hyperfoam lining (which is removeable), the gorgeous leather, the pretty elastic, the stud closures… it was a swoon moment. For those of you who like the classic aesthetics of a boot like Equifit but (like me) hate the fit and heat retention of memory foam lining and don’t want fake leather, these are the pièce de résistance. I can’t wait to get my hands on them. The price was reasonable too, I want to say retail was like $180 for fronts and $130 for hinds? Excellent price point for leather. I think I spent so much time in the ME booth caressing these boots that I could basically be a rep now.

They also have a new brown leather buckle strap equitation type boot

A stud closure boot with a hard plastic shell

Plus a new incarnation of their previous velcro closure open front and hind ankle, with a new and improved strike guard material called ARX, which is a dilatant foam. All dilatant foams basically are full of molecules that are soft in their every day state so that they move with the horse’s leg, but at the moment of impact the molecules change their composition and harden to form a protective wall. After impact, they return to normal. The idea is that this kind of material doesn’t interfere with natural movement, but provides exceptional protection when needed. Pretty neat concept.

Another boot and equipment company that I saw was eQuick, who had jump boots, XC boots, and girths. I have to admit I wasn’t a big fan but they definitely have a different look to them. The strike zone areas are filled with a blue liquid gel.

Their XC boots have a “quick release” tab… basically you pull the orange stick out and the velcro tabs fall off the boot, so it just drops right off the horse’s leg. Neat idea, I just didn’t love the execution since all I could picture was my disaster of a self losing the orange stick thingy and all the straps. Perhaps people more organized than myself would have good luck with them.

Another item with that caught my eye was the Invictus half pad. I’ve heard a little about it but never seen one before. It’s interesting because it uses D3O (another type of dilatant foam)… it’s thinner like a Thinline pad, but when you squish it down it feels almost like a Supracor. I stood in the booth and watched the video about it a few times, it was a little mesmerizing. Something I’d definitely be interested to try, at least.

Other cool things in the Frantisi booth were the Acavello gel bit guards-they definitely feel different from the traditional rubber ones and are super stretchy and squishy…

and the Acavello Opera stirrups, which are kind of interesting looking but I didn’t really learn much about how they work. The price point is definitely lower than I’m used to seeing for these “space age” type of stirrups though-they retail around $130.

At Schockemohle we found those awesome neoprene lined ear bonnets for those who have horses sensitive to noise. Well… and those who do sports in which it’s actually legal to use them. It’s called the Silent bonnet and comes in several colors.

a shot of the inside ear material:

Schockemohle also had a very CROC bridle, if you’re really into that kind of thing.

Nunn Finer is offering several bridles now with the slightly tapered noseband and browband design, including a hunter version. So for all the hunter riders out there that liked the general shape of the D’yon bridle but thought it was too jumpery, your bridle has arrived.

Or you can go completely the opposite direction and buy a pretty rainbow bit from Lorenzini, if you happen to ride a unicorn.

Tomorrow: the CLOTHES.

 

While it’s impossible to take pictures of everything at AETA, I tried my best to take pictures of the things I thought were the most interesting. Since that resulted in nearly 100 pictures, I’ve decided to break it up into 3 parts. We’ll start with the easy stuff and work our way in.

First – riding boots. While there were several nice boot makers there, the ones that always catch your eye are DeNiro. They just have so many options and such beautiful boots that you can’t help but stop and drool.

As for helmets, it was a lot of what we’ve already seen just with new colors and customization options. Samshield has a new XJ model, which is based off of the XC model (super lightweight carbon) but with a small brim. It’s a nice matte finish and has a new hybrid type of liner that combines features from the Shadowmatte and the Premium. It’s a pretty cool, mean looking helmet.

CO continues to offer tons of customization options for the AYR8

And I loved the GPA with the slightly shiny finish, navy piping and navy leather brim.

There must be a million different belts floating around AETA but the new ones that really caught our eye were from Brian Toohey. They’re simple but still interesting and really pretty.

And on the perhaps less sophisticated and certainly lower budget side, C4 has some pretty cool new patterns coming out in March, including a horseshoe print and jumping horse print in various colors.

I’ve spent the last couple months searching for just the right white stock tie without much luck, so I was pretty excited to come across Style Stock. I of course forgot to take a picture of all of their tone on tone white, champagne, and silver models (which were my favorite) but did get a picture of their big table with some of the more wild patterns and colors. It’s not a brand that I had seen before but I really liked their ties and came home with a tone on tone stripe for myself.

Several t-shirt brands were in attendance, including Stirrups and Phyllis Stein, but One Horse is still the one I like most. Her new Veni Vidi Equitavi was my favorite new design, but she has several really cute ones coming out. Plus she had brownie bites and giant chocolate cookies in her booth, which mean a lot when you’ve skipped lunch.

Home goods aren’t something I usually care much about, but French Laundry had a ton of cute things, from pillows to placemats to totes to canvases. I might have some placemats coming now. We won’t tell the SO his dining room table is about to get horsed, we’ll just let him figure that out on his own. These things are awesome.

As far as bags, there’s a cute new brand called Paul & Lydia that is coming out with some totes as well as smaller bags made from canvas and leather. They have a few prints including a fox, racehorse, bits in a couple different colors, etc. The photos are of the prototypes, so they’re shinier than the end product will be, but my personal favorite was the racehorse print.

Asmar also had a super stunning navy Italian leather boot bag and helmet bag. Totally gorgeous, although jaw droppingly expensive at somewhere around $700 retail for the boot bag alone. Put it on the dream list.

Tomorrow, on to tack and equipment!

We’re wrapping up our last day here in Philly at AETA, and it’s been pretty awesome. Aside from all of the cool tack and apparel, another part that I really like is meeting and talking to people that are from all around the world. Getting the inside scoop on the pros and cons of each place, what the industry is like there, how the shows are, etc is endlessly fascinating.

  
I’ve lived in Texas for the majority of my life, and while I don’t hate it, I don’t love it either. Part of me always aches for a new adventure in a new place. Texas isn’t exactly a beautiful horse mecca, so the entire benefit of it for me is the weather. Namely – we usually have really mild and not very wet winters. When the weather turns to horrid, I immediately start to wonder why I live here. Then I start to think “If I could live anywhere I wanted, where would it be?”…

While I’ve lived here for a long time, I am not a life long Texan. I’ve lived in North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Maryland as well. Of all the places I’ve lived, Arkansas is my favorite. I could live on the northern side of Little Rock in a heartbeat. Except for the fact that it’s definitely not the place to be for riding… so that makes it a no go.  

As a rider, Maryland was heaven. There were tons of events all over the place, all the time, and everything was pretty close by. However, it gets cold there. Really cold. I hate cold. I especially hate white stuff that comes from the sky.  Let’s face it, I am not destined for life anywhere further north than North Carolina. So let’s go ahead and chop off that entire half of the country.

Of all the places I’ve visited (which is pretty much every state except for the NW and parts of the NE) Kentucky was my favorite. I’m not a fan of California or any of the desert states. I’m also not a fan of any place where the cockroaches are big enough to look like a small dog (sorry Florida). Kentucky, while absolutely beautiful, is still probably a little bit on the too-cold side of things for me.  

Where does that leave us? If I’m limiting my fantasyland to the US, I’d love to look at either the Tryon, NC area or the Aiken, SC area. If I can pick anywhere in the world, it’d be Namur, Belgium. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I absolutely fell in love with that little town and that little country. I’ll learn French, she says. No big deal, she says.  

If I was single I’d probably already be on my way out of Texas as we speak. Sadly, SO seems pretty intent on staying. Maybe someday the right opportunity will come along that we can’t say no to.

Where would you move, if you could go anywhere?

I figured at some point I should circle back around and give updates to the things I’ve reviewed, since things sometimes change over time. I’m on my way to Philly today for AETA, so the timing seemed perfect for this post. There have been a lot of things that I’ve reviewed, so I’ll try to keep it brief. Also, PSA: Riding Warehouse has a winter clearance sale going on! I think the code diy15 still works for an extra 15% off but if not you can always use LIKE10 for 10% off. Go forth and purchase.

Apparel

Tuffrider Sport Dress Boots

Still love these things and wear them every day. Despite being super cheap they’ve held up well and are by far the most comfortable boots I’ve ever had. My only complaint is that they’ve dropped a lot and are a bit too short on me.

Aztec Diamond Equestrian breeches

Still my favorites, although my latest pair seems to run smaller than my first two pairs. The fabric has held up fabulously well though, the only evident wear is tiny bits of the silicone cracking on the left knee of my oldest pair.

Aztec Diamond Equestrian show shirt

I just found myself not ever wearing short sleeve show shirts so I ended up selling this. I need the cuff sticking out, I was an H/J’er for too long to handle bare wrists no matter how practical.

Kastel Denmark sunshirts

Very devoted loyalist to Kastel, my collection is pretty ridiculous by now. My first ones are definitely starting to look worn but they’re holding up well considering I wear them almost year round.

Mondoni Kingston brown field boots

I find myself not wearing these very much anymore, mostly because I need to re-dye and do a better job of sealing the color this time. I didn’t really do that last time and they’ve worn and faded. This is on my to-do list.

Horseware Competition Jacket

Sold this when I bought my Equiline coat. It was a good entry level coat but I adore my Equiline.

 

Tack & Equipment

Leistner Prinz brush

I’m still weirdly obsessed with this thing, it truly is amazing. I accidently picked up the wrong brush one day and was like “wtf, did my magical unicorn brush suddenly lose all of it’s powers?” before I realized my error. I solved that problem by immediately throwing away the old non-magical brush. Two more Leistner brushes have joined the collection now – to be reviewed soon.

Noble Outfitters Ringside Backpack

Still adore and use daily.

Stirrup Showdown: MDC vs Royal Rider vs fillis

I finally caved and bought the navy Lorenzinis when they were on super sale at Divoza, which I need to review.

Majyk Equipe XC boots

Still a huge fan.

PS of Sweden High Jump bridle

I sold this when Henry went through his “OMG there’s a flash, I can’t possibly breathe or put my head down or go forward” phase. Which isn’t really a phase so much as just what he does now, hence why I’ve ditched all my flashes. Still sad about selling this though, I kinda wish I’d held on to it anyway even though I would never use it.

PS of Sweden Flying Change bridle

Still have, still use, still really happy with. I use it for every day and for shows and its holding up well to the abuse.

Ogilvy Equestrian jumper half pad

Henry still likes his Ogilvy pads (we use one for dressage now as well) therefore so do I.

Bobbigee’s custom baby pads

I’m still using a couple of these in my regular rotation and they’re aging nicely. Especially compared to the Wilker’s that fell apart in it’s first wash.

The Battle of the Breastplate

I’m now on to yet another breastplate – I bought the PS of Sweden 3 point when Henry gained a lot of weight/muscle and outgrew his 5 point. Mostly I bought the 3 point because I wanted to try their other style, since I was having to size up anyway. Still need to review the new one.

PS of Sweden quarter sheet

Someone will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands, even if it’s a bit too small for Henry now.

If the Bonnet Fits – custom fly bonnets

Love mine! It remains the best value I’ve seen on the market.

 

Other Stuff

Best. Cheap. Stuff.

It’s still the best cheap stuff, no doubt.

The Herbal Horse fungus salve

THH fungus salve AND the THH Heal Quick salve both have a permanent place in my tack box.