I’m sure the roller coaster known as saddle selling is familiar to almost all equestrians. At some point in our lives, or at many points in our lives for the truly unlucky, we have to suffer through this emotionally hellish experience. It’s a very tempestuous time, and not many of us come out on the other side unscathed. Let’s break down the process in gif form.

1 – Worry

First there’s worry. Worry that your saddle doesn’t fit you or your horse right. Worry that it won’t work out. Worry that you’ll have to SELL IT and buy something else.

2 – Sadness

Then you confirm that the saddle in fact does not work, and you do in fact have to sell it. Cue unrelenting sadness.

3 – Panic

After the first wave of depression begins to subside, you realize that you need the money from the current saddle to buy a new one. In the mean time, you have nothing suitable to ride in. Time to panic.

4 – Anxiety

Now that you’ve spent a few days hyperventilating into a paper bag, it’s time to list it for sale. Don’t forget to clean it, condition it, measure it 6 ways to Sunday, take approximately 9 million pictures, write up an ad, and plaster it all over the internet (because lets be honest, you’re still a little panicked). Feeling any anxiety yet?

5 – Annoyance

Don’t worry, the anxiety will soon be replaced with annoyance when you start getting a thousand messages asking for measurements and information that you already included in the ad. Because reading is hard. Try to stifle the sarcasm in your replies. Almost succeed. Just kidding, fail miserably.

6 – Exasperation

Then you get that one delusional moron that offers you half of the listing price. I guess they’re hoping either you REALLY can’t math or you have a serious drug addiction and need cash right this second to avoid prostitution. Now you’re officially exasperated.

7 – RAGE

Brace yourself for the next idiot. This one will ask you to send the saddle to her for a trial, promising to provide references to prove that she is “of trustworthy character”. When you say no (not just no, hell no), she lectures you for 5 minutes on the importance of saddle fit and tells you she MUST try it on her horses. You manage to keep it together long enough to suggest that perhaps she should try a tack shop that offers trials instead. When she replies and says she can’t because all the saddles like yours are significantly more expensive from a shop, hide all the sharp objects. You’re about to enter the phase of Pure Unadulterated Rage.

8 – Delusion

Consider riding bareback for the rest of your life. No seriously… really consider it. How bad could it be? You don’t really need your lady bits anyway. We’ll call this phase delusion.

9 – Love

And then finally, FINALLY that one sane person in the entire world comes along and a deal is struck. As you’re packing the box to ship the saddle off you consider including a small token of gratitude… like your first born child, or basket of puppies. That wouldn’t be weird right? Because now you’re pretty sure you’re in love with this random internet stranger who has rescued you from a pit of despair and/or a murder spree.

10 – Relief

Once the saddle has been dropped off at the shipper, you take a minute to enjoy the feeling. Relief and joy fill your very soul.. it’s like the first warm sunny day after a long brutal winter. You have money in your pocket, you’re liberated from answering 15 stupid messages a day, and now you’re free to buy a new saddle.

Oh shit. Buy a new saddle? Motherf*c#3r! Climb back on the emotional roller coaster, this ride ain’t over yet.

Only two more days til we leave for AEC! That means the weekend was spent cramming lots of stuff into what is kind of the last minute.  Ride Times:

The weekend preparations included but were not limited to:

Dying rainbow streaks into my hair. Team spirit, I gots it. And so does my pink and purple and blue hair.

I did one last jump school with Henry, probably just high enough to make him think that BN at 2’7″ is a hilarious joke. Please don’t have rails Henry. Please?

I also dyed Halo’s tail for Bobby, because once he stopped making fun of me for dying Henry’s tail he realized how awesome it looks. And Halo’s looks even better. Now when Bobby wins AEC he’ll have to thank me in his acceptance speech for making him and his horse look so bad ass.

Otherwise I mostly did laundry (had to locate all 7 of my unicorn shirts and 4 pairs of unicorn socks, naturally), finished some props for the course walk (it’s going to be amazing) and started making lists. There’s no way I’ll remember everything, but I’m gonna try.

I also fit in half a day of work on Saturday afternoon (woot, overtime), and when I couldn’t find my sandals I settled on the next best thing. Because I can wear whatever I want when no one else is around. I’m thinking I should do the mechanical bull riding competition at the competitor’s dinner in these bad boys…

Annnnnnnnnd, last but certainly not least: guess what I did on Sunday? Surprise!!!!

She needs a little cosmetic work, but she’s solid and I’m ridiculously excited.

If you’ll be attending AEC next week, please consider yourself officially invited to our team party on Thursday night. Invite here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1720133364885993/

We’ll be having unicorn races (you know you want to find out what that entails), pin the horn on the unicorn, drinks, Skittles, and swag for everyone. Riding Warehouse has even made a special promo code for us to give out (use “unicorn” for 15% off!) and donated gift cards for us to give away. It’s guaranteed to be a good time, and everyone is welcome.

If you won’t be at AEC and still want swag, don’t forget about The Sparkliest Contest Ever. You will win everything in this picture and MORE!!! Entries are due Monday, so you’ve got all weekend to unicorn it up. We’ll announce the winners after AEC.

I’m considering trying to put together some behind the scenes mini-webisodes (like 5-10 minutes long) to post while we’re at AEC… is anyone actually interested in watching those? It would mostly be me and Bobby doing whatever dumb things we will inevitably do, footage from parties, back at the barn, etc. Yes or no?

And totally unrelated, but I have a pair of tan Animo breeches (plain on the back, so suitable for showing) in an I-44 (US 30) for sale if anyone is interested! $120 shipped in the US.

 

 

I’m sure I’m not the only one whose eyebrows shot up into their hairline yesterday when they read the post from USEA saying that Point Two was giving away 1,000 free air vests to members. I’m also sure I’m not the only one who immediately went “What’s the catch?”.

And yes, of course there’s a catch. The deal was worded like this in the article:

ProAir Jackets are valued at $675 and Point Two is offering these vests at gratis to the first 1,000 current USEA members that claim them. Members must commit to a 5 year servicing package ($75/year), with annual service including: a cleaning of the outer shell, servicing and replacing piston, springs and lanyards if needed, a brand new air bag, and a lifetime warranty. Members must also purchase one CO2 canister at the time of the annual service.

That got my spidey senses tingling, because I just couldn’t see them handing vests out and hoping people actually sent them back in yearly for servicing (which almost no one does anyway). So naturally, because I’m the nosiest person on the planet, I emailed and asked for more details about the costs involved and the terms, which is when you get the full story:

“The terms of the promotion as follows. $375.00 paid up front for a 5 year service package. Every year when you send your vest in for service you will be required to purchase a canister ($30.00) as well as pay for shipping.( shipping is $17.00 )”

Ah, well, that makes a lot more sense doesn’t it. $375 up front (keep in mind they were selling demos for that much last year, so you know they’re making money at that price) means that they are assuring they see a profit regardless of whether or not you ever send it back for service, plus $47 a year on top of it. Because yeah, their normal annual service rate is $75, but it includes shipping and doesn’t require the purchase of a canister. Those terms make me think the number crunchers at Point Two did a great deal of thinking on this to figure out how to still come out profitable in the end.

I’m not saying this isn’t a good deal. If you really want a vest, were planning on buying this particular brand anyway (at which point I would urge you to compare/contrast), and you would actually be among the 2% of people that sends it in for service every year, you’re gonna come out ahead. But otherwise, make no mistake, this is a payment plan. $375 up front plus $47 a year (plus whatever shipping costs for you to get the vest to Point Two, probably $10ish) for 5 years is a $660ish commitment.  Let’s call a spade a spade – this isn’t a giveaway, it’s a sale in fancy wrapping.

Point Two has done a very smart thing here; they’ve invented a way to “give away” product, still make money at it, and boost their repair/service rate. How’s that for a business rejuvenation plan? Anyone care to guess how many people will ever send those vests back in for service? Enjoy your $375 vests, y’all. 😉 Hey, maybe Point Two will use the profits to fund some research (specifically regarding: if the sudden and violent inflation – particularly the inward direction of the Point Two – exacerbates injuries that have already occurred, the risk of destabilizing neck and spinal injuries as the vest deflates, the failure rate of detachment, the failure rate of inflation, etc). Then again they’ve said in the past that they don’t have any interest in doing research, so I won’t hold my breath.

One really good thing that I do see coming out of this is greater public awareness of the fact that air vests need regular servicing. Point Two’s website recommends annually, after six deployments, or after a hard fall. While it’s true that the mechanisms inside are designed to last longer than a year, dirt and/or water in particular can cause them to massively fail, particularly at/near the canister and lanyard. Of the people I know that own air vests, almost NONE of them get the vest serviced regularly. If you’re going to attach yourself to your horse, at least make sure that your chances of coming properly UN-attached are as great as possible!

If any of you remember my confessional post all the way back in June about my tack snobbery, you might also remember that I went way off the rails and bought a beta halter and beta reins. I still don’t even know what beta really is… plastic? Rubber? Unicorn tears mixed with the rendered body of Gumby? Who the hell knows. But now that I’ve had the halter and reins for a few months I thought it was time to weigh in with an update.

The short version? I love both items. Like, a lot. Like way more than my super snobby tack ho heart ever imagined. I still have a really hard time admitting it because this makes me question everything I’ve ever known about life in general. Let’s back up and talk about what I bought and from where and how they’re performing.

I ordered a black and blue beta halter and brown and blue beta reins from Corner Stable Tack. There are lots of color options for the halters but navy isn’t one of them so royal was the next closest thing. It comes standard with an adjustable nose and throatlatch snap, but I paid $5 extra to upgrade the hardware from plated to stainless, bringing it to $45. You can also add a breakaway tab for $5. The reins have the exact same thin rubber grip as the Nunn Finer Soft Grip reins, which is why I bought them. With a colored grip they were $55 for horse size and come with buckle ends. The blue is pretty damn bright – again I wish they had navy, but since these reins are for my hacking/conditioning bridle, I don’t really care. And honestly… the bright-ass blue has kinda grown on me a bit…

The halter is really nicely made and I think the colors look nice. Bobby got a black and red one that also looks super sharp on Halo. I have no complaints about the halter and in fact, Henry’s super stubborn behind-the-ear fungus that I’ve been battling off and on for the better part of year has completely gone away since I switched to the beta halter. Magic (obviously that’s where the unicorn tears come in). It’s nice to not have to worry about conditioning and cleaning a leather halter, especially in the summer when you’re hosing the horses off every day.

I don’t use the reins as much, maybe once every week or two, since they’re on my hackamore bridle. When my next pair of reins die I think I’ll replace them with the regular black or brown beta, because I really love the grips on these. No one in the world is going to know they aren’t leather unless they come up and examine them, which would be creepy and weird.

So what’s the benefit of beta? So far I’d say the price and the ease of care. A leather version of my halter is more like $90-100, and the leather Nunn Finer version of the reins are about $90. The beta stuff basically runs about half price, plus has more color options and since it’s made to order they’re customizable by request. As far as cleaning goes, I’ve cleaned both things a grand total of once so far and literally just threw them in the wash. It was an oddly liberating feeling to throw tack in the wash.

Would I replace my whole fleet with Beta? No. I really love my nice leather bridles and breastplates and saddles. But I do see the benefits of replacing certain items with something cheaper and easier to care for. I’ve been pleased with both of my purchases, even if I still won’t say the word “beta” at anything more than a whisper.