So there I was yesterday, doing my monthly perusal of Craigslist looking at horse trailers. I’m not in the market yet but eventually some day I’ll buy a truck and then a trailer, so why not just start looking now, right? It makes sense, trust me.

I was clicking through the Dallas ads, not really even paying much attention, when I was stopped dead in my tracks by the paint job on a shitty old rust bucket of a trailer. My reaction was something like this:

It was quite honestly the most tacky, gaudy, and mesmerizingly garish paint job I have ever seen. My eyeballs were bleeding. But it was also The Best Paint Job Ever. Behold, readers, the trailer whose outside looks just like my inside:

Yes, it’s blue and yellow. Yes, it’s got unicorns on it. Yes, it’s covered in stars. You might as well go ahead and paint my name across the front and cover the whole damn thing with glitter clear coat. It is, without a doubt, the most awful and yet most amazing trailer I have ever seen. EVEN THE HUBBIES ARE YELLOW! And it has BLUE ASTROTURF in the tack compartment!

Let’s all take a moment to be extremely thankful for the fact that Henry would not fit in this tacky ass jalopy, otherwise it would probably be sitting in my driveway right now. Let’s also take a moment to appreciate that there is someone else out there just like me, who loves the same colors I do AND is super into unicorns. I don’ t know you, Julio from Dallas, but you’ve created a true work of art here. Hats off to you, sir.

She’s beautiful.

I’m not really sure what the correct term is for a group of girths but “gaggle” seems like surely it must be right… right?

Sometimes finding things that Henry and I both like is impossible difficult, and he’s enough of a delicate flower that if he doesn’t like something he isn’t shy about letting you know. I can’t totally blame everything on him though… I’m pretty picky too. That’s why I had to go through 6 dressage girths to find one that we both approved of and wasn’t stupid expensive. Yes SIX. Strap yourselves in, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

When we first started out with this eventing thing last fall and I bought the Frank Baines saddle, I didn’t want to invest much in dressage tack in case we ended up back in jumperland. So I bought the cheap little Ovation Airform girth. It served us really well for a while but once I body bodyclipped Henry he started getting weird patches of missing hair around the middle of where the girth sat. I thought this was perhaps because of the synthetic material (I’d had that problem with him before with a synthetic jump girth – his skin is super sensitive) so I decided to move on.

I tried Brandy’s really gorgeous leather Albion girth and Henry and I both loved it, but shelling out $230 for a girth was not happening no matter how much I whined to myself. Sadly, and very reluctantly, I gave Brandy her girth back. At least now I knew that he seemed to like the leather girth, so off I went a-hunting for something similar.

Somewhere in all that hunting I got sucked into the black hole of craziness that is anatomic girths, and someone offered to let me try their TSF. That thing sat really awkwardly on Henry, with a big gap at the front edge and all the pressure on the rear edge. He was so grumpy when I tightened the girth that I didn’t even bother riding in it. Some internet research told me that I wasn’t the only one with the weird gapping problem. The TSF was another “no”, which I wasn’t too upset about because for the price I didn’t like the leather very much anyway.

Once I climbed out of the black hole of anatomic girths and back into the realm of “normal” leather girths, I decided to try the Shires Blenheim girth. It was leather, it was in budget, and I liked the white stitching detail. What I failed to notice while shopping is that there was only one keeper for the billets, and it was way down low toward the middle of the girth. So low that my billets didn’t actually reach to it and flapped around all over the place. You fail, Shire’s girth. You fail hard.

After The Great Shire’s Failure I decided maybe I should give up on trying to find a nice leather girth in my price range and opt instead for fleece: enter the Ovation Dri-Tex girth. I had used a fleece jump girth with him once upon a time and it was fine, it just tended to not actually hold my jump saddle in place at all. Slight problem, but I figured that wouldn’t happen with the dressage saddle. And I was right, the saddle didn’t move around at all. But that girth sure did. I liked that it was wide and squishy, but the fleece would bunch up under the billets and shift, ending up twisted all over the place by the time I got off. Plus the elastic was so thin that it was very easy to end up overtightening the girth. Why do fleece girths suck so much? Why did I use them for so many years? What was I thinking? I hate you fleece.

After that I circled back around and got another Ovation Airform girth to hold us over until I could find a bargain that I was happy with on a nice leather girth. Or until I felt okay splurging on the fancy sheepskin lined Frank Baines with humane ends that I was heavily lusting after… whichever came first. Yes, the overtightening issue of the fleece girth sent me completely into Paranoid Nutjob Mode about a too tight girth and made me only want something with humane ends. That’s just how I work. Go with it.

Then, as if by magic, there was a Nunn Finer Piaffe for a great price. It was nice leather, it was well padded, and it had humane ends. I thought maybe this could finally be the one. When it arrived I was very happy with the leather quality and how nice and squishy the padding was. I’ve been using it now for about a month and a half and it gets the Henry seal of approval too. I’ve come to really love the humane ends, they seem to work exceptionally well with the design of the billets on my monoflap Devoucoux. No rubbing or chafing issues either, with lots of elbow clearance. The saddle stays put, the girth stays put, it looks nice, and the horse is happy. FINALLY. It only took 8 months.

Hopefully I’m done buying dressage girths for quite a while. My delicate psyche can’t take any more. But hey, if anybody needs a cast-off dressage girth I’ve got like 4 of them floating around in my house/car… a whole gaggle of ’em.

Considering how rainy and cool the first half of the year was, it seemed like someone flipped a switch on July 1 because it’s been totally normal Texas summer weather since then. And by normal Texas summer weather I mean it didn’t rain all month (literally – no rain all month) and it’s over 100 degrees every day.

I’m definitely more of a hot weather person than a cold weather person, so I’m ok with the heat, but Henry is a little bit like

It’s cooler in the mornings, temperature wise, but it’s also way more humid, and it stays nears 100 until after dark so there’s really just not a great time to ride. Henry let me know this on Saturday by tapping pretty much every jump and taking down the purple vertical 4 times out of 5. I think that was his version of giving me the middle finger. On Sunday I did a dressage ride but when I had to basically implant my spur into his rib cage to get a leg yield I decided maybe this was a little fruitless, so I did just enough to accomplish something and let him be done. There’s just no point in pissing him off.

Otherwise, I’m barn sitting my favorite Trakehners right now so there’s little else going on. I didn’t buy anything online all weekend which seems newsworthy in itself considering all the helmet sales. I gotta say, I really do enjoy barnsitting. There are a lot of things I like about living in a big city, but there are also a lot of things I don’t like. Mostly all the people. Out there it’s quiet, I don’t have to listen to or worry about the neighbors, and everything just seems a lot more peaceful. I love the solitude. I even like the barn work. Something about the labor is just really good for the soul, especially when otherwise it seems like you waste your life away sitting at a desk.

I’m barnsitting through Thursday night, and given the distance from work to there and from there to the barn, I’m thinking Henry can just have the week off. In the mean time I’ll be cleaning stalls, taking care of the Traks, and sweating my balls off. I really don’t mind anyway.

My faves over at Riding Warehouse are offering 20% off all helmets today only for International Helmet Awareness Day with coupon code HAD20! They also have free shipping over $50 and free returns. You know you want a navy Samshield for only $336 or a matte One K for $165. Then everywhere you go people will be like:

and you’ll be like

Mind your melon.

 

 

Normally I don’t like to review things until I’ve had it long enough to know how a little more more about durability, but I’ve had a lot of people ask me about these boots since Dover has them on sale right now for $99. They’ve been on sale for a while but it seems like supplies are starting to dwindle, so I’ll do my best to give you my first impressions now and then come back around later and comment on how they hold up over time. Sizes at Dover are becoming limited… there are some on Amazon as well but starting at more like $130.

There’s a pretty long thread on COTH about these boots, and from reading through it I saw that most people recommended ordering a half size larger than normal. I’m glad I saw that, because normally I wear an 8, so for these I ordered an 8 1/2 and they’re barely big enough. I wouldn’t be able to wear thick socks, but they work with thin or regular thickness. I also think they’ll stretch out a little bit more in the foot (they have a little already) and give me a bit more room. But – I definitely recommend to order a half to full size larger than you normally wear.

The calf size is more true. Several people on COTH said they run huge, and while I do think they’re a bit generous, there’s also a lot of elastic on these (a front panel AND a back panel). So, sure you can get a smaller size and they will zip up just fine, but you’ll also be putting a lot more pressure on the elastic – which IMO is a bit thin and flimsy. For the sake of longevity, I personally wouldn’t want to do that. I measure spot on what the size chart says for Regular width, so that’s what I got, and it zips up perfectly with very little stress on the elastic. When I first got them they looked a bit big in the ankle but once I rode in them and they molded to my legs, that cankle look went away.

Some people really hate the look of the elastic running of the front… I personally don’t mind. If these were my show boots I might hate it (especially if I did the hunters) but for schooling I don’t think it makes any difference. It’s a unique feature that I haven’t seen before on other boots, and we all know how much I like innovation, so for that I give them props. I also really like the design around the instep – mine is a bit high so a lot of dress boots are uncomfortably tight across that area, but the design of these seems to really take the pressure off the top of the foot.

These boots have a few other features that make them a little different as well. The first one you notice, as you’re putting them on, is a padded tongue that goes between the back of your ankle and the zipper. This is a constant problem area for me so I really appreciate this feature, and so far it has worked great. These boots are extremely comfortable to wear. I even mucked stalls, fed, and did waters last night in them because they were the most comfortable shoes I had with me.

Another interesting feature, which is very useful albiet a bit of a PITA, is the zipper keeper. I really have no idea what it’s actually called, but that’s what I’m calling it. On the strap that runs across the back of the knee and snaps to the other side, there are two layers of strap. The bottom one has a little rectangular hole in the leather part to thread the zipper through so that it stays put while you’re riding. These boots are so thin and soft that if you don’t secure the zipper through it’s keeper, they tend to come unzipped as you’re riding. So to prevent that, you stick the zipper through it’s little rectangular hole…

Pull the bottom strap across and lay the zipper down flat…

Then snap the top strap over it to keep everything in place.
Yes, that’s an annoying step. No, it’s not quite as annoying as I thought it’d be at first. Once you do if a few times it gets pretty simple. Unless you forget to snap your boots up before you put your gloves on, then it is suddenly damn near impossible to stick the zipper in that little hole and you hate it. So… don’t do that.

Durability wise, like I said these are very thin and soft (think Parlanti thin) so I don’t expect to get many years of life out of them. Then again, they were $99. Overall a good buy for schooling boots, and I’m pleased with the purchase so far.

Cons:

– I hate the rounded toe. Really hate. A bit of a square would make such a big difference and give these a much more elegant look.

– There are no height options, so if you’re very short or very tall, these might not work. I’m pretty average size (5’5″) so they work well for me, although if I’m being picky I’d like another half inch of height.

– The slight annoyance factor of the zipper keeper. Granted, it’s a pretty smart way to solve a zipper problem, and it shows attention to detail in the design, but it’s still kind of annoying.

– The thin soft leather is going to make these less durable than other boots.

– The elastic is a bit flimsy. If you put a lot of stress on it, I wouldn’t expect it to last long. The quality of the materials in general isn’t high end (obviously, given the price point) but I don’t see any issues right off the bat, or obvious construction flaws.

Pros:

– The price. $99 for a pair of tall boots? Sign me up.

– While I said that being soft and thin is a con, I also think it’s a pro. That’s why these boots required absolutely zero break in time. The feel is fantastic.

– I really think these have a very well thought out design. That little padded tongue in the back of the ankle is pure genius. I want that in ALL my boots. Ditto how the instep is cut.

– Comfort. I could wear them all day every day. The fact that I chose to do barn chores in them instead of tennis shoes speaks volumes.

– They look nice. The fact that they mold to your leg makes them really flattering on just about anyone.

Basically, if you buy these looking for a nice-looking schooling boot that is very easy on the budget and comfortable to wear, you’ll be pleased. If you buy them thinking you’re getting a nice show boot, or something hard-knocking that will last forever, you’ll be disappointed. That said, if they changed to a square toe and upped the quality of the materials a bit, I’d buy another pair to show in and ditch the Monacos in a heartbeat.