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Monday, May 22, 2017

So That Happened

Because I am an eminently rational and emotionally stable person, I possibly had a full-on "omg my horse is permanently broken and will never horse again might as well give up now and just do trails" meltdown.

While on eBay.

You can probably see where this is going.
pretty.

I made a lowball offer on a western saddle that I thought was pretty. I did have a couple western friends including Alyssa) sort of eyeball it and say it might not be utter shit. Because like. I know NOTHING about western stuff. Nada.

I thought the seller would sit on it for a day and then turn me down.

But instead I had a totally reasonable counter offer within about ten minutes.

Did not see that coming.
well now it's in my house

Fortuitously, a good friend and sometime western rider was coming in to town this past weekend.

Which is good. Because you don't just slap a western saddle on a horse. You need all kinds of western shit like a latigo and an off billet and a sweet ass felt pad. Oh and it's mega hard to tack up without a cinch. WHAT SIZE OF CINCH. How would I know.

I dragged said friend to the western-y store and probably killed a lot of her brain cells figuring out what I actually needed (actual quote "so you put the penis thing in the hole? HOW DO SLOBBER STRAPS GO ON")
STRAPS

That got expensive quickly.

And um. Possibly we were feeling up much fancier western saddles and now I'm like "don't want cheapie want real thing", but that's another problem for another eBay meltdown.

Anyways I dragged friend and all the newly acquired shit out to the barn and took waaaaay too long trying to figure out how to put it all on. I mean. I have put a western saddle on before, but let's be real, it's been a while.
totes put a curb on so he'd look badass. totes did not ride in it lulz.

I did a quick lunge for Courage just in case he thought the saddle would eat him or something, but homeboy was fine.

And then I gracelessly flopped into the saddle, realized my stirrups were way too long, almost fell off the side trying to fix them, and finally got them to a different length that is hopefully closer to right.

My horrible hunter perch is bad in a dressage saddle and worse in my western saddle, but Courage was fantastic and western friend yelled at me enough times that hopefully when I get pictures back, not all of them are terrible?

Haha.

Don't hold your breath.

47 comments:

  1. I mean, now that you've bought it, your horse will probably get right back to his regularly scheduled dressage king-ing. Because horses. (Right? I might try to manipulate karma by planning for the worst. It sometimes works.)

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  2. This sounds remarkably similar to me tacking up with English tack for the first time

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    1. Haha I can't even imagine. I think English is way more complicated.

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  3. omg dying laughing here, DID NOt see that coming AT ALL! But good for you! seriously it might be just what you both need right now, just toodling along :) HA HA HA this was great and just WHAT i needed on a gross rainy Monday a.m. HA HA HA (i woke my dogs up laughing when I saw what you bought!)

    PS he looks epic in that shit!! Seriously i am not being smart. I like him in it!

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    1. He's such a classy horse. He'd look good in anything. ;-)

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  4. He looks really good in Western tack! Are there any sort of competitive trail riding things around you? Maybe that would make for a super fun bonding experience for the two of you :)

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    1. Agreed, he looks really good in western tack!

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    2. There actually is an option for this. I may have to explore it.

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  5. You should try competitive trail or judged trail! I've heard they're a ton of fun- several people at my barn do them. New adventures for new tack!

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    1. I believe "starts new discipline to justify buying new tack" was worth several points on the tack ho quiz, haha.

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  6. You can never have too many saddles! (Says the girl who probably owns twice as many saddles as horses. Let's not count them). C looks styling in his western saddle.

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    1. It's no brown dressage saddle, but it's fun, right?

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  7. I'm picturing C as the tallest horse in the WP w/t class... :D

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  8. Look at you 2 embracing the western thing.

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  9. Maybe he's just meant to be a model standing around and looking good?

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  10. I felt like such an idiot when I was buying western tack for the first time recently. I did not know anything! Thank goodness for the internet and friends. He looks very handsome (as always).

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    1. Haha right?? I know so much about english tack and basically the only thing that transfers is bit size.

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  11. I completely and totally 100% percent support this decision and think Courage looks amazing in western tack. LOVE!

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    Replies
    1. He is the best at good looking, haha. Plus any excuse to wear my cowboy boots is good by me.

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  12. he actually looks really cute in his western getup.

    i really want a western style endurance saddle but the brand i like of course is like $2K. Used. why cant I just like cheap shit.

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  13. Courage is adorable western, but there are no sparkles... That is a problem that needs to be fixed.

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    Replies
    1. hey western people LOVE SPARKLES so.. i'm sure this will be rectified.

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    2. I'm already trying to run down an orange and blue saddle blanket, not gonna lie.

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  14. that bridle looks great on him ;)

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  15. It's like you're a true Idahoan now. I feel like "I have a western saddle" is a prerequisite to living here.

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    1. Yeah. I also think Courage needs to herd cows at some point without losing his shit so I can be properly badass.

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  16. Courage looks totally legit in western tack. I have a few western bridles but no saddle so far. I really have a hard time getting those giant saddles atop my giant horses!

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    1. I now have two western bridles. Need to decided if those count against my horse-bridle total or not, haha.

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  17. I went to the used tack store one day, saw a gorgeous hand tooled western saddle. It's looked great on the 5 trail rides I took in it and in my garage sitting...those cinches are stupid.

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  18. I have yet to really figure out Western cinches.

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    1. Right? It's like they have these giant buckles but then they're like "no one uses the buckles lulz" and is there actually a logic to them?

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  19. I've got one of those that is doing only trails for now, and he does them wonderfully in both English and Western tack. The best thing about him is that he made me fall in love with trails and now I wish my mare would do them as sanely and safely

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    1. Ha well "doing trails wonderfully" is maybe a goal for the future.

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  20. LOVE IT! I still don't actually know how to do up my cinch properly. Also I think it's too long. But western is so fun!

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    1. The double edged sword of western riding is that there is no millennia old guide to it so you can make a lot up and still be ok.

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  21. Omg - I have this exact saddle and I love it. It's so comfortable. I've had it about a year and it's held up extremely well.

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    1. Were your stirrup brackets on backwards? I had to take mine to a local saddle shop and have the brackets turned.

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