Monday, August 14, 2017

Outfitting a Zoëbird: Part Two

Needless to say, when you go from the cobbiest of cob size OTTBs that ever cobbed the earth to a Percheron cross baby, not a lot of your tack is going to fit.

Like. Less than you'd think even.
i mean. they go on. and they're purple. so they stay.
I did not expect C's boots to fit, but they do. Sorta. As in. Well. ZB has good, solid bone but isn't exceptionally enormous, so the height is pretty ok. She's definitely broader than C is, so boots that overlapped a little on him don't quite close on her.
o hai expensive boots
I do have this fancy schmancy set of Schockemohle dressage boots that I bought for Courage, but by the time I got done dicking around with eBay UK and they actually arrived, I'd already decided to rehome him. (So if you don't recognize them, that's why.) Anyways. They fit just slightly differently than the knock offs and are the best fitting boot I have right now.

I did not expect my boots to work.

I did expect my saddle pads to work.
yeah she thinks i'm funny too
I keep meaning to take a fairly hilarious video for you guys, but essentially, my beautiful Ogilvy wither-relief pads... uh... don't work for a horse without withers. Like. You push one end down and the other pops up. And if you're wondering, no they do not stay under the saddle. Oops.

Fortunately, I have more dressage pads and those seem to work ok for her shape.

and that shape is hella sexy
 Then saddles. 

Yeah. 

I knew my $$$$ Custom was never going to fit her and I know it's idiocy to buy a $$$$ saddle for a baby horse that's going to change shape dramatically unless you can afford to just keep buying them. Which yeah no. Not happening. 

I scrounged up a saddle at a local consignment place that fits both of us well enough but won't completely break my heart to sell when the inevitable time comes. 
sad lil jump pad
Bridles were tricky of course. Zoëbird is actually the same measurement bit to bit over the poll as Courage, but let's just say all of her other dimensions are... larger. If you're counting, yes, that means off-the-rack bridles are out for her. SOB. This is a shopping killer. I ordered her a Nunn Finer Custom event bridle because they let me pick the size of each piece without ever talking to an actual human being. (That's the whole point of the internet. Retailers, take note.) 
hey baby. sad bridle.
Now of course I have already ordered Ms Zoëbird her very own Topline Leather browband (custom specs omg can't wait!) buuuuut the wait time is killer and no matter how many times I'm like BUT LOOK AT THIS SAD BRIDLE WITH NO SPARKLES, I don't get to jump the line (sob) so I needed an interim browband also. Alyssa let me play with her cool new toy from Blackjak Refinery and with my great sense of restraint, I ordered my own immediately. 

rainbow hematite. i think yes.
Haha and remember how I buy every bit I can get my grabby hands on and never sell them and have this life goal of being the crazy bit lady in 30 years with basically every bit that was ever made?

Uh yeah. 

Well like 85% of horses on the planet wear a 5" bit. So my entire collection is 5" bits. And one 5.5" because there was a sale. 

Guess where this is going.
mmhmm
Yeah the "little" D bit in that picture is my lone 5.5". And yeah. It's too small. The eggbutt is a 6" that fits just fine. Jury is out on the ramifications for the bit collection, but it's a strange position for me to be in. 

Oh and halters? Hahahahahahaha shut up. When Roxie's mom dropped Ms. ZB off, she handed me a rope halter and was like "this fits weird. you can have it." 
just. weird. not bad. 
She's not wrong. It does fit weird. It also goes on Zoëbird pretty ok, so we use it on the daily. 

My inner optimist stuck Courage's fancy clinician-style stiff rope nose-knot halter on her...
someone should slap my inner optimist
Yeah it just straight up doesn't fit. Her smooshy nose barely goes in it and the tie throatlatch is BARELY long enough. 

So uh. Possibly there was some late night online shopping that hopefully rectified this situation. I'll keep you posted. 

Oh. And. We're not even talking about bonnets, ok? WE'RE JUST NOT. 
(definitely) let them tame you

I mean. I guess I would have been disappointed if I didn't get to shop for her. Silver lining?

44 comments:

  1. Girls have to have girl accessories right?? My trainer has an old pink halter that we're using for Mae and somehow it works (even though inside I just cringe). Her new leather one sits unused in her tack locker

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    1. Yeaaaaahhhh we haven't even addressed the leather halter situation yet. I think I know what I want, but I have no idea what size I want and the spirit hasn't moved me to measure yet.

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  2. But that rainbow browband does look PERFECT on her and would not have on a tiny bay. So... I consider that a win.

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    1. Yes it's definitely fun to dress an entirely different horse.

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    2. That browband is my favorite thing ever! 🌈

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    3. I need to video it in the light. It's so cool!

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  3. Sooooo the optimist in me here is going in order to go shop for the Zoebird, you're going to be selling things like Ogilvy pads? And browbands? Maybe? I'll just stand here with my wallet eagerly waiting...

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    1. Haha basically if you want something, you should have already called dibs. I might post a few things tho. Stay posted.

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  4. The inner shopper in you has to be excited tho right?

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  5. You know your inner tack ho secretly loves the new shopping opportunities 😂 miss ZB is looking smashing in her new browband!

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  6. Replies
    1. What's the point of being an ammy horse if you aren't completely spoiled rotten, amiright?

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  7. Of course a new horse needs new things. I mean, is that even somethng to question? No. It is not.

    I love the rainbow browband. It's perfet on a dark horse. Ms Carmn is 5 1/4 for bits and Irish is between 5 1/4 and 5 1/2 so he's in a 5 1/2 because I prefer to go larger.

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    1. Yeah. No point in trying to squeeze sensitive mouths into something that actually doesn't fit.

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  8. I'll be waiting with much excitement for news on the halter front. Because I also bought a horse who doesn't fit into the other horse's clothes. Specifically, I need a friend with a "this fits weird" rope halter, too. UGH.

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  9. i mean shopping for new horse stuff is fun but its painful when your carefully hoarded collection is like 0/0 fit wise. and then you sadly have to get rid of all of it and you're like but i LIKED that bridle.... :'(

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  10. A girl's gotta shop! Silver lining indeed. Also, now you can make new memories with Zoe and HER new things.

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  11. She has a big jowel just like Hamps. Makes it annoying to fit things with throatlatches. I cannot wait to see your Topline browband tho!!!

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    1. Haha yeah that jowl is definitely a challenge. ;-)

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  12. I love Do Or Do Knot rope halters! You can choose to have a clip instead of tying a knot to fasten it on, get a chin ring or no chin ring, and choose your color.

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  13. She is so sweet! I agree with you that her nose is very squishy. She reminds me of my girl with her bulk and my mom's mare's face. Love those sweet QH faces! Yeah I had that same issue - Amber is cob in length but full in others. And I'm pretty sure she'd fit into oversize breast collars because she's so wide. But Zoe just looks to be the perfect match for you! And YES on that hematite browband. LOVE

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    1. I'd definitely rather deal with tough-to-fit tack and her brain than the other way around. :-)

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  14. She is so cute! I'm so happy for you.

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  15. 80% of the rope halters you can find in tack stores (at least in my area) are designed for Tiny Quarter Horse Head. I've had some luck with Mustang brand in getting things that actually fit normally (and actually have sizing - most rope halters they just kind of go, "it's a halter?"). Second best way to go about it is to take the weird halter to the tack store and compare (or learn to make your own). lol If you're really desperate, I might still have the halters Cessa stretched out, which definitely are not average horse size anymore...

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    1. Yeah I have a cool local western store that I got C's halter at, but of course nothing is sized. :-/ Fingers crossed for the new one!

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    2. Western stores are basically all I get. :) I generally size the rope ones by the noseband if there's no preprinted sizing, because if the noseband isn't big enough, the throatlatch won't ever get where it needs to get to fit properly.

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  16. This was literally my life going from a 15.2h QH to a 17.3 draft cross. Also is she Oversize at all? Because I do have a few things around I really need to get rid of.

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  17. There used to be a website called Just Bridles that stocked all the fancy brands and you could buy each piece separately. I'm sorry this no longer exists.
    You should hang on to the Ogilvy pads though, she may pop a wither when she's a little older.

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    1. Yeah I'm in no hurry to move pads. I cut my collection back to the really nice stuff and it can hang out for a bit.

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  18. Smith Worthington carries a large selection of bits - up to 7" in stock, and shipping was speedy.

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  19. Honestly it would have been pretty sad to buy a new horse and have everything fit. Maybe somewhere in the middle would have been nice though lol

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  20. If you happen to decide to part with a top line browband I might be interested 😳

    At least you get to shop for her! Bummer lots of your stuff doesn't fit though.

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    1. Mine were spoken for long ago but if you have any use for an OS one, I have a friend unloading a couple.

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  21. Zoe is the cutest. Yay shopping? It was very sad buying a new horse and having everything fit.

    If you have more pretties to rehome, I have a small weird bay OTTB that would love to wear them.

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    1. Most things have already landed in new homes, but I'll let you know if I end up finding other stuff to sell. ;-)

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