Tack Sale Love

I love tack sales. It doesn't matter if I buy anything or not, I just love being there, looking through stuff and seeing all the horsey people I know. But who am I kidding, I've never not bought anything at a tack sale!

I ended up taking a small collection of my things for sale, but unfortunately I only sold two of my own things :( I sold a friend's fancy dressage saddle for her, which I was surprised about. It was worth a lot so of course now I am wishing that I had asked for a commission! Oh well. I was really hoping to sell my saddle, but no one was interested. I wasn't that surprised though, since there were a lot of cheap-y english saddles at the sale.

Interesting note, when I had been looking to buy a used dressage saddle, I had the hardest time finding a nice one in my price range. I ended up finally getting my Duett for $800 at a tack sale. Today however, there were three other dressage saddles, besides the one I was selling, that I totally would have bought if they had been for sale when I needed one!

Anyways, the sale was a little bit smaller than in the past. It's a fundraiser for the horse 4-H'ers. It started out in a smallish room in the Extension Center then migrated to the County Event Center and now takes place in a large arena. I think the amount of people who came was lower as well, though it still ended up being a great fundraiser for 4-H since they charge $2 to get in as well as rent out the booth spaces.

I ended up finding a blankie for Jetta. I was really set on getting her a high neck turnout since I've always wanted one, but I didn't want to spend over $100. Smartpak had one, but I waited too long and all the medium weights got sold out. I didn't find a high neck, but I did find a nearly brand-new Weatherbeeta Landa mid-weight turnout in a pretty purple plaid. And at a much better price ($40) than I had planned on dropping on a blanket originally ($70).

I was happy with that buy and decided that I did not find anything else that I needed. I usually make a small list of things that I'm allowed to buy before I go to a tack sale so that I stay on track :) I was hoping to find some hind splint boots for Jetta and a rope halter for Colton, but I didn't find any that I liked.

More typically seen in the US

Later I decided to go walk around a bit because I was bored and frozen. And of course I found something I just had to have. A serreta. The lady had two that she was selling for $40 each. A serreta is a Spanish/Portugese cavesson and I like them a lot more than the more typical lunging cavessons that most people use here in the US. If you've ever looked for a serreta, you'd know that they're really hard to find in the US and really expensive. Like at least $100 expensive.

Similar to what I got

So of course I had to buy it. Sigh. I really didn't want to buy it since I was not supposed to be spending money so I offered her $15 because I was pretty sure she wouldn't take it. She said the lowest she would go is $35. So I went for it. It'll be interesting to try it on Jetta and see what she thinks. It didn't come with a throatlatch or browband, though luckily (?!) I have an extra laying around that I'll put on it. I bought the one with three rings, like the one pictured, but she also had a one ring cavesson, the kind that's more for a presentation than for working. I'll do a post later with some actual pics of it and what it's used for and such.