Rose Gold Obsession

I have always been a "silver person". I don't like gold. I hate brass fittings. I had a hard time with Jetta's show halter having a brass nameplate (yuk). I want silver everything. I've always thought that rose gold was pretty, but more of in a way like "that's a shame I only like silver" because it's a fairly nice color.

I follow an eventer on instagram that has the cutest eventing buckskin and a while back she posted a picture of her horse in a rose gold browband. It looked good. Really good. And you know... I have a buckskin now.

And thus the rose gold obsession began.

For whatever reason I have now decided that rose gold will be Maisie's color. Most of the horse's I've owned have had "a color". Grady was red, Jazz was blue, Patches was dark green, Katy was purple. But Jetta's never really had a color. She gets purple and aqua and navy and gray and plum, etc. So who knows why I've decided to revive my assignment of colors to a horse but I love the look of rose gold on a buckskin.

So far the only thing I've splurged on is a rose gold and grey halter by Eskadron. This was definitely a splurge - I've never spent this much on a halter ($60). Halters are made to be worn lots, get dirty, and occasionally broken so I've never wanted to spend much on them because it doesn't make sense. Eskadron's rose gold collection is from last year, so they're slowly selling out, so I bought the last rose gold and gray full sized halter that was available to be shipped to the US.

*swoon*

Here's what else is on my rose gold wish list:

The first thing I actually put on my wish list is this stunning Equiture rose gold browband. I LOVE it. When they first debuted it I was sad that I didn't need or want a rose gold browband. But now I do! I think it will look amazing on Maisie once she wears a bridle. I will definitely be purchasing this one next time they have a good sale!

Rose gold stirrup irons. This is kind of a silly want item. I have stirrup irons. I have no need of other stirrup irons, especially ones that cost over $90. But they're beautiful.

Maisie of course needs dressage boots. And what better boots then a pair of rose gold ones from HKM?

And a matching saddle pad of course. The only problem is that these things are spendy and while I have spent $$$ on pretty saddle pads before, it's still hard to stomach $80+ on one. Eskadron is going to be the death of me because they just released a navy/aqua floral line that I love and Jetta would look amazing in. I have a problem.

Option #1

Option #2

And this gorgeous Kask helmet with rose gold. I'm obsessed. This is a problem. I don't have enough money for all of these things...

 Please send help.

Weekly Update

You may recall in January how I posted I was going to use some christmas money to buy some awesome aqua colored leather gloves. I was super excited to get them... well it only took 5 months but they finally arrived!
 

Seriously the worst experience I have ever had buying something. Ever. I cannot believe the poor customer service, but I'm just happy I finally got them!

They are actually a brand of golfing gloves, called GFore, not made for horses so I'm not sure how long they're going to last since they're not actually made for the demand of riding. But I'm still in love with them! They're kind of difficult to get - if you order them from a golfing store (NOT the equestrian store I went through), you have to find a left and a right glove and order them individually. Pretty much no store had both a left and a right, in a size small, in the aqua color. Hence why I impatiently waited 5 months for them to come from the place I ordered them.

I can't recommend them yet since I've only ridden in them twice and I'm kinda just waiting for them to unravel... but they are butter soft and the most beautiful and perfect color. I love them!

Perfect #rootd

In other news, just a PSA. I found this super cute Joules Welly boot bag for over half off and it seemed about the right size to fit my Dubarry boots, so I bought it... and they fit inside perfectly! It is the cutest bag with a nice wide opening, so if you ever find yourself wanting a cute boot bag for your Dubarry or Faux-berry's these are perfect!

In other news, Jetta is still very pregnant and I have baby fever. My roommates' horse just had her baby on Tuesday and she is PRECIOUS. I love her. I sure hope Jetta doesn't make me wait that long though... she was at 361 days pregnant. Holy smokes, I might die if she is pregnant for that long!

Hard to get a non-blurry picture of the little ginger

Baby belly!

Fresh out of the oven

And finally, I have still been riding Vante three days a week. He has been a little fireball the past three rides. I pulled him out on Friday and tacked him up. He was a little hyper, but nothing unusual. I got him to the arena and went to tighten the girth and he exploded and reared and tried to take off. So we went and got a lunge line and he had a grand time leaping and bucking and rearing and running around. I had never seen him so full of it! He was very good for our ride, especially being in front of my leg.

I ordered some cob-sized cheek pieces (it was super hard to find one with rounded buckles to match my bridle) that arrived last week and now my bridle fits him perfectly. So much better.

Monday and Tuesday I rode him and he was still a little fireball but not as bad. We lunged first and he was ok under saddle. Monday was incredibly windy and the entire barn rattled and he was quite on edge the whole time. Tuesday he just couldn't handle the distractions - one other horse being ridden and a person on the ground watering the arena. He wanted to stop and say hi to everyone! And the left lead canter was just non-existant. He wouldn't bend to the inside, he wouldn't give to the bit and just wanted to be a giraffe, and he didn't want to go at a normal speed, more of a hand-gallop. So that was a bit frustrating. Overall though, he's still learning very quickly and he's still fun!

Maybe we can get these neck muscles developed correctly one day!

All the Sparkles

If you know me, then you know that I looooove sparkles. I love them. So when I ran across this brand of browband called Equiture on instagram, I fell in love. They are blindingly sparkly. And extremely well made. And they are not crazy expensive! It's a miracle.

I had been wanting a sparkly browband for my PS of Sweden bridle, but I didn't want to spend a $100 on a PS browband. Yeah, the quick disconnect for the browbands is cool, but not $110 cool. These browbands look almost identical to the PS browbands (without the quick-change part) and some of them are almost half the price. Plus they have a ton more options. I seriously have 3 more browbands on my want list right now. No, I do not have 3 more bridles to put them on, but you know... I can rotate them or something!

Like I said, blinding:

I recently bought a second one as a gift for a friend and it's just as beautiful as the one I got. I was going for something a bit more subtle than my iridescent AB crytals, so I went with montana blue and black diamonds - so basically it's navy and grey. I think it looks awesome.

While they do come from the UK, shipping is still very fast and affordable. Plus they come in a cute little bag with extra crystals should you lose a few. The price range varies - you can spend $100 if you want to, but most of the browbands are around $60. Not cheap, but not outrageous. They don't really do returns, but you can exchange them for a different size within 14 days if you need to.

I just really love these browbands and I haven't seen them around that much! Of course I feel like everyone has their favorite brand, but I just wanted to share mine!

New Show Clothes

I'm getting all ready for the show this weekend. Lots of stuff to do getting ready since I work Saturday and I literally have almost the first ride on Sunday morning. 8:07am. Ugh. They're running the classes really out of order so Intro goes last and training 3 basically goes first. Sigh.

Today is clean and pack the truck and trailer day. My little checklist:

• Fill gas in truck
• Fill air in trailer tires
• Clean back of trailer
• Fill hay bag
• Load tack in trailer
• Clean tack
• Ride Misty
• Wash Misty
• Print out my tests (Training 3 and First 1)

The only thing I've done so for is get all my show clothes cleaned and ready. So thinking about show clothes... what are your favorite breeches/shirts/coats for showing?

I'm super excited to use my new show coat and shirt this weekend. Amanda (she gets allll the blame for making me blow my budgeting) posted about a Luxe Eq sale and I ended up buying a new coat and shirt. My super nice black show coat is too tight now, no sports bra could squish me enough to fit in it nicely even though everything else fits perfectly :(

So new show coat it was. I got an Esperado Parade jacket in black with a cream trim on the collar. I was super nervous about buying this because I'd never heard of this brand, I couldn't find ANY  information whatsoever about sizing, so I just went for a large. After I bought it, I searched a bit more and then got even more nervous when I found them on ebay (new) for not much more than the sale price I paid. I was worried it wouldn't be very nice quality - all I ever seem to like are show coats in the $300-700 range (which is way, way out of my budget).

But I must say I'm super in love with it. It fits perfectly and is very nice quality. And for $99, I could not have gone wrong. Plus the cute bit accent is adorable and unique.

It even goes perfectly with the shirt I bought. I got the Equiline Fae show shirt. I've always admired the shirt but the price tag was ridiculous for my budget for just a shirt. I was, again, tentative about the sizing (a 46 = XL) and really a large would've been better. It's a tad bit large, but also it's going under a coat and I didn't want it to be too fitted anyways. I was also nervous about the coloring - it's an "off-white" - but it actually works out perfect because of the cream stripe on my show coat plus the fact that I wear light grey breeches instead of white. The collar's a bit loose and was a bit stained (it was a demo item I believe) but washed up perfectly. The material is super silky and I'm so in love with the mesh floral design. And it couldn't have been at a better price than $50.

So for the normal price of $597, I got them for $150 total = a saving of $447. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Dang. Spendy

Then these will go perfectly with my favorite show breeches, my dove gray FITS full seats. I love, love, love them. Also another sale price purchase on a demo pair for $90. What can I say, I really do love some sale prices!

FITS Breeches

Good excuse to share old pictures!

Other favorite show clothes include:

Pikeur Skarlett show shirt - navy with black velvet collar. I love how this jacket fits except for the shoulder pads are excessive and I may end up getting it tailored to remove those. Yay for yet another cheap ebay purchase.

Romfh Tempo short sleeve show shirt. I love this shirt and it is definitely my favorite. Again, bought off a sale rack for $30 (it's on sale at Smartpak currently!) in the white/mint, since the mint is close to my favorite color of aqua blue. It's a nice material, not thick and heavy, not too thin and see through. While it's certainly not as silky as the Equiline shirt, it's still a nice quality for the price. And I'm in love with the magnetic collar. I love magnets. (Dunno why I do, but I also have a horse cooler with a magnet closure and a raincoat with magnet buttons. Love magnets).

I have some various other show shirts that I use on occasion (RHC, tailored sportsman, essex classics) but they don't get used too often.

TS breeches

I have two other pairs of show breeches that I love. My pewter Tailored Sportsman for cross country and tan Ariat Olympias for H/J shows.

Ariat Olympia breeches

And then all of my polo shirts are from Aeropostale. They only have teen sizing, but if you can fit in them, you can get them usually for a few dollars a piece when they go on sale (which happens often).

What are your favorite show clothes?

Blog Hop: Riding Socks

Ok, I know there's other blog hops going on right now, but I thought I'd try my hand at one. Just one for the time being, I'm not going to try and do a "series" of them. I don't *think* this one has been done before, but I can't quite remember... So it's possible this might be a redo. It feels like it's a redo, but I can't find any proof of that lol. 

I found the motherload of all sock stores. I've been in this store a few times but somehow managed to completely miss their ginormous awesome sock collection. Never have a seen so many socks that I wanted. I ended up buying some Starry Night socks (my FAV Van Gogh painting) but I was eyeballing some corgi, multicolored zebra, and some I ♥ oregon socks.

 

So, my blog hop topic is: What riding socks do you use and which ones are your favorite?

My sock collection

 The socks I use (as pictured above, left to right): Kerrits socks that I got for competing at Inavale HT. Do not like. They're a neat material that doesn't hold moisture but they are so. tight. My poor calves get suffocated in these. Then I have three pairs that my mom got me. We don't have similar styles... I don't like the patterns except the watermelon stripe one is okay. Then a cute horse-y pair I got as a gift, my most favorite SmartWool socks that I'm wearing to death. Two pairs of Zocks. These are ok. I usually wear another pair of short socks over them for the padding since these are so thin. But they don't make my legs sweat so that's nice. Then the new socks!

Love 'em

Monogram All the Things

I've been pretty happy with the new barn I'm at. Well, "new" since I've been there 7 months now... Anyways.

Super attractive picture

Not so happy today. Little things just keep piling up and really bothering my. Sigh. First it was my treats disappearing. I had a large bag of treats that was divided up into small baggies. I went to grab one of the 10 different little bagfuls and found... 10 empty bags. That I had not opened. Not amused.

I still had a little plastic treat container that had a few crumbs in it sitting on my drawers which I always refilled. Then I came to the barn and found... all the crumbs dumped out onto the top of my drawers and the plastic container gone. Grr.

Then my dressage schooling whip went missing. Yes, it was bleached and frayed and grosss... but still. I need that thing.

Then I went to give the horses a bath and couldn't find my shampoo. Later I found it in someone else's bath bucket.

I've also had bags of bedding pellets go missing. And my sharpie that I've been using to obsessively label nearly everything is also gone. Sigh. I'm about ready to just lock everything in my trailer just to contain it all.

But something more happy - I am having an "attack of the horsey I-wants" so I decided I need to relieve some of my stress via a tiny bit of retail therapy, aka I bought a sticker for my helmet in order to join the ranks of all the cool people that have these.

Love

Personally Preppy Helmet Monogram

I really like it! I should have measured the gap in my helmet for the sticker because I probably would've gotten a 1.5" instead of a 2" but at least it fits (barely). I love it though. So classy looking. I really want to buy a decal for my show whip now (and maybe even my schooling helmet) to keep it from walking away since things of mine keep disappearing...

Show Shirt Review

After a poor experience with a show shirt at my last show, I decided to do a review! And I'd love to hear what your favorite shirts are.

Essex Classics Coolmax Wrap Collar

I've completely switched to wrap collars in recent years after losing my collars so many times. They're just so much easier! Essex is definitely a great, well-known brand. Their shirts are super comfortable, well proportioned and great fabric. They are not cheap (though I did get this one, like everything else I own, on sale!), but certainly not as expensive as some brands, and well-worth their price. The collar fits well (I have tried shirts in the past with really tight collars!) and stays stiff without any ironing. I usually wear a 36 but fit fine in a 34 as well, though I would say that they're correctly sized. The only issue I have is that the wrists are so tight they have to be unbuttoned every time I want to put it on or take it off, though that's quite minor in the grand scheme of things.  

Conclusion: Highly recommend!

RHC Wrap Collar Shirt

Me wearing it for a schooling show

I was really pleasantly surprised by this shirt! It is a very affordable price (only $40!) and has stood up well to use. The fabric isn't as soft as the Essex, but it doesn't look like it and I've gotten quite a few compliments on it from other horse people. It is still comfortable, just not as silky as the Essex shirt. It washes well and while the collar could probably use a bit of an iron, it still stands up fine while buttoned up. I absolutely love the color and collar pattern that I got.

Conclusion: Great cheaper show shirt, definitely recommend for the price! I will probably buy more of these in the future.







 RJ Classics Prestige Collection Wrap Collar Shirt

I have this one with the pretty aqua lining

This is my most recent purchase. It was on sale and in my size and with my favorite color as the lining of the collar. So far, I have to say I am not pleased. It fits true to size. The fabric is fairly nice, not as soft as the Essex shirt but nicer than the RHC shirt. What I am not pleased about is the snaps on the collar. I undid the collar after my last ride and the snaps tore out of one side of the collar. Keep in mind that I wasn't ripping it open or anything. I think that I can sew them back in, but overall it was just poorly done. I still can't believe they came out. I haven't washed it yet, so I can't comment on durability.

Conclusion: Do not recommend, unless you're looking for a more casual show shirt where you don't want to button the collar or you don't mind reinforcing the snaps. The quality is nice and it's more affordable than the Essex shirt, but I would spend the little bit extra to get a better quality shirt.

 

Shirts I'd like to try:


Essex Classics Talent Yarn Competition shirt

I love that the buttons only go down part way. It sounds like it's made of nice fabric and I like how it looks like a more fitted style. Of course I love Essex, so I'm sure you can't go wrong with it, even if it does have a $130 price tag.














Ariat Aptos Short Sleeve Show Shirt

I'd really like to have a short sleeve show shirt for summertime to wear under my coat. I really like the look of this shirt and the price tag! Plus I've seen good reviews on it.













Alessandro Albanese Free Button Competition Shirt

I'll admit it. The sole reason I want to try this shirt is because of the magnetic button. I love magnetic closures! Too pricey for my budget at $139 to just get because of that, but maybe someday I'll find it on sale ;)
















Middy n Me Sweet Virgina Show Shirt

This is my "when I win the lottery shirt" that I buy just because I think it's adorable. I love the color and patterns (pink and aqua blue are my two favorites!) and I love the silhouette.























So, what are your favorites?

Ultimate Christmas List

First of all, yes you did read the title correctly. This does indeed say "Christmas List" and I never got around to posting this before, so I guess I should have renamed it something else (probably "Impractical Wish List"), but oh well. This is basically my "extreme" want list. Aka what I would buy or ask for if money was no option. There's really not a ton of things I'm feeling an extreme "need" for right now, so this is going way a tad overboard. But a girl can dream, right?!

#1 - Aqua breeches. I'm sure many of you might cringe in horror at the thought of electric blue breeches, but I love them! Aqua is my cross country color and while it is slowing becoming more popular, I still have a lot of trouble finding things in my shade. While I've certainly seen pictures of breeches made by US companies  in this color, I cannot find them for sale anywhere. But they have all sorts in Europe apparently! Now if only I could find them from a shop that ships to the US...

Harrys Horse breeches

#2 - Really neat patterned open front boots. I'm pretty sure I might buy these for Jetta. I just think they'd look super cool.

Palermo Tendon boots

#3 - This jacket. OMG. I don't know if I'd be brave enough to wear this in the ring (ok, actually I probably would for jumpers) but if it was available in my size, I just might have bought it. Originally I saw it on Pinterest** with a bunch of other matching tack which is now unfortunately discontinued, but there were even standing combo wraps in this floral print. Too cute!

Floral competition jacket

#4 - More aqua. I really love this saddle pad. I've found two different companies that make aqua saddle pads, but they're very... plain. I just love square as opposed to round corners (it's the little things I tell you) so I wish I could get this pad, but it looks like it might have been discontinued?

Scapa sports aqua saddle pad

#5 - Plaid show shirt. Again, for showing in jumpers when I decide not to wear a jacket. This shirt is just too cute. It combines two of my favorite colors - pink and aqua. I also adore large print florals (I'm just a little obsessed). It's got everything I love! Except the price tag.

Middy N Me Sweet Virginia Shirt

#6 - Camo breeches. Ok, this is a little weird, but I have to say that I actually really like these breeches! They're funky and fun for schooling.

Accademia Italiana camo breeches

#7 - Ariat Heritage Fashion Quilted Knee Patch Breech. This is something that's actually on my REAL want list. I love the mulled wine color - I've recently been on a plum/wine/burgundy kick and this fits the bill! I need more schooling breeches.

Ariat Heritage Fashion Quilted breeches

#8 - Joules Creme Floral Printed Polo. Again with the floral pattern. Love it.

Joules Creme Floral polo

#9 - Tara Kiwi Gaits of the Horse sweatshirt. So, this would never make it around horses because it would instantly become filthy, but I think it's super cute for wearing places other than the barn!

Cavalcade sweatshirt

#10 - Lister Star Clippers (in either Turquoise or Purple, I can't decide). I've finally decided to get real body clippers. These have gotten good reviews so this is on my real want list. I think it may be something I'll buy myself as a present soon, lol.

OMG so amazing.

#11 - Jumps. I only have plastic jump blocks and barrels so in the spirit of my "do it yourself" at home kind of thing we've got going on, bigger/nicer jumps would be awesome. I'd like a panel or gate of some kind, a roll top (of the stadium and cross country variety), maybe a cross country log while we're at it, and some of these neat oxer jump standards. And of course I'd need new poles to go with it, preferably striped ones.

Found on this blog

#12 - Tall Brown Boots for schooling. I'm hoping these are a "someday soon" purchase, maybe after selling Misty? But I'm just in love with these Mundial's and I need something to ride in besides my Dubarry's and my show boots.

#13 - I'd really like to get a pearl browband for the double bridle that I hope to someday show Jetta in, despite how far off that seems right now. I like how classy pearls look. People on Horses and Vespucci (pictured) both make a really nice pearl one.

Vespucci double pearl browband

#14 - A GoPro Helmet camera. I think this would be awesome to record some of our trail rides and cross country runs!

Have to do more research, but I'm assuming something like this

#15 - Aqua blue biothane breastplate. Gotta complete our endurance outfit!

Found on ebay

#16 - Rider International Exquisite Dressage Pad in gray with turquoise and purple braid trim. Love this.

So many good colors in this pad

I could probably go on and on and on... But there you have it, a few of the things I'd buy or ask for as presents if money was no option ;)

**As a side note, I don't know how many of you use Pinterest, but I'm obsessed with it and I'd love to follow other horsey people if you have one! If you want to follow me, I'm here. I have equestrian/barn boards in addition to other random boards. Just a thought!