Dover Christmas Haul

Merry Christmas! I haven't been in the Christmas spirit this year at all and everyone is being super immature as always, so I've retreated to my room to do a small tack review to answer some basic questions I had when buying this stuff, and I'll update it when I get to try things on the horses. 

1.) Riding essentials breeches by riding sport

Light tan

32L (I will never live in Italy or Europe. Y'all make me feel fat.)

Holy moly long is right. I'm 6ft tall, and these go down almost to my ankles (you can see in the picture of the knee patches). Don't let the pictures fool you, they don't bunch up like they look like they do. I just decided last minute to put my socks and boots on so they ended up getting screwed up and I didn't care to fix them. I don't know what it is with me ONLY getting high waisted breeches. I actually hate how they look (except my Ashley's) on me. These are a lot thinner than my other breeches are, but I think that'll be a relief in the summer. Honestly, with as crazily high waisted as these are, I'd probably prefer just using them for schooling where I don't have to tuck my shirt in... But they'd be fine for shows too.

You can also see my new SSG gloves! 

2.) SSG slip on gripper gloves

Black

Medium 

Overall, I love these gloves! They're the perfect length and thickness, so they can easily be used year-round. I like how they look, except at the ends of the fingers where the stitching is. The stitching makes the fingers a little boxy at the ends, so you can't use your phone or whatever. I did put it through the iPhone/otterbox test and managed to unlock my phone with no issues, but I couldn't text at all. So I guess you could answer a call but that would be about it. The palms are SUPER grippy, but not in a bad way. Honestly I love the look of their other gripper gloves better, but they weren't on sale so they'll probably be an eventual upgrade so these won't get stretched out. 

3.) All purpose brushing boots by woof wear

Black/black (the white and black/royal blue WILL BE MINE.. Eventually)

Medium and let's pray they fit

As much as I really didn't want these, I like them. The Velcro is REALLY impressive, it's a great high quality super sticky Velcro that gives you that satisfying noise when you tear them apart. The impact guard things aren't as hard as they look, they feel like just more layers of the neoprene with a slightly harder shell. The neoprene is THICK. I'm really nervous to use these in any kind of heat, but we'll see how it goes. (Reasons I was holding out for Roma boots part 1...)

4.) warendorf square dressage pad (not the swallowtail pad. Forget that fancy stuff.) 

White

Dressage size

Dover fudged this whole part of my order up. This was SUPPOSED to be the riders international dressage pad that was on sale, but the day I ordered it it totally disappeared from the website and out of my cart so I settled for this. Then I open it and it has a black stain on the trim over the withers on the spine already! Kinda mad about that. Hopefully it'll look ok on the beasts. For the life of me, I could not find any pictures of this pad's thickness or of it on any horses on google. I literally almost didn't buy it because of that, so I posted a bunch showing texture (the inside is like a cheap fleece type fabric) and thickness and stuff. I'll post pictures of it actually on the beasts when I can get out there, for any of you considering buying this pad. It actually looks about as thick as my classics III pad, and seems to be decent quality, so I'd probably reccomend it even though it wasn't my first choice..

5.) rider's international quilted cotton pad

White/white (and I didn't get my monogram that I wanted. Grr)

All purpose

Oh hey look my phone decided to start taking decent quality pictures again. How nice. This pad scared me to buy. Callie got their lite pad, and it's paper thin and just awful, so I was scared about the thickness of this one. I'm actually really happy with it! The trim kinda sucks, you can see where they overlapped it and stitched it on the back right side, but that's not a big deal. No stains on this one, thanks, Dover. It's not as bright white as the dressage pad is, it's sorta like an off-white 'I left the notebook paper in the sun too long' white. Again, it's about as thick as my Classics III pad. It doesn't have the weird felty underside like the warendorf pad does. I love the cut of it, it's shaped perfectly even for saddles with a more forward flap. This is the only pad I have with Velcro billet strap keeper things. Whatever the technical name for them is. I don't know how I feel about that yet... They're really long, which is good, (the one thing I hate about my classics III pad is how short the keepers are) and the Velcro SEEMS to be pretty decent quality.. Not near as impressive as the woof boots though!

6.) korsteel eggbutt style full cheek snaffle (with keepers)

Super shiny (probably stainless steel)

5" 

Okay I love this bit. I got it from www.saddlesandmore.com (the lovely owner is a member of HGS and was kind enough to tell me she had a bunch of bits for sale) and it's super duper shiny. Not my ideal copper double jointed bit, but it's lovely anyway! It was a steal: I got for $25, and I screwed up with the keepers. I didn't realize how incredibly dark my freaking crown bridle is and it makes the chestnut keepers look like pumpkins. They're fine for schooling and riding around here, but they're going to bother me until I break down and replace them with some darker ones. I might see if I can talk the Amish guy down the road into matching the color for me... Hmm.. Anyway, the bit itself is curved A LOT to make it easier on the horses' mouths and I'm getting a lot better with putting bits and reins on so yay! 

(Aw and I think I just put it on upside-down too...)

6.) Stübben eggbutt snaffle

Shiny shiny (again probably stainless steel)

5"

YAY I'M ADDING TO MY STÜBBEN COLLECTION! Now I have a bit, AP saddle, 2 sets of irons and pads for said irons. Still totally obsessed. I got this bit from saddles and more as well, for the same price as the full cheek bit I posted a above with a link to the site. It's SO SHINY. It's curved too, but not as dramatically as the full cheek is. I've been saying I was going to get an eggbutt for about 4 years now, and I FINALLY got one! Again, no copper and no double jointed mouthpiece, but I'll survive because it's a stübben product. Is that a bad thing? No, I don't think it is. 

Holiday pony torture

Oh I had fun with this.

After putting a fresh bale of hay out and trying my new bridles on Pigeon, I took Christmas pictures of my furry babies. It was a pain. Highly not reccomended. 

Pigeon was up first because I needed her anyway. She was NOT happy AT ALL. (When is she ever?) I had pulled her away from her fresh new hay and Ray and Riley were being idiots behind her and it was 38 degrees... I don't blame her. Did I get ANY pictures of her looking happy?

I got one that makes it look like she was considering eating ME instead of her hay. Which is actually a really scary thought. Ironically enough, that happened to me before with a different horse.. Hmm.. 

I wasn't actually going to post this but she just looks so freakin' angry it makes me giggle. It's probably a good thing she kept her ears like that. More Santa hat stability, I suppose. Regardless, it kind of frustrates me because she's the ONLY ONE without her ears forward in the collage I did. Thanks, Pidge. Way to be that horse, ya party pooper.

When I put her back in the pasture, I caught Ray. I figured I would take his pictures first so Riley would see him being calm about it (because he's calm about everything else) and it would be easier to take hers. I was wrong. If he sort of resembles a really scared 2-year-old in these pictures, it's because he was more or less terrified. Shocking, right?

Then he just really didn't care at all. He relaxed some and didn't move his ears or body at all so it wouldn't fall off. This is actually a really funny thing because I've put so much stuff on him that he just KNOWS to not move now. He is my furry table-closet.

Riley was a character. She was trying to eat the hat from the moment she laid eyes on it. She didn't care about me putting it on her head, but Ray was being a jerk and she didn't want me to walk away. I AM the treat machine, don't cha know?

Riley, where are you going? Stop following me, I'm trying to get a picture of you. 

This is why we can't have nice things. Luckily the hat scared Ray more than it scared her. Ignore her hooves, we're scheduled to have the farrier come out but he's also a slaughterhouse worker dude and getting him out is a pain, especially with the weather as bad as it has been. 

Aw I finally got not only a super cute Christmas picture, but a cute picture of 2 cute ponies being adorable together at the same time! Thanks for photo bombing, Ray. 

Suffolk Bridle Review

Alright! I finally got a break so I could go try my new bridles on Pigeon yesterday. 

Bridle 1: Suffolk premier dressage bridle

Black/black

Horse/full size

Alright, let's move on from the fact that I'm using a massive western O ring bit until my new bits get here. (Should be a few days!) This picture really shows the bloody red mare's good side.. Except for that bad mane day she's got going on there. Doesn't look half bad.. You can see where I had to readjust the throat latch after realizing it adjusts on both sides and it still ended up getting caught on her gigantic furry cheek of doom. You'll be able to see better in the next picture, her fur literally made adjusting this thing the worst.

And here's where I'm not happy. The thick browband + thick noseband makes her look like an anime pony or something. I'm working on getting a new browband as I type this.. Granted, this is mostly because Pigeon has really big eyes and an oddly shaped head, but I don't think I'll put this on Riley or Ray. It'll just swallow their faces. 

"I'm a grumpy mare and I'm mad at you for taking me away from the hay, but I'll still ground tie" 

So what's my overview here? I'd reccomend this bridle. Maybe not for super serious showing every day on expensive-fancy horses, but for the average backwoods equestrian, it's great! I plan on getting David (Amish tack maker down the road from my house, he basically remade my western saddle last year and is really patient with my tack needs.) to see about making me some plain leather reins. I think I'd like it a lot better with that and a new browband. We'll see. 

Things I love: 

The padding. So much padding. It's a really good quality and it's like everywhere.

The webbing on the reins is really comfy for me and I'm excited to try them out! 

The flash was really supple and good quality leather

The whole bridle seems to be great quality, but is kind of stiff.

The hook closures (where the bit attaches) fought me a little, but were easy enough to use. 

Things I hate:

The leather is nowhere near as soft as I'd like it. I think oiling it will help a ton. 

The browband should be thinner, in my opinion.

I don't have a good bit for it yet so it looks kinda dumb.

The nosepiece adjustment thing above the bit is a major pain. Again, oiling should help.

Some keepers were plasticky feeling and slid down instead of keeping excess leather in place.

The leather on the reins is stiff and doesn't let them move that much.

Bridle 2: Suffolk premier fancy snaffle bridle (that's a mouthful) 

Brown 

Horse/full size

I'm telling you, she makes tack look way better from this side... I didn't adjust the cheek pieces correctly because I pretty much couldn't feel my hands by this point. Whoops. I really pretty much hate this bridle, I'll say that right now. If it gets better with oiling, I'll be really surprised. 

Even the bloody red mare hates it! (Nah, Ray was being a jerk to Riley behind her.) Okay, so I don't want to just beat this bridle up on here so.. I do love how it looks much thinner/simpler and refined on Pidge (except for where my numb hands messed up), I love the stitching, and the color isn't bad. That's about it. It looks good on the birdy girl and I'd put it on Ray, but I'm afraid to use it on Riley in case it breaks.. 

Here is the comparison between suffolk's stitching (top) and crown's stitching (bottom). My crown bridle got in an oil accident so it's not bright white anymore, but it still serves its purpose. Suffolk has thicker stitching on the binding, but a less fancy design overall. This also shows the color difference, my crown bridle is like a dark chocolate brown and my Suffolk bridle is more of a red-brown-bay color. They're about the same thickness, but I ordered a padded crown bridle and a non-padded Suffolk bridle so it looks a lot worse than it really is. (NOTE: these are the nosebands of both. Not the browbands. I was way too lazy to go get my crown bridle from the trailer for that, but I never use its noseband so it was in my room.)

Hahaha Pigeon looks so evil! It's because we both hate this bridle. If it hadn't been $30, I would have sent it back and asked for a refund with a lengthy complaint attached. I would not reccomend this bridle at all, unless I can soften it up some. Then I'd only recommend it for what I plan on using it for - shows only.

Things I love:

The stitching. It's so bright and prominent! It really looks good against the dark leather.

The thickness of the leather, both ways. I think the designers knocked this one out of the park.

The color. It's different than most bridles I've seen, and would match my Stübben well.

The one good keeper it had

The fact that I could actually work the hook closures. 

Things I hate:

The whole bridle feels cheaply made/plastic/fake/awful. Like the skin of people who go to tanning beds their whole lives.

It's stiff. Really stiff. Like... I don't know if I can fix it stiff.

The keepers slide down and don't help keep excess leather down. I think there was one good keeper.

The laced reins are so high/stiff I can compare them to Mount Everest. They'll be useful if I want to amputate my fingers. I thought my crown ones were bad until I broke them in, but no.

The fancy stitching wasn't fancy enough for this tack whore.

The fact that I could work the hook closures scares me.

Special Delivery!

My dad went to his first horse & tack auction last weekend, and picked up an O ring bit and a new set of weaver clip-on reins for me. I have some REALLY abused weaver clip-on split reins that I absolutely ADORE, and he knows how much I love them. I'm glad I got some loop reins this time, though!

So Dover has their 12 days of Christmas sale going on, and I've yet to get anything from that. HOWEVER, I got a Suffolk brand Dressage bridle and a Suffolk brand hunter/snaffle bridle during their Black Friday sale for like 60% off. Which means the normally $100+ bridles were $50-$60. And I got $10 off. 

I was so excited that I checked my tracker every 10 minutes and even passed the UPS store every day (which I do anyway) 

But when I got home today, I saw this beautiful little (well, over 5lbs and bigger than my feet) white bag sitting on my porch. After pulling the millions of layers of packing tape off, giving up, and tearing open the bag, I had three lumps of leather and plastic fall out along with my receipt and magazine. 

AND the smell of leather and packaging fills my room! I pull out the three bridles (one is for a friend of mine-saving on shipping there) and start the opening frenzy. 

Please note the scissors. These things are packaged ridiculously well. Like... 'Don't touch' well. I still haven't got the bits that I want, so I used my new O Ring on the dressage bridle and an old, slightly rusted D ring that I use as a decoration on the snaffle bridle. 

After about 20 minutes, I had the dressage bridle somewhat figured out. EXCEPT that I forgot to put the browband on. Actually, I did the same to the other bridle while I was putting IT together. I was mildly frustrated when I sat back-right onto both browbands. 

I FINALLY got the bridles disassembled, browbands put on, and bridles reassembled. The dressage bridle has FABULOUS padding, I almost like it better than the Crown bridle I got last year. ALMOST. However, I wasn't too impressed by the other bridle. The leather was thin and although supple, felt plasticky. The stitching was lovely, although more plain than my Crown bridle. I don't see myself using this one too much... 

TA-DAAAAA! I think I got part of the dressage bridle out on wrong, but whatever.