With a limited budget I tend towards the practical and generic. One piece of tack has to pull double duty for schooling and schooling shows and generally also has to work for both dressage and jumping until I can slowly build up the collection. That doesn’t mean I don’t have champagne taste though! Here are the five things I would love to have in my tack room:
5.) Custom brow band. Words can’t express how much I love my custom brow band that Karen made for my trail/endurance bridle. It is pure perfection. I’m pretty picky and not really flashy in the blingy beads sort of way. The ones from Freedman’s are glorious though. This is my favorite, but at $95 for a brow band it is not likely to happen any time soon.
4.) Majyke Equip Cross Country boots. Gem has had naked legs the entire time I have had her. Boots just aren’t used very much in endurance. I talked to Trainer about her leg protection needs and she said that she would recommend them for cross country, but that we did not need them for our level of stadium. I hate neoprene and so does Gem, so any boot with neoprene is out and I also don’t like the idea of memory foam. These boots have gotten rave reviews and come in red!
3.) Mattes Couture All Purpose Saddle Pad. My precious! Oh you gorgeous thing you! Soft, fluffy sheepskin, colors galore and the cut out shape. It says it is all purpose, but I would use it under my jump saddle. With so many options for quilt, sheepskin, piping and binding colors I’d have to spend some serious time thinking about what exactly I would want.
- Picture from the Dover website linked to above. I would likely pick red quilt, black sheepskin and red piping but could go the other way and do black quilting with red piping and red sheepskin. Oh my! I have shivers just thinking about it.
2.) 4 point breast collar. Gem is nearly impossible to fit in a more traditional style breast collar. The chest strap running to the girth is always too long. In order for it to fit it needs to be so ridiculously short that it makes it all fit weird. The ones without that strap seem harder to find. Lund Saddlery makes a lovely one although if I am seeing it correctly it only comes with navy and that is just not my color. I haven’t found the perfect one just yet, so no picture.
1.) EcoGold Flip Dressage Half Pad. My dressage saddle is just a titch wider than I’d like, but not so much as to create an issue. It leaves the perfect amount of room for a half pad to help take some of the shock out of the ride. While my favorite material for Gem is sheepskin, I don’t see the point in using it when there is another pad underneath it that actually touches her skin. This pad has a lot of features I really like, plus it has two sides – hence the flip. This means that I could have red and black on one side for schooling and then use the white side up for shows. $250 is a bit much for me right now on something I don’t actually need, so it will stay on my wish list.
The Roaming Rider 
Have you seen Mattes’ Configurator? I designed my dream pad but when done it was way too expensive *sigh*
https://www.epshop.us/us/configure
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Simply wow. That is amazing. Too bad I’m not made of money 😦
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I adore those Majyke Equip boots. Been drooling over them because they come in purple, orange, and turquoise. Unfortunately I think the sizing is laughable for little pony legs…I think they’d cover from knee to coronet band on Mimi!
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Oh no! Thankfully Gem is pretty average in size for most things. Too bad Christmas is so far away. I’ve got a list a mile long now:)
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It’s fun to dream and plan for what you want. those are lovely items.
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Some day although truthfully I’m very torn at the moment. Gem is going strong but she is 19 and who knows how much longer I will have riding her. Most things should hopefully be able to fit another horse, but spending a ton on her gear right now doesn’t seem to make the most sense
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i kinda love tack wish lists haha, but am equally grateful i’ve got more or less what i need for now. those mattes pads are great tho – maybe one day? and eventually we’ll need to upgrade our xc boots. charlie goes in neoprene woofs for now and they’re perfectly find for our purposes. eventually we’ll need something that can stand up a little bit better on all sides to any impact, but he’s fine for now.
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Yeah that pad makes my heart go pitter patter. We don’t honestly need boots at the moment. Will see where life takes us before I make that splurge. Gem hates neoprene so I need to be careful what I buy
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Those contour pads seem to be super popular!
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I’ve never seen them in person but the ones I keep building online have me drooling
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This entry got me drooling. I’d never seen those browbands before. I want one!! (You know, for all the riding horses I don’t currently have.)
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Aren’t they pretty? I am just not a fan of the right blingy beads but those ones are just perfection
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The Lund 4 point is about to be rolled out in an all black version. 😉
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Oh!!! You are dangerous to know 😉 I’ll keep my eyes on their site and will likely order one once it is available.
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Please do, because it took a lot of convincing on my part to get him to make it in black, so if they don’t sell he’s going to murder me LOL.
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Hold out for the XC boots until they come out with small. The mediums are too big for our guys and Gem is shorter too so I am guessing they won’t fit her either. The Mattes saddle pad is also on my wish list.
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Good to know! Thanks 🙂
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I bit the bullet and bought the ME color boots in turquoise and love, love, love them! I have an Ecogold memory foam pad and have been eyeing the flip pad for awhile, but it’s so expensive that I can’t justify it right now.
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Why is everything so much money?!?! Trainer has a lot of things I can borrow. It I haven’t mentioned that to hubby yet
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I looooooove my ME boots in turquoise (although they’re dressage, not XC), and a custom Mattes is on my wish list! Also maybe anything Lund makes in black, because, dressage…. haha. Fun post!
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You have great taste!!!
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