tack – The Roaming Rider

One day soon you may see me on the news laughing with a manic look in my eyes as I burn a massive pile of girths to ash.

To say I am frustrated is an understatement.

Saw this at the tack store. Really wanted it. Didn’t do it.

When I first got the jump saddle, I went out and put it on Gem with her saddle pad and took a string to measure from center billet hole to center billet hole keeping the string tight. I got 51″.

Her dressage girth is slightly too big, but makes everything snug on the highest hole. It measures at 24″. She probably could use a 22″.

Ok.

Played hookie at work last Friday and took the kiddo to see Smurfs instead. Best Friday ever.

Armed with all the knowledge I went to the tack store. I wanted a 50″ based on what I measured, but they lady talked me into a 44″ based on the adage of adding 20″ to the dressage. The dressage has super long billets and the jump average short ones, but she owns the shop so I believed her.

When I tried it on Gem, I couldn’t even reach the first hole pulling as hard as I could. It was a good 2-3″ shy while being buckled on the bottom most hole on the opposite side.

I was annoyed because now I had no girth and shouldn’t have let her talk me out of what I wanted. I returned the girth and she told me to get a 46″ but I wasn’t believing that. It was only 2″ longer than the one I couldn’t get on at all and I wanted the 50″ based on my measurements.

A week later it arrived. I happily, and quite stupidly, pulled the tag off and tacked Gem up Monday night.

And….

The damn thing is to fricking big. On the highest holes it is still looser than I am comfortable with and forced me to use the second and third billets instead of the first and third. Which then let the saddle slip forward a bit. Nothing major but not perfect.

Yellow irises are blooming in the yard. I love spring

The tags are off. I can’t return it. And I can’t really use it. I’ll sell it online hopefully, but now I’m still without a girth.

And I have no idea what size to actually get. 44″‘was way too small and not usable. 50″ was way too big and not usable.

48″ or 46″?

I’m sure whichever I choose won’t work, but I will likely get the 48″ for fear that the 46″ will also be too small.

My endurance saddle used western rigging and Gem goes in a 20″. It’s way more forgiving though which these English ones are not.

Can I just invent a new way to attach a saddle to a horse?

Having been burnt once buying used field boots online, I was hesitant to do so again. The Dehners I got for $100 fit all sorts of wanky. Excessively tight in the calf and so loose in the ankle as well as too narrow in the foot. Ugh.

My dreams are filled with the Ariat Heritage Contour Field boot. The 6/regular fit me as if it was made for me. Drool worthy. But…. the kiddo needs a new summer wardrobe having outgrown everything from last summer and well that is just more important, so the $300 boots will have to remain on the shelf until such a time as I win a bunch of money or Christmas rolls around.

I took to the internet to see what my options were and landed on Riding Warehouse. They had the Ovation Synergy Field Boot on sale for only $68 and while they are synthetic versus leather, I figured it as worth the try. At least they were returnable and for $68, they could last a season or two while I make sure this new adventure is going to be worth sinking money into.

They arrived on Friday and while not the precise fit of the Ariat boots, they actually don’t fit that bad. The ankle is a bit too wide, but I have insanely narrow ankles so that isn’t a surprise. In fact, I could likely fit better in a 5.5, but they don’t offer that or at least Rising Warehouse doesn’t offer it on their site.

Overall it’s fine for a $68 synthetic boot at the beginner level of everything and will serve my purposes well. The only question I have left is WHY ON EARTH DO TALL BOOTS CAUSE SO MUCH PAIN OH MY WORD!!!

In other shopping news, somehow I managed to gain an entire pants size in 11 days 😦 I had tried on a pair of the Kerrits Microcord Full seats in the store in an medium and they were huge. The smalls for me very well. They only had them in black, so the store ordered me the small in tan. I thought it was a done deal.

I picked them up with my new Jump girth (yay! I can finally ride her in the jump saddle!!) Friday but when I tried them on they were awfully tight. Borderline obscenely tight. Um? How???

Sigh.

I called the shop prepared to be told I couldn’t return them since they were special order and all. Thankfully she was happy to take them back and put them out on the floor. I decided to just order the Irideon ones in medium in both tan and white. My endurance tights are Irideon mediums in both the Issential and Synergy lines, so I would hope it is a pretty safe bet that the mediums in the cadence would fit well. I’m sure they won’t.

In the meantime I am cursing at these field boots and wearing them around the house to break them in.

Tag: tack

The Girth Saga

Why?!?!