First off, thank you to everyone who commented on my post yesterday.  I took each and every confidence building suggestion seriously and feel a lot better knowing I’m not alone with these feelings!  Going to try and kick ass at my lesson tonight.  Will report back 😉

Now those who know me well know that I typically try not to buy things for my horse unless he needs them.  It’s pretty rare for me to throw about large amounts of money frivolously, because honestly I’d rather go horse show.  Rare, but not unheard of as the past two weeks have shown me.

Back in February, I got a sizeable (to me) yearly bonus from work.  That went straight into my savings account to jump-start my savings goals for the year, but I had decided that I would use a small portion of it to give myself a nice treat.  Nothing came up that I wanted or felt like spending money on for months, so I put the “treat” out of my mind.

Then someone at my barn (sadly) had to move out of Austin, and decided it was cheaper to sell her tack trunk than it would be to have it shipped to her new location.  I’ve been wanting a tack trunk in my barn colors to match everyone else, and my trainer has been dropping oh so subtle hints that my tack trunk is really annoying to take to horse shows due to its large size.  Hints like… “You should buy a smaller show trunk!”

When barn friend said she was selling trunk, I asked how much figuring I would be tempted but decide not to buy.  The price she told me was too good to be true, so I bought it immediately.

It’s a Phoenix West in our barn colors, and the funny part is that only 1 letter is wrong in the monogram.  There’s an L and an M, just not in the right order.  I’ll probably get a new vinyl front panel for it and cover re-monogrammed eventually, but at the moment I’m not in a huge hurry.

So I had a treat for me and Simon, yay!

Then last Thursday happened, and I have three people to blame for Thursday.

It all started with a hypothetical conversation with Aimee, where I mentioned all the things I would buy if I wanted to blow my savings.  This was my mistake #1, because when talking tack with Aimee things have a tendency to become a lot less hypothetical.

I mentioned I wanted a jumpery bridle that had a modern feel, but not a figure 8 since trainer wants us going in a standing martingale.  She linked me this beautiful Dy’On Anatomic Bridle.

I’ve seen it (and touched it) in Dover before, and it is beautiful.  However the head stall is $450 at Dover with no reins, and I can’t even consider that as a tack purchase.  I briefly looked for the Mark Todd version which Amanda has, but found out they don’t make it anymore.  The dream ended for me there.

Until I started chatting with Amanda, which was mistake number two.

Had I looked for the bridle online at French tack shops?  Why no, I had not.  Sure enough, she helped me find a European site that sold the Dy’On bridle and rubber reins for a reasonable price.

Then I talked to my most reasonable, good at adult horse friend – Jen.

I showed her the bridle and said it was beautiful, and that I would plan to set money aside and purchase in a few months.  Thinking this was the best plan, I was a bit shocked when Jen said “Well the Euro is so low you should just buy it now.”

Why yes, the Euro is super low right now.  By the time I got back from lunch, Amanda found a tack shop that shipped to the US.

So that’s how I got a high end jumper bridle for about $300 less than it would cost me at Dover in Austin.  I really hope it fits and I really hope y’all won’t get tired of seeing pictures of it because I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about buying a piece of tack in my life.

No more treats for me for a while!  Is there a “hypothetical” piece of tack that you are lusting after?

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