Austrian tack stores: SO DANGEROUS (even to a confirmed non-tack ho)

This week, I'm in the Czech Republic for work, but I managed to sneak down to Vienna for the day on Saturday to meet up with Tanja, who has the Dressage Hafl blog. We've met twice before, and it was so great to see her again!

She had a full day for us planned: First, shopping at two very large tack stores just outside of Vienna, and then attending an FEI show in the afternoon. I've been to a few European tack stores before, and they're fun because the brands are so different from what we have in the US. However, I usually manage to walk out with my credit card relatively unscathed since I already have so much stuff and rarely feel the need to buy more.

Uhm, yeah. So that didn't work out for me this weekend. I walked into the first store and the first thing I saw was this:

MATTES. NOTHING BUT MATTES.

And you know how much those pads are? ~$150 US, as compared to about $270 for a Euro-cut Mattes dressage pad. Luckily for me, they didn't have any color combos I really wanted in the right size, or I would have come home with them.

This one was super tempting, but it was an AP. 

Did you know that Mattes makes a "baroque" style pad? This would have looked fantastic on the Brego for jousting, but not for $350.

There were lots of other pads to choose from. This is about half of them. I managed to restrain myself.

And browbands. So many browbands.

I didn't get any pictures, but the entire second floor of the first store was clothing, and it was all matchy-matchy stuff. Breeches, polo shirts (short and long sleeved), vests, jackets... everything you could want to match the saddle pads downstairs. Even a color-challenged person like me could look super coordinated without much effort. I tried a few things on but didn't really find anything I loved, so you won't be seeing me in anything super matchy anytime soon. Sorry.

I managed to leave the first store with a few really nice brushes and a saddle pad for Taran, thinking I was doing pretty well. And then we got to the second store and my credit card basically leapt out of my wallet and went on a shopping spree.

I had tentatively been looking at some brown tall boots, because they're gorgeous. But then I saw they had real DRESS boots (the stiff kind, not like my floppy Ariat Volants that are really designed for hunter derby riders) and I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying them on.

This is actually my size in Euro sizing. Confusing as hell, since I'm a US 7.5 or EU 39. 

But, I hadn't really planned on a new pair of dress boots, so I went to look at breeches instead. I probably tried on 30 different pairs, because they actually had that many different brands/styles in my size.  Well, OK, they had more than that, those were just the ones I liked.

And this was the row of Pikeurs... in my size. This is maybe 1/10th of all the breeches in the store.

After trying on so many, I've discovered that I'm a Euro size 80, which is more or less a 28 long. Getting the "long" size meant that I didn't have the problem with tight knees that I usually do, so that was pretty amazing. I also discovered that I really prefer the tech fabrics, especially the Scholler. It just molds better and has a better feel than anything else. Besides, the Pikeurs I liked were exactly 1/2 as much as I'd pay for them in the US - thank you, strong dollar. I restrained myself to only one pair, despite the little voice in my head suggesting that I get two because they're half off, right?

And then I went back to the boots and tried them on some more. Checked prices ($300 less than in the US). Walked around more. Considered. Looked in the mirror. Asked Tanja's opinion. And somehow I found myself at the checkout with a new pair of dress boots.

So tall. So pretty. So uncomfortable.

I know it looks bad, but it's not ALL mine. 

Only this part. Good thing I brought a large suitcase that was half empty.

There were a few more items, but those are gifts and I'll have to wait to post about them. In the meantime, anybody got any suggestions for breaking in really really stiff boots?

Haffies require custom bridles

I admit it, I’m not a huge tack connoisseur. I generally don’t care about name brands, – I want my stuff to fit, to function, and to last, and not be too difficult to take care of. I try to find the simplest thing that works, and just use that. This means I have no flashes, no figure 8s, no martingales, and generally one bit for jumping and one for dressage (unless I get really lucky and can use the same one for both). I also tend not to buy something new if I already have something that will work. For example, Cash’s 15-year-old double bridle is now Red’s snaffle bridle, Saga’s brown jumping bridle (bought off Craigslist for $50) was also used by Oberon and Echo.

Enter one Paddington Bear. The brown jumping bridle sort of fit him – if I punched extra holes on the cheek pieces, used the largest hole on the throatlatch and noseband, and switched out the browband to something larger. None of my other bridles even came close to squeezing around his oddly-shaped face – if they fit in one dimension, they were horribly wrong somewhere else.

Ok, fine, I decided to suck it up and buy him a new black dressage bridle (the brown one would work for jumping). Step one – measure horse for bridle. I found a handy online measuring guide and went to work. Here’s what I found:

• Browband, noseband, and throatlatch – Warmblood sized
• Crown piece (headstall) – Horse sized
• Cheek pieces – Pony sized

Um, yeah. Try finding a standard bridle that matches those measurements. I must have looked at 10 different bridles, diligently checking the measurements listed against what I had, and failing. OK, FINE then, I decided I could create a custom pieced bridle. There are a couple of places online that let you pick the cheek pieces and browband and headstall, mix and match, and come up with something that works. Sure, they’re a bit more pricey, but whatever, they would fit Mr. Haffington, right?

And that’s when I discovered that when you buy a Warmblood-sized noseband (for a regular bridle, not a monocrown), that long attached piece that goes over their ears? That’s ALSO warmblood sized… and I needed that to be pony-sized. And if you purchase a horse-sized headstall, the throatlatch is attached to it, because it’s all one piece of leather… but the throatlatch is ALSO horse-sized, and Paddy needs a Warmblood-sized throatlatch.

I swear, shopping for a Paddy-sized bridle is worse than buying jeans for myself.

Paddy thinks his face is perfectly normal... for a Haffie.

In desperation, I contacted my saddler and begged her to see if she would make me a completely custom bridle. She told me straight up she doesn’t like making bridles, because they are fussy and fidgety and have to be done by hand. I begged some more, explaining all the measuring and shopping I had done, and she admitted that she had some spare pieces that she had been working on that might work. Lucky for me, the noseband was perfect, she had pony-sized cheekpieces, and a lovely horse-sized monocrown headstall that allowed for a throatlatch that buckled on BOTH sides. All that was missing was a warmblood-sized throatlatch and browband, so I begged some more and she agreed to make them for me. Bonus was that the price she quoted me was about half of what a fully custom bridle would have cost me from most other saddlers.

Note the monocrown, double-buckle-end throatlatch, and the perfect Haffie-sized noseband.

I did have to wait for quite a while for my extra bridle pieces to be made. I know they weren’t her highest priority – for the most part, she does saddles, not bridles. Still, it was well worth the wait. Paddy LOVES the monocrown, and I am now a huge fan of crank nosebands. Not because I crank mine down – it’s actually quite loose. But the padding under the chin really seems to make him more comfortable, and anything that my horse likes, I’m all for. The leather quality is something I like – it seems quite sturdy but it’s also nicely supple. I will say that the edges are not as well finished as my $500 double (which I bought used for $100 15 years ago), but that’s only something I see up close so it’s not really something I find to be a problem. It looks very nice on him, I think!

Craftsmanship is nice, and he loves the padding under his chin. I also love how the ring on the crank allows the noseband to sit at a slightly different angle under his chin than it does over his nose. I've always had a problem with that on a regular noseband.

Overall, Paddy gives it five Haffie stars. Wait… does five Haffie stars equal two-and-a-half stars? Does he have to give it TEN Haffie stars to make five regular stars? I’m so confused…

Whatever. We both like it!

Why I spent $120 on a pair of ThinLine reins

I have a confession to make: I have a hard time dealing with lots of types of reins. I know, I know, you’re thinking “seriously, how hard can this be? There are lots of options for different reins out there, just pick one and go with it! ” Let me ‘splain.

• Braided reins – I have a love/hate relationship with these. They’re gorgeous, but how the hell do you keep them clean? Seriously – one ride on a hot day in Texas and it’s going to take you an hour to dig the scurf out of all those tiny cracks and crevices. I haven’t got the patience. But I won’t deny that they look awesome, and I am teensy bit jealous of those of you who have those beautiful fancy stitched braided reins. Ok, a whole lot jealous. Still, I don’t own any.
• Reins with stops – I love these, especially plain leather with leather stops. LOVE THEM. There’s just one tiiiiny problem – don't laugh, but I can only hold the damn things with my thumbs on the stops. I know, I know, you’re supposed to be able to hold them with the stops anywhere, but my brain never got this message. No matter how much I explain the theory to my hands (or my trainer yells at me to shorten my reins… again), 30 seconds later I find my thumbs on the next stop. It never fails. I’m mentally challenged somehow. This makes me sad, because I have like 3 sets of them.
• Rubber reins – I like these for XC, but good ones are hard to find and pricey. Lots of them are really stiff or super wide, which makes them hard to hold, or they are the webbed ones with stops (and we already know that stops are my kryptonite). Also, for dressage, I don’t want super grippy pebbled reins. In the summer, friction on the horse’s neck from the reins just makes more lather on the neck. Not attractive.
• Plain reins – These are my FAVORITES. I rode Cash in plain reins for years. Easy to clean, I can hold them anywhere and my brain doesn’t melt down. The problem? Mr. Haffington can pull like a freight train… which means he can pull the reins right through my hands. Yes, I ride with grippy gloves, but I don’t have enough strength in my hands to hold the reins when he’s running through my aids. Maybe in a year or two when he’s lighter? For now they have been relegated to Red’s bridle and the spare leather bits box. 

By now you’re probably wishing I’d quit whining about reins and just get on with it, so here’s my new investment: Thinline Reins. I accidently touched them when I was at the Dover store - no really, I was looking at the rubber reins, I touched the Thinlines and was like OOOOH. I picked them up and they folded in half over my hands, like a pair of well-oiled leather reins. They were super flexible and while they felt a bit thick, they are narrower than most reins so I didn’t feel like they would be too much in my hand. I winced when I saw the price tag – I’ve never spent $120 on a BRIDLE, much less a pair of reins, but what the hell (and SOMEONE who will remain nameless was shopping with me and may have been an enabler). Dover has a great return policy, so I figured I’d ride in them once and see what I thought.

I know, they don't look too exciting, do they?

And wow, I’ve been riding in them ever since. I LOVE these reins, LOVE THEM. They are super comfortable in my hand – the Thinline material has a little give to it, and they’re more of a round shape (but not so much that it’s awkward) than flat leather, so I find them easier to grab. They don’t stretch, and they don’t slip AT ALL. In fact I find that I can hold them in much less of a death grip, even if Paddy’s being strong, which means I’m carrying less tension in my arms and shoulders. They clean up quickly and easily, which is just my style.

Boo black mark on his neck.

I have two complaints about them – first, the black ones come with running martingale stops, which I had to cut off (well, I pulled out the stitching to remove them). Not sure why black dressage reins would have stops? Oh well. The other issue is that they leave a faint black mark on Paddy’s neck, but I think that will go away with a few more cleanings and a bit more wear. I’ve seen a few complaints in online reviews that the Thinline material doesn’t last, but hopefully that’s not the case because DAMN, these things are awesome!

So in the event that you are rein-challenged like me and you have some extra money just burning a hole in your pocket, give these things a try! Oh, and… anybody want three sets of plain leather reins with stops?