Equestrian Wear-ing ‘Em Out

It’s almost time for the Dublin Horse Show, the annual trip to Nirvana for Irish horse people — not that there aren’t other shows in the country, I thoroughly enjoyed Tattersalls last year — but this is the biggie, and people attend from all round the nation, and indeed, the world, and there is so much stuff to buy.

I bought the above at last year’s show, and they are already falling apart.

1} This is good, because despite the two month hiatus, I am obviously riding loads.
2} Not so good, because it’s only been one year.

It may just be the bad luck of the draw. I mainly get my half chaps from justchaps.com, and am in fact in expectation of a happy event, being the delivery of a pair of mesh-y summer weight chaps, an exercise in optimism if ever there was one. One hopes, anyway, given the way the weather has actually been summery, that they will come in useful.

I did have an unfortunate experience with a previous pair I’d bought from the above, but they were totally cool about the whole thing and replaced the faulty set. Faulty, you say? Did my legs, like, not work in them or something? Nope: the tab on one of the zips snapped right off after almost no time at all. I got a replacement pair with no fuss, and continue to buy from them because their customer service is so good.

I got to thinking about the way I wear out my equestrian wear. And also: how much I have.

Hats: three on the go. Wow, wut? Seriously, okay, so, there’s the one that is perfectly fine except that I don’t like the nylon straps. I use that one for when I’m volunteering for the RDA [Riding for the Disabled Association} because I don’t ride that much, maybe just 20 minutes to get the horse worked in, and so there’s not enough time for the scratchiness to annoy me.

Then there’s my new Harry Hall, which I wear on Saturdays, because I’m trying to get a good run out of it and want to keep it nice. On Wednesdays I wear my other Harry Hall hat because I wear make up on Wednesdays, because I work in an office and so I ‘do’ make up, perhaps to — ha, ha — make up for the fact that I wear my jodhs, oh yes indeed and my half chaps, too. So, then, when I ride and sweat, the foundation on my forehead gets all over the inside of the hat. Which I don’t want to happen on my new one.

Still with me? Let’s not even talk about jodhs. My current favourites are the ones I got in Canada, which were 30% off the original Canadian dollar price, which was already 40% off in regard to my euros, so they were basically free. And they have a front zip pocket, because I hate the inside tuck-y pocket, out of which everything falls when I get the home and fold them up.

This post could actually go on forever. I’ve got The Fat Coat™, christened thus in honour of my nephew Thomas, who christened his own down jacket thusly — I’ve had mine for at least seven years now, and it is in bits, but it is warm, it has a hood, and it goes down over my bum. What more could a gal ask for? I don’t think I’ve had the same coat for seven years since… ever.

The rucksack! Actually falling apart from the inside out:

It used to have two inner compartments, and now it is one big one. I’ve also mended the place where the straps meet the top, twice.

I also got to thinking about all of this because someone finally made off with my long stick, which — hang on, there’s a link, I know — I had hidden successfully for three years. It had lost the flicky bit at the end probably five years ago, and the weave was starting to wear off in places, and sure, it was crappy — but it was my crappy long stick, and no one should steal things. But, if you picked something up that was clearly abandoned, that’s a different story…

Anyway! I’ve had a new long stick sitting around the place, which I haven’t bothered with because it is red — what was I thinking? — and sure, I didn’t need to use it because the other one was just fine. It’s now in rotation, but only on Saturdays because my pal has custody of it since she drives and can keep it safe in her car. On Wednesdays, I snoop around and do the thing where you pick up a long stick lying about and then you put it back where you found it, and hope it’s in the same general area next week.

I have to say, I’m delighted that I am getting the full use, and beyond, out of all this gear. I don’t know that it’s necessarily a product of the Current Economic Climate or not, but it’s so satisfying to have things that have been giving good service for a length of time. It may be because when I began, I had no idea I would to take to the horse riding as much as I have. So: sentiment? Maybe. I was going to replace my jodh boots because one of the pull-it-on-tabs snapped off the other week, but they’re so comfortable I forget I’ve even got boots on, so why would I want to mess around?

If it ain’t broken in, don’t fix it.

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