I kinda bought:
an entire lifetime supply of breeches, in my most favoritest style of the TuffRider brand. I bought a crop as a threatening device so that when Bijou learns to jump, she'll never have the option of learning that it doesn't suck to not jump (and probably causing me to gain a better seat by practice riding bucks), a big huge bottle of iodine scrub so I can scrub Bijou's face in the healing process, a nice stiff plastic bristle brush to use while bathing (and getting the clay like mud off of her), some hair nets, a pair of cheapy gloves to use while teaching Bijou to lunge, a saddle cover, and my two big purchase items were:
A Padded Event Bridle:
and a fluffy merino sheepskin half pad:
Which normally I would think is totally unnecessary, but it was just such a good deal and I have a feeling it will come in handy when I need to look the part more than I feel the part of being an eventer.
I've now accumulated a bunch more stuff I need to get out there and USE but can't because it's been raining so darn much. Just gives me motivation that once it does start drying up I'm going to be out there in a heartbeat.
On another note, I was talking with this girl as I was working at Starbucks last week (she came in twice) and I noticed she was wearing a Ram Tap sweatshirt. I oggled her chest awkwardly and asked "did you compete at Ram Tap?" to which she replied "yah!" I told her about my one and only event (walk trot and crossrails combined with an ~ 10 effort x-country course of no more than 18") but that I was so excited to get into it. She was so encouraging about everything and asked about Bijou and told me about her horse. It got me thinking about the whole thing. I've been trained as a H/J my whole life, I love the H/J world but I'd way rather have an all around horse, I've been interested in dressage for a while and cross country in Ireland got me hooked. I don't try to pretend that I'm good at this yet (especially in dressage) but I'm always looking for more information. Please let me know about any tips for an eventing beginner!
Big tip: go groom for somebody at a recognized event. If you know anyone who goes, try to get in with them. Otherwise, I suppose you could email the organizers and ask if they know of anyone...
ReplyDeleteIt's EXTREMELY helpful. You can help them take care of their horse, get their stuff ready, do a last-minute cleanup before dressage, and the like. It's an awesome way to figure out how events run and what to expect. I groomed for two friends last year who were going BN and N, and now that I'm going to ride in the same competition this year, I feel much more prepared.
By the way: I am SO jealous of your good deals. I really need some new pairs of breeches, and I love the TuffRiders that I've had for years.
I might contact the event coordinator to see if they know anyone looking for a groom. I've been to one event, and that was just mostly a trial run so I feel like I kinda know what to prepare for and what to expect. I still need to go to a lot more to feel like I've got the hang of it for sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip!
In case you are interested still I did another weekly science vs tradition post about different bitless bridles here http://bitlesshorse.blogspot.com/2010/02/science-vs-tradition-bit-to-bitless.html
ReplyDeleteyay thanks Sydney! Hopefully my research will come to an end.
ReplyDelete