New Year/New Stuff - Sales Shopping Wishlist

Image borrowed from Google Images - no copyright infringement intended

New GPA Speedair helmet - Kika & I broke the peak a year and a half - two years ago...I need to find helmet on sale again to condone the splurge as my helmet itself is fine just aesthetically odd. Makes me feel like a mushroom head!

New Rugs - preferably Horseware as I ♥ them. I want a new light-, medium- and heavy-weight stable rug for each girl and Nancy needs a new turnout rug. I love Kika's so much I want to splurge on one for Nancy.
Ideally I want two of each stable rug weight for each girl so that they can wear one while the other is being cleaned. At the moment their rugs are minging *blush*

Again Image borrowed from Google Images

Turnout rugs needn't be multi-weighted in my book as I put them on over stable rugs pending the weather (eg: the last two weeks it has been so mild that the girls haven't had their stable rugs under the turnouts and have been grand). I do prefer neck covers as it means I can still ride in the evening after a downpour & love Kika's as it is easily detachable and is another reason I want to upgrade N's turnout (on top of the fact that hers is now third-hand and not as 100% waterproof anymore *LeSadTimes*)
I will continue to layer these with the liners I already have (2-3?!) as needs be - so that the little dears don't get cold.

Google Images

Plus a Newmarket fleece or two wouldn't go astray as I've always coveted them! ;-)
Now to find a way to place such an order without breaking in the bank & perhaps convincing the retailer to throw in something free to sweeten the deal...unlikely sadly as this will not be a bulk-buy purchase. Purse strings won't allow it! :-/ It'll have to be a slow & steady collection through sales bargain buys - just like I built up Kika's initial rug collection which is now being shared with Nancy...thankfully I'd stupidly thought Kika needed larger rugs at one stage and bought some the next size up which now fit N perfectly ;-)
If I manage to pull these purchases pff - I think I'll need to start a Rug-Hoggers Anonymous support group if I can pull this off ;-)

New boots & gaiters + long boots (well this is a semi-fantasy/long-term wishlist post)
I love my Tredstep Pro G2 gaiters and Mackey jodh boots. Which after a couple breaking in sessions with bruised knees are now a dream to use & maintain - especially considering the abuse they get! Although one of the zips may go within the next 6-months to a year and there are leather bits on the side that have come unstuck and flap when I walk *sniggers*
Yes I hang-my-head-in-shame / hold-my-hand up and admit I do not clean my gear anywhere near as often as I should...think warm months & only when the mood takes me. *beetroot-blush / LeShame*

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I used to clean my stuff every week when I was in Ireland & jumping at weekends, sadly my standards have slipped since moving out here and buying a second horse - but in all honesty it's the weather in the winter that deters me most as I find tack cleaning itself theraputic - but the thought of my hands in cold water when it's freezing outside...brrrr, no thanks!

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If the long boot dream were to become a real possibility I would need advice as this would be my first pair! *EXCITEMENT - even though I've no plans to immediately splurge...can't beat the pull of new stuff*
I am so in love with my Tredstep gaiters & love promoting Irish brands *Green Pride*; my friend has a pair of deNiros that she splurged on at Equitana last March which are also fab. I think this will be a back-burner goal and I'll see if I can browbeat *ahem* convince Tredstep Ireland to have a stand at the Equitana in 2015 (2014 edition is open air) - I can try all the different options under one roof and go with my favs!
Aesthetically I've haven't been overly fond of the Field Boots with laces, always tending more towards the cleaner all-in-one look of other (more-dressage?) boots. However, methinks that the laces option offered by the Field Boots make them easier to walk in and ride in generally seeing as they are aimed at jumpers (more moveability of ankles) - please correct me if I am way off the mark here!!!

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Now for two slightly more immediate & attainable purchases - LOL!

Ornella Prosperi - RIP

Riding Jacket - I need one badly!  It NEEDS to be warm, waterproof and without a hood or one that conveniently rolls up & tucks away or comes off. My trusty Ornella Prosperi's zipper bust and I now have to climb in and out of it + it no longer closes...not really ideal for winter wear!

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UPDATE I drafted this post when I woke at silly o'clock this morning not knowing the day would end up taking me to a tack shop this afternoon! While I'd still LOVE a Horseware and/or Spooks jackets with the lovely big collars I ended up splurging on a Eurostar Carlotta jacket in Navy @ 40% off with a further €40 off as the winter boots my mam got me for Christmas didn't fit and had to be returned. *SadTimes*
I also snapped up a pair of sadly-not-on-sale-but-oh-so-fab Horze grey check jodhpurs!

Sorry for the state of me - I was just in the door from the barn

I've also just remembered that I'm also sorely in need of some new waterproof trousers as my trusty Rambo pair that I got at the same time as my Ornella Prosperi jacket ripped (embarrassingly the crotch area) just before I left Ireland (ahem - in 2010) and I still haven't gotten around to replacing them! *oh-for-shame* And yes, in heavy rain & snow I do still wear them ripped or not they keep me dry & warm! *nod*

Mane & Tail detangler/conditioner - easily the most attainable purchase on this list!
I have always used Canter Mane & Tail Spray,  but would love to hear your recommendations - please tell me all about the other options out there!
(Another update since drafting post this am) EquestrianTrend last night posted about a really cool sounding product line which I am hoping to learn more about & try out. It's called Ecolicious, is made from natural products & all packaging is recyclable - love the sound of that and really hope to source some and try it out asap!

Platimun Royale - Image Link

Penultimate wishlist/dream purchase is another big'un - New saddles for the girls!
Nancy has earned one fitted for her & it has been well documented how finnickety Kika can be about her back - she deff lets me know when she's ouchy and/or if her saddle is no longer snug for her princess-and-the-pea sensitive back. Not that I'm complaining really - I am secretly delighted that she won't play the martyr and let me think her tack fits when it doesn't!
In dream-land scenario I'd love a GP & Dressage saddle for each - aesthetically I drool over the Albion. Sadly the Albion rep/retailer for our neck of the woods is the douchebag saddler who sold me the saddle that almost ruined Kika - so unless we get another rep in the area (sadly unlikely) I won't be getting one as I will never work with that saddle fitter again!

As for GPs, I love my Stubben Genesis for Kika, so will keep that so long as it fits & can be kept that way. It has already twice been sent to Switzerland for amendments and is prob due another trip when I have the €€€s saved to have my saddle fitter come check the girls over & finally buy Nancy her own saddle!
Much as I love my Stubben on Kika it isn't the best saddle for me and this is extreemly noticeable when I ride Nancy as my leg swings forward. It's not just my saddle as I tried another Stubben a friend was selling shortly after N arrived last year and my position was awful in it.
So it'll be a blank slate / the possibilities are endless as to what my dream saddle with Nancy will be!

Equitrek - Google Images

As I'm listing dreamland purchases - I'm also seriously hankering after a 2-horse little truck, like an equitrek or something to ferry my girls around in. I've this pathetic dream of bringing them "home" back to my mothers family place & yard I used to keep Kika on when we lived in Ireland and where Nancy was born & bred.

As for actual blogging news, I did ride both girls this evening, and even snuck in an in between spin in a new livery's new young Irish Draft gelding - who was being a right donkey and refusing to move for her. Kika was an angelic superstar, despite only having being lunged this week - eep, long-time readers of this blog did you think we'd get to this day when our blogging adventure started?! Exactly a week since Miss Kika had a saddle on and not a squeak out of her as I hopped up without any pre-lunging etc, we walked once around the arena on foot & off we went to work!
Nancy was great initially for trot & canter work, I still have issues with walk (how one might ask - yet somehow I manage, she keeps wanting to trot) and our trot work after cantering is an awful mess...I sometimes can't get her to settle back to me and relax. Here's hoping L & I can coordinate for our first lesson tomorrow with Miss Nancy as I want to stop these issues - as make no mistake, they are my issues I am somehow sending mixed signals or tensing or something - basically I need eyes on the ground help.

Right, as usual this has gotten monsterously long and wordy. Hopefully the photos help break up the waffle!
Please leave comments/tips/advice/suggestions on brands options I haven't come across and as always

THANKS FOR READING