The End of an Era...

"No one on the corner have swagga' like us..."

I may be a pack rat.

There, I've said it, accepted it, and I've moved on. I'm not sure if this is has come about because I treasure things so dearly that I can't image stepping into the stirrup without my old-reliable equipment, or if it's because I've lived for so long in forced frugal-ness that I can't pull out that credit card until it's absolutely necessary.

Before I left for World Cup/Rolex, I threatened to toss my long-past-their-time-of-service half chaps out into the garbage, forcing myself to not come home without a new pair. However, I thought better of it and kept them. They no longer have elastic below my boot, the broken zipper pulls have been replaced by a bottle-opener on a key chain, and have been wet, dry, clean, dirty, sweaty, etc... more times then I can count.

The same can be said for my saddle and dressage coat. The saddle has had the seat replaced (twice), the kneerolls redone, the billets replaced and currently has a crooked flap, panels that are only being held on by 3 stitches, and plastic piping sliding out from the front seam. My dressage coat, originally sewn by my mother when I was in High School, has some stitching problems itself, but I LOFF them!

And now they have all been retired.

Last week I lived like a kid in a candy store with my custom chaps and saddle arriving (thank you ThinLine!) and a sweet Navy Dressage coat (from mom) that was 60% off on Tack-of-the-Day! Not to shabby -- I may look professional yet!

Nothing like new swagger to encourage me to leg P-man back up after his VACA. (which he is coming back nicely from, BTW).

Fun stuff, eh? I'm off to do 'work' by making ThinLine stirrup pad prototypes! Gotta love a job where my getting-ready-for-work routine this morning included tracking down an extra pair of stirrup irons.

Focus forward!
C