All the damage...

I will do a couple posts recapping my wild 4 day trip to Lexington and Rolex.  Including morning breezing at Keenland and breakfast with the jockeys.  A tour of Three Chimney Farms.  And the Thoroughbred for all Event I attended all of which were awesome.  And of course Rolex!  Though most of Rolex can be summed up in five words, Awesome and whole hellofalota walking.
But first the fun stuffs.  I said I was suffering from buyers remorse and it is true.  Ever since I spent my very last dollar on Friday I have been filled with guilt.  I have never gone shopping and spent that kind of money on myself and even still do not feel entirely ok with it.  But not to trouble you with my own guilty conscience I was obviously not torn up enough to return anything when I had the opportunity when I returned on Saturday.  Over all I am happy with the deals I found and the big items I purchased were a good price.

This is what about $1100 of horse stuff looks like.

First I will list the largest of the purchase items largest to smallest.


Tredstep Donatelo tall boots: $259.99 from Wise Choice Tack.

I have not been able to find them less than $289 anywhere else and even at the other vendors at Rolex they were $299.  I loved the sizing options.  Next to custom for this price you can choose foot size, height, calf size to find the best fit to make them fit just lovely. 

Majyk Equipe XC boot Front: $85, Hind: $95

The next largest purchase is one I have hemmed and hawed over the price tag on it.  But they truly do seem like they are the best of the best and for the price tag was actually reasonable.  They were released at Rolex for the first time.  And the first time publicly ridden in at Rolex by Boyd.  Boyd helped design the boots along with a group of riders and runners.  Designed with the idea of barefoot running shoes in mind.  The inside is made of a memory foam material.  They are butter soft.  I was told they do not slip, hold water or dirt and they are very ventilated.  The tendon guard is quite unique in that if you handle it, it is flexible in all directions but with direct contact it becomes solid.  So the tendon guard was the first selling point for me.  The solid tendon guards are not ideal in my mind(just opinion no scientific proof behind my feeling) I just don't like the idea of something so solid being strapped to something so flexible.  Then they appear very airy and ventilated, the non neoprene and butter soft body forming material for Steady and his sensitive self was ideal and the ringer was the not holding water.  So I did it.  I bit the bullet and spent more on boots than I wanted to but hey the intro price was a special and after Rolex were going up about $30 so at least I got them at a good deal.

Stuebben fancy stitch overlay girth: $129
I paid the same price as I can find this online but being able to see it in person is what was important to me on this.  I would have never paid that for a girth had I not been able to see it, touch it and really see the quality.  It is just lovely.


Smart Pak Plymouth Elite Dressage bridle: $109 with rubber lined reins

It is really nice quality leather and walking around and looking at the price tags on some of the bridles this for the price and the quality was the best I found.  It has a padded nose band, brow band and a padded monocrown. The leather is soft and thick.  And they normally sell for $119 so I saved a couple bucks.

Ariat Cobalt Quantum Paddock Boots: $89.99
I am quite happy with this purchase.  You cannot touch these anywhere that I can find online for under $139.  They are extremely comfortable and I hope they last.  I kind of had to rummage through some boots to find them but I found my size!

Last larger purchase was Nylon lined stirrup leathers.  I only paid $44 for them!  That was again by far the best price I could find on leathers that were lined.  Closest I could find was around $100 and I just couldn't justify that price tag for a couple strips of leather.  So I snatched up the last pair on the shelf!

Other smaller item are
Moxie blue schooling half chaps $36 and gloves $16 in blue These were simply because they were cute and looked quite airy for summer.
Bit for Lily: $28
Fly mask for Lily: $25
SSG all weather riding gloves: $25 actually my biggest regret LOL didn't feel like that was a good deal at all.
Bridle for Lily: $25  Obviously not the best quality but for that price it is nice enough for a kid who will probably not take care of her tack the way a mother would like.

In the end I spent way too much money but I am over all happy with my purchases and they were things that I did actually need and I felt that while yes if I waited and watched I may have saved a couple bucks online but to me the hands on factor and seeing and touching what I am buying on especially leather items is worth buying in person.  And I pretty much stayed with the budget of $1000.