Buying all the Things I Convince Myself We Need

I was off work yesterday due to the holiday (yay!) but due to a high of a mere 14 degrees (boo!) I ended up not riding. I know for some of you that's still riding weather, but it's warming up this week back to above freezing, and with me still coughing, I felt no need to freeze and ride. Instead, I drove a couple hours away to a tack shop!

I normally buy online from this shop, however, I needed some items more quickly than I was willing to pay to ship ($25 to have a $30 item here in 3 days? umm...), and the standard shipping had my stuff arriving in almost a week and a half (not cool when the place is 2.5 hours away).

What did I need? More blankets of course! Haha. I am a blanket hoarder.

Penn's SmartPak blankets have not been working out well for him in the heated barn overnight. Yes, it's only heated to 45 degrees, but heat dumps directly into his stall, there's no wind, and the barn doesn't radiate cold because it's heated 24/7. My brain says: 45 degrees? Medium weight blanket! But I've tried that, and he ends up sweating by morning. The lightweight isn't much better, only because I'm finding the Ultimate Turnouts not very breathable- I guess that's the trade off you make. They're tough for sure, but the price of tough is that they're not breathable. BO was concerned he might end up with a respiratory infection or coughing (he already is doing that, sigh) with the amount of heat he builds up in the barn and then goes out into the cold- the temperature changes all the time will end up too much for him to handle.

She recommended an Irish Knit Anit-Sweat Sheet that this tack shop sells. It was on sale for $29.99, so I was willing to give it a try. Unfortunately, the only color is white (which will never be clean again of course). (I'm unwilling to let him be without clothes in the barn, he IS shaved after all).

Bright white blanket and a brown horse and background means pictures don't turn out so well, haha.

He'll wear this layer all the time- they'll put his outside clothes on over it for turnout. Even if it doesn't work out, I'm happy with it because I've been having trouble getting him to dry after working him. His blanket clip prevents a lot of the sweat, but he's still sweaty under the saddle and girth. My Rambo Whitney striped fleece is too warm to let him dry properly. It wicks great, but overheats him and he starts sweating again. So now I have a heated barn appropriate way of drying him!

Which means I of course had to buy a second one, because what if it gets wet in turnout, or it is damp from using as a cooler, or I need to wash it? Unfortunately, they only had a single Irish knit in his size, but luckily this fancy blue plaid Cashmelon sheet of similar make and feel was hanging right next to it in the store, and was on sale for $34.99! And I bought their last blue one in his size, haha.

Derpy "Hi Mom!"

I figure I can swap them out to wash, and then have something clean, pretty, and unstained to take with me to horse shows (the sweating is a big problem for me at this winter series I've been going to- the barn isn't heated but there's enough horses in the barn that it heats up pretty well).

"Mom, didn't you hear? They're feeding us right now!"

Of course I didn't drive a couple hours to just stop for five minutes, so I ended up paroozing and picked up a small cheap set of Andis clippers. I have a big body clipping pair from Andis that I love, but they aren't quick and easy in a pinch when I need to clean up whiskers or a bridle path at a horse show (that may or may not have a plug nearby!). So enter this guy:

Tiny clippers with blade guards I'll never use!

It wasn't my favorite pair of tiny clippers (I don't like the camo color)- I actually preferred a Wahl pair instead that was the same price because they came with an extra T blade and a travel bag. The biggest thing that got me was that these Andis clippers came with a 5 year warranty (and a blade guard for when not in use!), where the Wahl's came with a 30 day guarantee. Umm, hello ugly camo clippers!

I'll use them to continue teaching Penn about clipping. I think they're a touch loud, but for $15 I'm not going to complain too much. It's not like I'm going to be shoving them in his ears or anything- this is a whisker/beard/bridle path clean up pair.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Sigh. I didn't think Penn needed anything else... he has everything already! No more buying horsey items for a while!