Another interesting thought.....

Now that I've found a good tailor that I'm convinced can do just about anything.... I've come up with another interesting scheme...

A local tack store is having a sale on their black hunt coats in March. $69.95 for a ladies jacket. I happen to have a black apron but I don't have a jacket to match. Here's my thought. If I bought one of these black hunt coats and I took it to Mrs. Wong, I bet she could make it go from this.....

To this........

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And I bet it would cost a heck of a lot less than buying an actual cut-away jacket and look just as good!! BTW I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the purple vest & stock tie underneath..... I'm sure I'd get crucified by the traditionalists for wearing it though!

That brings me to the other part of my interesting thought..... I've been thinking about all of the neat things I could sew, IF I could sew. The college in the town next to ours offers a fashion program and "learn to sew" classes. They run on monday nights though. At first I didn't think it would work *but* due to some schedule changes, I'm not going to have a monday night lesson anymore.

I have the form all filled out, just have to send it in! The classes start in march and the first set of "introductory sewing" runs for 3 mondays, at 3 hours each. Then I can decide if I like sewing or not. I recall absolutely hating it when I was in high school. But then again, we were making boxer shorts.....not sidesaddle accessories!!!

Not to worry though, my expectations aren't going to be huge, I don't plan on being able to make jackets or do alterations. Hopefully I can end up making some vests, stock ties and maybe an apron.

Used tack treasures!

My favorite part of tack shopping has become looking through the used tack. You never know what kind of treasures you might find.

Recently I came across a german silver pelham bit. It's really interesting because it looks quite old and I'm pretty sure it's hand made. The german silver alloy gives it a neat "antique" patina. You can see areas where the metal was shaped by hand, it's really unique! I thought it was the perfect addition to my sidesaddle tack. And it came with two sets of plain, flat reins, all for $35!

I've been trying to keep my eye out for a hunt style bridle. A brown one with the plain flat noseband and browband. I've seen them on the internet usually starting at around $200 US and up from there. None of the tack shops that I've been too carry new hunt bridles. So I was hoping to find a used one in good condition. I figured it wouldn't be all that hard as they aren't really "in style" anymore. Surprisingly enough they are a little hard to come by! We found a couple of them but they were in really bad condition.

Finally on our last stop of the day I found a store that DID sell new hunt bridles! And nice ones too, made by Bobbies English Tack. They had just one, horse sized, brown hunt bridle. The reins didn't match on it though but since I already had a nice set of flat reins, I didn't really need to worry about the mismatched color anyways. The manager ended up giving me a discount because of the discoloration at the till which brought the price to $85! Another great deal! I can't get over how soft and supple the leather is.

I really can't wait until the day that I get to put everything on, tack & attire, and see how it all looks together! But for now, I guess I'll have to just have fun wearing it around the house!

Don't mind my messy hair! I just got back from the teaching at the barn.

And a relieved barn owner!

Originally I had talked to my barn owner, who is an excellent seamstress and can make almost anything, about altering my sidesaddle jacket so it fit me better. She had agreed to do it but is quite busy, hence why I took it to a tailor for a quote.

Last night I broke the news to her that I had taken it to a tailor to have the alterations done. I was a little worried she would be put out by me taking it to someone else. As it turns out she was quite relieved! We chatted about how much work it would be to pretty much take the jacket & lining apart to make the alterations; a LOT of fiddly work. She said what the tailor was charging me for the alterations was more than reasonable and jokingly offered to pay for it just so she didn't have to do it! LOL

As our conversation progressed, she offered to make me a vest, saying those were very easy. So now I get to go fabric shopping!! For someone so hopeless at sewing, I absolutely LOVE to visit fabric stores. I see all of the gorgeous fabrics and have visions of all the amazing things that could be made from them.....just not by me!

I think I'd like a traditional canary vest and perhaps something a little fancier like a yellow satin. I'm tempted to make them a backless style to reduce the bulk under the jacket & so it doesn't get as hot in the summer.

Isn't this one nice?

The next dilemma is the buttons.... What kind of buttons should I get? And how many buttons should be on a vest? I've seen some pictures of hunt vests and they look like they've got 8 or so buttons. Seems like a lot!

And of course, while I was looking for pictures of yellow vests that I liked, I got a bit sidetracked....

How smart does the purple vest & stock tie look under a black cutaway jacket look! (I know, I'd probably get crucified for even thinking of wearing purple under a habit....but....but.... it's so pretty!)

Orrr..... How about a nice sage green habit? I just love this too.

A Magical Tailor!

I think an essential part of every ladies wardrobe should be a good tailor. Ok the tailor doesn't actually have to reside in your wardrobe but it's important to know a good one!

I found this wonderful little lady, Mrs. Wong, that does custom tailoring and makes suits etc. I used her once before on a historical dress I had purchased that was a tad too big for me. She did an absolutely FANTASTIC job and her prices were very reasonable.

Ok so maybe it's not just sidesaddle that fascinates me, I love all old/antique type things!

Anyways, remember the navy blue habit I purchased after Christmas? Well it fit well but just not quite right so I decided to take the jacket to Mrs. Wong to see what she could do (and more importantly, how much it would cost! ). The verdict was that the shoulder pads (ick, ick, ick!) were too big and not put in the jacket properly so they kiiindof made me look like a football player... LOL. In addition to that, the sleeves were HUGE, I think I could have fit my leg into them, just too much material. So I asked about having those taken in too. She pinned one sleeve a bit shorter and what a difference it made! The coat looked elegant like it should! She was also going to add another button on the front to pull the bust in a bit.

And all for $65! I was pleased that it wasn't going to cost me an arm and a leg to get done!

She had some absolutely gorgeous English and Italian suiting material and of course I had to ask how much she would charge to make a full outfit consisting of a jacket and long skirt. $800.... Yeowch.... That's not gonna happen! I'm sure it'd be absolutely gorgeous if I could afford it though!

While we were tack shopping on the weekend I found a bunch of great deals, one of which was a nice white show shirt for $18! I realized that I had a pink, blue, purple and yellow shirt, but no white one. It looks really sharp with the navy blue habit!

I also found this while parusing the internet..... Isn't it gorgeous?? I think I might just have to own one.....

It's a silk brocake stock tie.... pretty...




So I have the habit, white shirt, matching navy breeches and whip.


Now I just need a top hat and veil....

And a nice yellow vest.

And a pair of brown gloves (which should be the easiest out of it all to find!) and I'm set for showing!

Next part of the puzzle...finding a show to go to!!

Off to BC!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I've been so busy and haven't had time to think about a new post topics. I'm off to BC for the weekend to visit a friend and do some tack shopping! I'll be back on monday, maybe I'll have some neat finds to share with you guys!

So for now I'll leave you with some neat pictures! For when riding sidesaddle on a horse is no longer a challenge, you might try one of the following...

Why not try a mule to start off with?

And then try your luck on a bull. (He looks like he might need some spurs to get mooooving).

Perhaps something more exotic is what you fancy?

Or for a real challenge, try riding an ostrich!
And when you're bored of riding, teach him to drive!

Decisions, Decisions.... On to my newest scheme....

A couple of years ago I tried to breed my mare. It didn't work out and I was left with a HUGE vet bill (3x what they quoted me....$3K for two cycles...) and no foal. I swore that I wasn't going to try that again.

But now that spring is approaching the temptation to try it again has crept back into my head.

Four things I will do differently this time:

1. First and foremost, I'm going to take Brigit in to the vet clinic, before I purchase any stud services and have her cultured and biopsied to make sure that this is even a viable option. We cultured her last time and everything was ok but it would be a good idea to do both, she's no spring chicken and if there's something wrong it could be a huge waste of money to even try.

2. I'm going to find a nice stallion that's local. Last time I used a stallion from Colorado and had the "goods" shipped up. The container rental, pick-up fees & shipping were EXPENSIVE. Plus I think it would be a better idea to use a local stallion so everything is really really fresh.

3. I'm going to use a vet that I have more confidence in. The vet I used before just didn't seem to exude confidence when it came to deterimining when the mare was ovulating or that we actually were going to get her bred.

4. I'm going to wait until mid-May to mid-June to breed. I think the last time we tried it was just too early in the year and her body was still in "winter" mode. Aside from that she was a touch on the lean side (not skinny, just not as fat as she should have been) from coming through a cold winter. Plus I really don't want to have a new baby when it's -40, snowing and icy outside thank you very much!

Don't you think these two would make pretty babies?

The only downfall to breeding Brigit this year is that I'd be really nervous to take her anywhere to shows or clinics or anything like that. She's kind of a nervous horse - doesn't get upset just nervous - and I'd worry about her getting stressed out and aborting....

I'm not too worried about finding other horse's to ride because there are lots around. I was just looking forward to doing a pile of sidesaddle stuff this year with Brigit! Ya can't do it all thought right?

Decisions, decisions....

The rules & traditions of Sidesaddle - gloves

Riding sidesaddle has so much history and therefore a lot of interesting rules to go by. I find it so fascinating.

Gloves: Gloves apparently must not be black as only ladies in mourning wore black gloves, and therefore shouldn't be riding! Plus black gloves were dyed and they would stain a lady's hands. A natural light brown or "chamois" glove was the acceptable thing to wear. Otherwise brown gloves are appropriate. And plain cotton knitted or crocheted gloves were supposed to be worn for rainy weather so the reins didn't slip out of your hands. In an appointments class the cotton gloves are supposed to be tucked under the billets on the offside of the saddle with the tips just peaking out.

Last week while we were at an antique store I happened to find a pair of really delicate little chamois gloves, they were waaay too small for my hands though. Otherwise I would have snapped them up!