You can’t have JUST ONE.

HAPPY NEW DOVER CATALOGUE SEASON!

Not much compares to looking into your mailbox and seeing a fat, new Dover Saddlery catalog laying inside just waiting for an equestrian to feast their eyes on the endless pages of horsey items. Sure you could just go online and see it all there, but it’s not the same as taking a pen to the pages and circling everything a rider could dream of.

Yes, equestrians are some of the few people left in the world who still get excited about catalogs.

Yes, I do go through the entire thing, page by page, and circle everything I could possibly want or need. If only everything I marked would magically show up in my doorstep. (Get on it Dover.)

Yes, most of what is circled is something I already have, but it is also something that I am 110% positive that I need ten, maybe twenty, more of. (This isn’t a horse person thing, this is a girl thing. It is in our genetics. We can’t help it. Even Ryan Gosling agrees.)

So, let me introduce you to a few of the items that equestrians are entirely convinced they cannot have just one of…

BREECHES

We wear them every time we ride. One color gets boring. Therefore, we must own every color of every style of our favorite brand…and maybe a few colors in our second and third favorite brands, too. Yes, there really is a difference between tan, beige, and green-beige. The only thing they have in common is that they need to be in my closet in all three shades. The same goes for all the shades of grey, blue, and berry.

HELMETS

We wear these every time we ride too. Who cares if the Charles Owen looks like an egg on my head, I still want it. Oh, I don’t have a “GPA head”? That’s nice.You think the Samshield is ugly? I think I make it look good. Plus, what if I fall off and crack it? What if it gets wet? What if someone needs to borrow it? It’s always good to have a spare one…or two…or three…

TALL BOOTS

…SAID NO EQUESTRIAN EVER! One pair for schooling. One pair for showing. And one pair just because. I just HAVE to have an extra pair in case my zipper breaks at a show…right?

BAKER ANYTHING

This is definitely a horse thing. What is it about the Baker print that makes you want EVERYTHING that they make? I don’t even have a dog and I want the doggie blanket.

HORSE COOKIES/TREATS

Isn’t this a given? You try going to the barn and have a 1,000+ pound animal stare at you with their big brown pony eyes and not give them a treat. Good luck. 

MONOGRAM ANYTHING

What is it about horse items that make one feel the need to monogram everything? Every. Single. Thing. Something about having your initials on things make them seem that much classier. Initials, last name, your horse’s name. Saddle pads, coolers, exercise sheets, garment bags, boot bags, helmet bags, polo wraps, standing wraps, tack trunks, NEED I SAY MORE? Go ahead, monogram it all. No one is judging.

SADDLE PADS

If you’re a horse person, you knew this was coming. These are another item that is used every time we ride, therefore we must have tens of hundreds of them. Saddle pads galore! Every color, every embroidery, every combination of color with piping. That wall of pads at the tack shop is a rider’s dream come true. If only we could own them all. 

BLANKETS

These are a close second to saddle pads. With so many different weights and fills, how can you ever have too many blankets? My horse obviously needs at least two versions of each weight, one to wear outside and one for the barn. And then there is fly sheets, waterproof blankets, coolers, quarter sheets, scrim sheets…the list goes on and on. Plus, you always need an extra for that day when your horse’s pasture mates decide to rip their blanket to shreds. 

What can you not have just one of?