The Second Pound of Flesh

saddle.

Yep, time to start looking at tack. The previous owner sent us home with Beamer's bit and we had purchased a halter and lead rope. So we have a bit. No headstall, no reigns, no saddle, no saddle pad or blanket, no grooming brushes, water bucket, nothing. Zip. Nada. Nil. We live close to Colorado Saddlery and we have a small feed and tack store down the street. We went to Colorado saddlery where we found a grooming kit, a nice leather headstall, reigns and a whip for lunging in the round pen. Not bad.

Next we are off to the tack store with the horse, just to make sure things fit properly. We start to look at saddles. The deal was that I would get the first saddle, a fairly basic saddle, and she would save up and buy the saddle of her dreams later. So we found what we thought was a nice little synthetic western saddle by King Saddles. (This decision will come back to haunt me in the not to distant future.) Did you know that cinch straps do not come with the saddle? Well I didn't. Do you know how much a cinch strap costs? Basically, how much do you want to spend but we found one that fit the horse, will do the job but was not overly flashy. Doing good. My next lesson follows immediately, "Dad, I need a breast collar." A what? Off we go to look at breast collars. Leather. Nylon. Full bling. No bling. Tooled. Do you know how much breast collars cost? Well, they're a lot like cinches that way, how much do you want to spend. Beamer's mom found a nice nylon green one, her favorite color, and she was happy. (This turns out to be yet another decision that will prove to be less than perfect as time goes on. *sigh* Steep learning curve.)

Next we found a good wool saddle pad. I invested a bit more in the pad since that will be next to the horse and I wanted the horse to be comfortable. We also found a muck rake, a muck bucket a water bucket and a hoof pick. We load everything into the truck and head for the ranch. So here is where things stand now:

Daughter: $900.00 for horse

Dad: $100 dollars for horse
$950 for trailer
$550 for receiver and hitch.
$300 first months boarding
$450 for saddle, breast collar and cinch
$120 for saddle pad
$200 for headstall, reigns and grooming supplies
$75 for miscellaneous sundries such as muck rake and bucket and the like.

I am beginning to suspect that I may have gotten the short end of this deal. It is just a glimmer of an idea at this point. but it is definitely starting to grow. One the other hand, the smiles of ones daughter sure make a whole bunch of crazy things seem better. So here is what the final ensemble looks like.