99 problems & they're all cats

Guys I'm suffering from extreme first world problems right now. First off my chubby tubby kitty cats sat on my aging laptop and killed it. Wtf cats, really? So now I have the pleasure of procuring a new one... (thank god my saddle was well within budget!)

'we has no respect fer yer internet machine' - OG & Martini

'RIP Dell!!!' - me

Naturally the weather also continues to be unfavorable for even hauling out (what with questionable road conditions and all that fun stuff). Therefore I have no riding updates... 

picture is appropriately gloomy, tho it doesn't reflect the current snowy landscape.. 

(but check out that cute mare face!)

BUT!! Continuing the trend of getting unreasonably excited about very unremarkable things, I have alllll kinds of new hardware!!! So um, if you're into that kind of thing keep on reading! 

The ad for my new-to-me Bates saddle indicated that it was missing the left side head nail. I talked with our local saddle repair guy and he said it's not really a huge deal as far as damaging the integrity of the saddle, and is an easy fix. 

I emailed the folks at Bates too just to be sure - and they responded much along the same lines. The rep said it wasn't at all a serious defect but that he'd be happy to send along new nails anyway. Score! Also, it turns out that the Bates Saddle Company falls under the Weatherbeeta umbrella - which I was not aware of. Interesting. 

In any case, the saddle arrived and turned out to only be missing the decorative nail head rather than the actual nail shaft. So I haven't done the replacement yet as there's no pressing need, but am very happy to have the nails on hand all the same. 

And obviously now that I have a saddle of my very own I want a name plate for it. 

Fun side story: I bought my first saddle in college off a barn mate who bought it off eBay and didn't like it. Being quite poor at the time (college student problems) I could only make payments on it. And since even that was a stretch, extras like name plates were out of the question. That saddle (an HDR that I loved very much but sold as it was a laughable fit for Isabel) happened to already have a name plate - for someone named 'Bevin.' Not sure why I got such a kick out of that... but I did so I never changed the name plate. (also, a quick google search suggests that this Bevin still rides, which is cool too). 

Anyways, it's finally time to have my OWN name on my own saddle - and it's super exciting :). I also got a few other tags too - bc lesson kids know the lock combinations for all the tack rooms and things 'walk away' with alarming frequency. So there's a 1" 'dog tag' for my leather halter, and 3/4" tag for my new girth, and narrower name plates for my bridle and martingale. 

Part of me feels a little silly putting name plates on such cheap tack (my bridle is quite the Frankenstein's monster of different parts, the martingale is of the no-name variety bought off amazon, of all places) - but I don't plan to upgrade any time soon so... why not, right? 

isabel models my monogrammed cooler - never mind that it's not my monogram lol

I ordered the name plates from Smartpak, and am so far pleased with how they look (and the million little bits of hardware that came with them). But if anyone is interested I can report back later on how easy they are to attach to the tack, and how they hold up over time.