Beefs in a bonnet (product review)

My USG bonnet finally came yesterday. I originally wanted it in brown and light blue. I was reading articles on what colors are good on certain colors of horses and one of them said yellow actually looks good on bays. At first this sounded weird to me, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it (I have a thing for yellow, even my engagement ring is a canary diamond). Of course, I didn't want the whole bonnet to be yellow. I ordered the brown with yellow(corn) trim.

He was not being very good about me getting a picture of it.

The corn is actually more of a cream color, but it looks really pretty on him. There is also supposed to be grey in there somewhere, but nothing on the bonnet looks even remotely grey. The braided cord looks gold. 

The quality is pretty good. There are a few flaws in the crocheting, but I'm not surprised since it was only $21 and am not going to get worked up over it.  I love the Lycra ears. It is a little big on him and I will definitely order a cob size for him next time. I don't particularly love how far it goes back onto their necks. Oh well. Beefs still looks really cute in the bonnet and it isn't horrifically big.

                          Such a suck-up.

Since Gunner had a bigger head, of course I had to try it on him.

I'm so fancy....

Being as he looked this handsome and the bugs are getting even worse, I just HAD to put it on him to pony in today. The fiancé said I could put it on Gunner when I ride him, but no way in hell was Gunner going to wear it when he took him. Men. A guy saw Gunner in the bonnet and said "I like his beanie!"

So Beefs gets a bonnet and Gunner gets a beanie. Whatever works. Beefs was happy that his mane and forelock were no longer attacking his ears and Gunner was happy to have the bugs kept away. Yep, I definitely need to order more colors. Then maybe a fancier one in a different brand to show in :)

Another Damn Ogilvy Review

I know review after review has been written on this pad, but I have a few things to add that I didn't find in other reviews out there.

First of all, I had originally ordered one directly from Ogilvy. I just ordered a plain white dressage memory foam half pad, thinking that it would be in stock and so I could get it quicker. I sent them an e-mail to ask about when the pad would ship, not to rush them, just so I could keep an eye out for it. They promptly replied, saying that the pad should ship on about 4-6 weeks. Apparently, they were so slammed that they didn't even have the stock pads in stock. Okay, not the end of the world.



I ended up ordering one of the stock half pads from Mary's Tack and the pad arrived three days later. I couldn't wait to try it!

For the most part, I love the pad and it is what the company and other people say it is. My horse seems more comfortable, my back doesn't hurt as much after I ride, and my saddle fits better. The cover washes well (fortunately, since I ordered white). There are a few things I don't like, wish that I had done different, or wish that I had known about. None of these things have anything to do with the company or the quality of the product, more like hindsight is 20/20.

So freaking big! Aghh!

When I put the saddle on the pad, I noticed that it was a little big for my saddle. I had ordered a large per their sizing (I have an 18" Custom Saddlery), but it is still about 2-3" too big. At this point, I just needed the pad and didn't want to deal with exchanging it. Better too big than too small right? It didn't look that bad....

The only problem is now it drives me insane. Because it's too big, it looks extra, super puffy. Kind of like a giant marshmallow under my saddle. I wasn't all that excited about the whole puffy look anyway, but after reviewing a bunch of pictures I decided it really didn't look bad and ordered one anyway. Honestly, they look really nice as long as the pads fit the saddle correctly. They look much worse if they don't.

Another thing I noticed is that it does feel like a lot more between my horse and I when I ride. Beefs is super sensitive, so it's not that big of a deal, but I feel like he isn't quite as responsive to my seat when I use the Ogilvy pad. I'm willing to deal with this though, since he does seem more comfortable in it.



The only other thing is you have to tighten the girth again after you get on. I wouldn't mind this at all if I rode in a jumping saddle or had someone around all of the time to tighten my girth for me. However, trying to tighten a short dressage girth while on a wiggly thoroughbred can be a real challenge. Getting on, riding in a couple of circles, and then getting off to tighten it is also a pain in the ass.

But my Ogilvy half pad isn't.

Would I order another one? Absolutely. Just with a few differences. I had actually kept the pad from the company on order, thinking it wouldn't hurt to have two if I liked them. I did eventually end up cancelling it though because I want to make some changes.  First off, I think I want the gummy half pad in a size medium so I don't look like I sat my saddle on top of the Pillsbury Doughboy. I am also probably going to order black. In pictures, the black looks really nice under the dressage saddles, even better than the white (and I'm a white fiend). I haven't decided if I'll do different colored piping yet, the binding will be black probably, and I want embroidery. On a good note, I'm getting less boring with the colors. At least a little bit.