Black Friday Left Me in the Red!

As I saw someone else write on Friday, "Someone please take away my phone and my laptop and my iPad. I can't afford them!"

In all fairness, some of it was stuff I was going to buy anyway like Flaxseed oil and vitamins. I simply took advantage of Riding Warehouse's 20% off sale (which runs through today by the way) to buy my monthly supply.  

20% off? Why thank you, I believe I will!

The rest of the stuff was on my will need soon list. So what did I order? Well first, my justification for ordering ...

My tall boots, which I really like by the way, have started to show some wear. It's wear that I can live with and still use, but I know the day is coming when the holes will be too big to be seen with in public.

Not a fatal hole, but it's a hole nonetheless.

I must use a lot of leg!

I've purchased two pairs of TuffRider boots, and while they haven't lasted forever, they've done what I expected for boots south of $200. The first pair, the TuffRider Baroques, lasted just over two years. I loved them. They were comfortable from the first day I wore them. I replaced them with the TuffRider Belmont Dress Boots which I loved even more. I've been wearing them for nearly two years.

While browsing through Riding Warehouse's current inventory of tall boots, I saw both the Baroques and Belmonts on clearance for $131 and change. They weren't eligible for the extra 20% off, but how could I complain when I was buying a pair of boots that I know and love for $131? I bought the Belmonts. 

In storage for now.

Since my other pair is still going strong, I put the new boots in storage until the old pair suffers a fatal injury. But of course, more came in that Riding Warehouse box. It was a big box.

I tried to tell myself it was for the "free shipping," but we all know that's a lie since the boots alone were enough for Riding Warehouse to waive the shipping. So why did I need another Haas brush? I don't know, quit judging. We all have a thing, and right now I am kind of obsessed with these brushes. I already bought the Fellglanzsburste, which I love, so it seemed reasonable to expand my collection. This time I bought the Parcour which is a bit stiffer. Next on the list is the Diva. Hey, Santa? You hear that?

I promise this really is Bakersfield!

We've had some unusually wet and very cold weather this past week which forced me to pull out my collection of winter blankets. Whether it's due to the Cushing's or just age, Speedy didn't handle the first round of cold very well. I showed up and he was a gigantic ball of shivering jello. I quickly bundled him up in a winter blanket and crossed my fingers.

Since then, he's been happily blanketed on all of the rainy nights. Unfortunately, my nicest and heaviest blanket literally fell apart the first night I tried to use it. I wish I had taken photos. The ranch owner saw it at feeding time and was horrified to see it actually disintegrating in front of her eyes. She carefully picked up the pieces that had fallen off and judicially chose to wrap Speedy up in his lighter, but safer blanket. I threw the old one away.

The first night Izzy wore his blanket.

Four or five years ago I bought a new blanket for my last horse, but he never needed it. I threw it on Izzy for a couple of our most recent coldest and wettest nights, but he proceeded to ventilate it on both sides. Speedy gets a new one. He doesn't. As it just so happens, Horze was having a fabulous Black Friday sale on ... you guessed it, blankets! 

This lovely beauty should be here at the end of the week.

While Speedy's medium weight blanket is still going strong, he really needs a warmer one. After deducting a coupon code from the sale price, I paid $71.55 for a 1200 denier, waterproof, windproof, and breathable blanket. Shipping was free of course. How could I turn that down, especially since Speedy's actually fell apart?

The cause of my recent spending spree.

On Small Business Saturday, I dropped another hundred bucks at my local feed store, Fred C. Gilbert's. Today's Cyber Monday, but I have jury duty so hopefully I won't have time to do any browsing.

I am not sure what the cold and mud had to do with reckless spending on Black Friday, but that's the story I am going with. Did you score any great deals?