Barrel Racing Saddles

Okay folks, for my first post I decided to focus on the western side of riding. I am an English rider myself so obviously I appreciate class and simplicity. However, I am a model tack maker (1:9 scale) so trust me, I know what a pretty western saddle looks like.
So today let's take a look at Barrel Racing Saddles.

Beauty #1
Okay, okay. You can't see too much of it but the part you can see is quite admirable. It is decorative, it has a tiny amount of silver, it has a delicate pattern (or whatever that's called. It's used (sure doesn't look like it) and can be yours for $1350 if you go on http://www.barrelracer.com/.

Beast #1
According to the ad, this is a *breathe in* Lynn Mckenzie Double J Saddlery Barrel Racing Stingray *breathe out*. Whew! Now here's the tricky part. Do not believe the ad when it says the saddle is a) classy b) beautiful c) gorgeous. Do believe when it says "attention getter". When something stings your eyes so much, you are bound to look and see what is causing all the pain. This baby will be yours for just $2900, thanks to my new bestest friend, TackTrader.

Beauty #2 This one is nice. Simple, subtly decorated, used but does not look like a mess. Don't know about the quality but it looks nice. $550 at TackTrader again. Look for "14 Circle Y Barrel Racing Saddle"

Beast #2
Wow. Chick's Discount Saddlery amazes me. It was one of the reasons to start this blog. What the fuck is this? In the English world, 2 colors is more than enough for leather on a saddle, but if tastefully done is salvageable. Here, the maker thought: "Hey, let's add all kinds of festive shit to this baby! I want white details and patterns and a suede seat in different colour and silver for sure! But we can fuck the part that's under the rider's leg, that's just a waste of money and it's not visible anyway. Just make sure to make it another flashy colour!" Jeez. It ended up looking like they swallowed all the parts, gave it a day of digestion and threw it all up and put up for $830.

Beauty #3
Alright, so this isn't exactly a beauty. But it's simple, got well balanced colours and is waiting for you at TackSouth for $503.98 (I just love the supermarket pricing on tack).

Beast #3
But why are you wasting your time looking at that simple thing when this darling is waiting for you on the same site? This has a flashy pattern, a sick blue-green coloured suede seat, loads of silver conchos and a strangely carved skirt. I'd love to see that thing on one of my Breyers (but stay away from Salinero!) but not my barrel racing champion. And I admit, the tooling is very nice but the whole thing together just makes me retch. Yours for $1490.

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Enough for today! I've found way too few beauties and far too many beasts. No more western saddles for the next few days, can't bare to watch...

What this blog will be

Hello there, fellow horse people!
First of all, I would like to say, Fugly (of http://fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/), thank you very much, you are awesome.
Tacky (of http://tackytackoftheday.blogspot.com/), you're just starting but you're good too, you've inspired me a lot.
So those guys run 2 out of 3 of my favourite blogs and inspired by them, I decided to start this one. Fugly's comments are priceless and the tack on Tacky's blog is just horrid, but I am no conformation expert and I do not always agree with T.
Plus, I like balance. Like House MD once said, "An eye for an eye, LSD and antidepressants. Everything in balance". That's why I think ugly tack should go together with pretty tack. And fugly horses with eye-candy horses.
So that is basically what you are going to find here. Pretty and Ugly: tack, accessories, horses, clothes.

I hope you will enjoy EFAS!