Circle Right 20 Meters

Remember that girth I mentioned watching on ebay. It was nice, leather, used, but after I got outbid 2 times I decided I didnt like that the elastic on the buckles was white. I much preferred the black that I was seeing on most other girths. So I let it go. But I really needed to get something in soon so I went back to all my usual websites and looked at the options I wanted (roller buckles, elastic on at least one end and most importantly comes in 22") and came across some high end leather ones that had buckle guards. The light bulb goes off- "hey that would hide my billet straps that are so faded and ugly looking until I can get them replaced!" But to the tune of $150 on up it wasnt happening. Really my budget was about $40. I really didnt need leather altho I wasnt sure if leather was required at shows (I know in AHA huntseat you have to have a leather girth). So I expanded my ebay search and found this:

Its a used leather Schleese in a 22 with buckle guards, but the BIN price was $85. Right now I couldnt swing that even with what I had in PP. So I gave up on the idea and figured I would have to just get something somewhere in neoprene wether it hid the ugly billets or not. I found a perfect one on a company site, at least I could tuck the extra strap into the girth sleeve, but it was out of stock until the end of July. Then I just gave up for the night.

I also have another hobby, it also can be expensive (though I am often on the hunt for excellent pieces at a bargain price and dont get to add much to the collection these days). But I do sell and trade pieces on occassion and I happened to make a small sale that put just under $50 in my paypal account. The first thing I did was run to ebay and look at this girth. It was still there, ending in about 12 hours, and it DID have the "or best offer" on it. Now I dont take pride in lowballing and I dont always appreciate it when people lowball me but it all depends on how desperate a person is for a sale. I usually take them, at least on used tack. I know Schleese is quality expensive stuff, but no one has done the BIN yet,its ending before too long and the market for a 22" girth has got to be small. Soooo I did it, I put in an offer of $45. I figured what the heck, if the dont take it they dont take it. And then I went to bed.

I forgot about it this morning until around 11 am I got an email from ebay saying congrats you bought this item. WOOHOO! Paid for it right away (had to take just over $7 from checking to cover the difference with shipping) and within minutes it was marked SHIPPED! UPS ground should get it here by mid next week? (no tracking number at the moment)

I wish I had it tomorrow as its looking to be an awesome day for a trail ride. I can use my 24 if I throw on another pad maybe. I dont want it moving around too much and making her back sore. Or I could go back to my trailer and lug out the Tucker Endurance saddle with cushy seat and stirrup pads that I keep getting tempted to sell....