Oops….I Did It Again

I went to the RDS Dublin Horse Show last week which can only mean one thing, well two things. 1. Cups of strawberries covered in chocolate (which ends up with me covered in chocolate) and 2. Shopping. Last week in an attempt to control myself I set myself a very specific short list of things I am permitted to purchase. The list included calmers that I have run out of (for the horse not me) and a new pair of jodhpur boots because my own ones have been worn to the point of almost falling apart.

The shopping started well mainly due to the fact that A) I was busy doing non shopping activities B) I am broke and C) the ATMs all ran out of money. I’d managed to only spend ten euro in Horseware which is a miracle in itself and I was so almost back to the car park when it happened. There it was in its lovelieness on a mannequin. It looked stylish, it looked more expensive than it was. It exuded ‘I’m an expensive classy lady really’. I decided to try it on in the hope that it would look awful and I wouldn’t want it, a technique that works quite often. ‘ah feck’ my friend said ‘I want to tell you it’s horrible but it isn’t’. Dammit. Job done and there it was in the bag.

What was it? A jacket. Of course it was a jacket it’s always a fecking jacket they are my kryptonite! (them and anything made out of brown leather, furry half pads and anything wine, navy or brown). I’m not even seduced by fancy jackets to wear at competitions it’s the casual ones that get me. Of course it’s been designated as a ‘good’ jacket only to be worn at shows or when trying to look professional when teaching or grooming. That will be its role until it eventually gets worn down the yard for more than five minutes and ends up covered in hair, slobber and hay.

The worst thing is I can’t even find an excuse to justify this purchase beyond the point that it was hobbit sized and therefore doesn’t make me look four feet tall. It does not even meet one of the holy trinity of criteria for equestrian shopping justification. On the plus side I also found an extremely cheap raincoat that fits firmly into the holy trinity as do the jod boots I bought for €20 when I had budgeted €60. So………technically  I saved money?