New Belt Options

I haven't done much with the ponies since I went back to work at the end of last week. Sigh.

That whole go to bed really late while on vacation kind of bit me in the butt when I went back to work, and I was just too exhausted to head out to see the kids after work. I was planning on riding on Sunday, but the humidex unexpectedly jacked the temperature up. Then, having to get up at the ungodly hour of 5 am to work on Monday, and managing to only get about 3 hours of sleep, meant I was rather comatose on Monday night. So I stayed home again.

Being comatose was no impediment to online research, however. I have started the order process for a new short-flapped treeless saddle. With that saddle, I will need to buy Cisco a new dressage girth.

Note how the girth billets are pulled forward by the girth. 

I'm pretty sure that he will need one of the curved ones for horses with the forward girth grooves. So I have spent a stupid amount of time over the last few days trying to figure out which one I will spend my money on. Because none of those girths are cheap.

The potentials:

*Prestige Anatomic Shaped Dressage Girth - generally has very good reviews about quality. Would cost about $225 shipped from Germany.
*Total Saddle Fit Stretchtec Girth - costs about $315 shipped. Way more than I want to spend. If I can wait until Christmas, Apple Saddlery usually has a sale of 15% off, which would bring it down to just under $270.
*Smith-Worthington Performance Dressage Girth - don't know if I can get it in Canada, so would have to order it from the US. Current exchange rate and estimated shipping would put it at somewhere around $280.

There aren't a lot of local options, so unfortunately online is the way I will have to go. At this point, the Prestige one is probably in the lead, mainly because of the price. My new saddle wouldn't arrive until sometime in late-November, and from then until Christmas I traditionally get super busy at work and don't have time to ride, so there is a chance that if I wait I might manage to hit a Black Friday sale out of the US. It might be worth it if the exchange rate doesn't tank.

Of course, extra time until I need it means way more time to keep changing my mind about which one to buy.