[QUOTE=Pat Ness;5129117]
DLee - will there be anything left for those of us getting there on Monday? BoB has always been one of our favorite stops![/QUOTE]
Yes! I have been in the Horseware Ireland section for four days (off not til next week!), I know they are getting more inventory tomorrow. It’s truly been crazy in there, but a great place to work. :yes:
WHERE are the WEG pads???
Exactly WHERE are the “official” WEG saddle pads? It is at the top of my list and I haven’t seen one…
[QUOTE=Zevida;5130461]
I’m trying to not spend all my money at once so the only thing I bought today was a book at the USDF store. The USDF building was great, very friendly, free snacks and a nice experience. The USEF building was not nearly as nice or friendly.
I was disappointed that even though the trade show said it would open at 8, most vendors were not and even by 8:45 half of them were still closed. Did anyone catch what time Bit of Britain opened? I’d love to spend some time trying on helmets but it was a madhouse this afternoon.[/QUOTE]
Bit of Britain was open at 8ish this morning (Thurs) and very pleasant at that hour - maybe only a dozen or so shoppers. 
Back home now. Bought a cap with WEG/Ky Horse Park logo. WHEN did you all get a chance to actually shop, not just even walk through all the booths? When not in the stands of Dressage, Reining or walking the CC course, I mostly parked myself alongside the main stadium make up ring and watched the top sets of GP horses warm up. (Totilas is BROKE, as in cowboy broke) (and trained also).
I am starting my search for a new saddle, and it has been awesome having Antares, Devocoux, Beval, Stubben, etc all in one place so I can directly compare. Then I’ve been coming home at night, narrowing down choices, and going back the next day to further examine the saddles themselves. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity!
Am I the only one who thinks that the shopping isn’t anywhere near as good as the Rolex? I was looking to buy a halter and name plate and usually there are several tents where you can get them made in an hour or so and there isn’t one retailer like that here.
My husband and bank account are happy, but I was hoping to do a little damage. Nothing really interested me although I did not get to BoB today. There’s always tomorrow!
BayThoroughbred, I agree. Didn’t think the shopping experience was as good as Rolex, nothing really “Wow’d” me, though my husband and bank account are happier, too. Did get my Dubarry’s polished for free.
Where is the Ireland Horseware Booth? Somehow I missed that one.
Has anyone been shopping with the smaller,unique vendors?Anyone visited Equipment of Culture?
MorganPony,I love that you can try some many saddles at one place.I sat in everything at World Cup.Let me know what you get;)
I got two saddlepads at BoB. $15 for the good, big ones, and the display is just like crack for addicts. 
Really lovely colours. I got a peach and a purple.
I also got a baby pad at SmartPak, that has the most lovely wicking lining. That one was practical, we forgot the saddlepads and needed one for under the fancy dress pad for the medieval get up.
Horseowner got a Stubben pad (very nice!) for $20. Yummy material, almost denim? Seems like it’ll wear forever. They only had brown & blue though. Neither of which I like/can use.
Thank God. :lol:
I agree too…seems like there are more horse supply vendors at Rolex. WEG seems to have more upscale art/clothing/jewelry than actual equine shops. Nice to look at, but the only thing I bought was a WEG long sleeve tshirt (already had a baseball hat that I got at Rolex). There is a place in the indoor tent that is giving away brushes and sweat scrapers…it must not have gotten around, either, because there were still plenty left.
And a little whine…some signs marking the way to the trade fair would have been lovely. Walking in from the parking lot, it took about an hour for me to even figure out where it was. The maps suck…whoever designed those needs to get a different job. The food vendors are all where the outdoor shops are at Rolex, and all the shops are at the front of the park for WEG. Apparently coming in from the parking lot, the trade show location was supposed to be evident by the giant John Deer tent at the entrance? 
You can’t see any of the other vendors (AKA ENTIRE tradeshow) behind it.
Bright spot though…in my hour and miles long trip completely through the park to find it, I did get to see some of the paradressage riders schooling. Lovely. :yes:
Caitlin
the swiss saddle maker by the food in the tradeshow has euro cut pads REALLY nice quality for $59. I got a really nice royal blue with silver piping, and they have two saddles that are used from the spanish riding school there for sale. I sat in them hoping I’d get some majikal butt sweat osmosis goin on.
Surely someone was shopping this past weekend.
I was there for 4 days, and didn’t buy a thing! I suppose I am more of a Walmart shopper - “pile it high and watch 'em buy” type of gal. The only thing that tempted me were the $15 saddle pads at BoB, but by the time I decided to get one, all the dressage fun colors were gone. Maybe they’ll have more when I go back this weekend.
The booths are all really high end, and I know they were frightfully expensive. So I think that eliminated a lot of the smaller Rolex shops, like Albright’s Leather (they have the leather tack w/brass nameplates, etc.) and A Frame of Mind (usually just inside the indoor arena; they have wonderful pictures and home decor stuff). I actually left depressed since I didn’t find any “little sillies.”
However, I read about the “Just Add Bourbon” ball cap that Jimmy Wofford was talking about in his blog, and I tracked one down on the Internet. I’m buying one this weekend, but NOT at the Horse Park! Found a place in Louisville that sells them for $14.95.
And I have my free Ariat shirts, jacket and ball cap from being a volunteer. Those are nice souveniers!
I just got back from WEG. I tried to shop hard, but real “deals” were few and far between for me. And after paying $200/night for a hotel, a lot of my budget was there.
I did meet BoB’s owner - the noseband I wanted was attached to a $250 bridle, but he was awesome and sold me just the noseband. So that was a highlight!
Meant to go back for the $15 pads, but ran out of time and the line in there was llloooooonnnnggggg.
Got lots of free goodies at WEG.
The International Horse Festival downtown was great too!! More freebies!! :yes:
I agree, lots of freebies to be had. We only did our official ‘shopping’ over 2 hours on Sunday afternoon, which was probably a good thing! I was appalled at the condition of the ‘official merchandise’ tent. We poked our heads in there 3x over the weekend, and all 3 times it was a MAD HOUSE with lines almost out the door. I’m talking probably 200 people in line to check out. They had very little merchandise in there each time. Course, we might have just hit it at the wrong moment every time! Never could find the WEG saddle pads, so happily got one from the TB retirement foundation with their logo on it… just stunning… and the $ went to a TB to get his feet done.
I found some great deals at the Stubben tent… got a lovely soft leather girth for $45 and some new stirrup leathers for $40. Also got some pink John Deere hats with the Deere logo on front and the WEG logo embroidered on the side… 3 for $40. I was pretty exited. Then made the GIANT mistake of going in the Breyer tent… I used to (don’t laugh) show model horses, and have been out of it for years. I picked up the smaller Stablemate models (reining, dressage, and jumping) and 2 of the special edition models, Cedric and Wimpy’s Little Chic. Both are just lovely. Even bumped into a few of the US team members in there! And this will sound funny, because they weren’t officially ‘selling’ anything in there, but I stopped into the Triple Crown feed booth, and chatted with the rep about low starch foods. Started to rain while I was in there so I stayed a while, but she gave me 2 TC chap sticks, 2 mini flash lights, treat samples, coupons for 2 free bags of feed, and a beautiful embroidered cap!! (My horses do great on that feed… love them…)
I wish we had more time to walk around… but I probably came home with more than I needed anyway
ugh. i really wish i had the time/chance to go to WEG. it sounds like alot of fun…and eveb if i couldnt afford to leave without armfulls of stuff…it would be nice to find once thing to come home with…
I would also iek to add that there is a dairyfarmer featured in an ad in Hoard’s Dairyman for a dairy cow product who is wearing an ALTECH FEI WEG hat…
Ive been noticing it for the past few months and couldnt help but mention it. the dairy is from the south west
[QUOTE=TooManyChickens;5139021]
I agree, lots of freebies to be had. We only did our official ‘shopping’ over 2 hours on Sunday afternoon, which was probably a good thing! I was appalled at the condition of the ‘official merchandise’ tent. We poked our heads in there 3x over the weekend, and all 3 times it was a MAD HOUSE with lines almost out the door. I’m talking probably 200 people in line to check out. They had very little merchandise in there each time. Course, we might have just hit it at the wrong moment every time! [/QUOTE]
They were restocking every morning, and were barren every night. They get different stuff in, too, which can be either good or bad depending upon whether you’ve found something you like.
My friends and I did a little bit of shopping, but it was very overwhelming at times. We got so saturated looking, dealing with crowds, not really able to peruse the merchandise. In general, we opted not to buy because of crowds and lines. You couldn’t stop to examine or think about a purchase because you were being jostled. And often you had to decide you couldn’t afford the time in line since you had to rush to make sure to be on time for your event. Ariat must have been super happy because much of the time, they had looooong lines out the door on both sides of their booth. They were out of some of the things people were looking for, like logo jackets. And lot of clothing vendors ran out of normal sizes of so many things, only having tons of odd sizes but nothing else. We wanted to buy things like ear bonnets or grooming brushes/tools with WEG logos to bring back as little presents for barn buddies or unusual things to bring home for presents, but no luck. I’d hoped to buy a pair of eq. boots for my horse. Ended up buying gloves, a sweatshirt and a blanket to keep warm during eventing stadium jumping and morning showjumping. Did bring home some catalogues to look at later for mail order.
I heard lots of people grumbling because they were in long lines for busses and had planned to use that time instead to shop. But they had to scurry to be in time for their events instead.
I think the vendors missed out on a lot of money they could have banked.
really wanted to shop, but wasn’t really happening for me. I got a cute tie and cufflink set for a friend from LILO (in the Bit of Britain Tent), but that was it. I am admittedly spoiled by being less than 30 minutes from the BoB main store and they come to all the events I attend, so not too much new there for me. I was hoping for some tack that I didn’t know, but didn’t see much. I did stop by several of the high end saddle folks (heavily tilted to the french saddlers), BoB, SmartPak (where I did switch a supplement for one of my guys), and did a run through of everything else.
Well I really feel I bought stuff just to avoid shipping fees, not for deals
Please don’t tell Mr. TTP, but I bought the following:
new spurs
new spur straps (of course)
hot pink mane comb
new girth for my H/J saddle so I stop using my nice leather one
Ariat/WEG black down vest (it was soo cold yesterday)
Red WEG baseball cap
And because Dover was letting you order without shipping I bought my horse a new waterproof turnout sheet. At least that was on sale! 
And then I went into the Durbarry tent to see why everyone at the xc was wearing these silly, probably overpriced boots…tried a pair on…thought “wow are they comfortable” and somehow I bought a pair of those too. Mmmm.
The Lexington airport actually has really nice WEG wear in the gift shop, btw.
I also decided to buy the cheaper of the Smartpak dressage bridles–pretty decent bridle and reins for $99! But I am going to ask for it for Christmas. I had to exercise SOME restraint.
I also talked one of my friends into trying on the Durbarry boots and she ended up ordering a pair too But I feel like I did a good job and was a pretty good girl, all in all.
The most exciting buy? My BO is getting new footing!! lol. The OTTO (?)stuff they are using in all the rings. Yay for us!
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