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What is your favorite piece of tack/accessory/other horse thing that isn't manufactured anymore?

I feel like they must still be available somewhere, but I miss square wool coolers that go up to the ears!

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not 100% wool, but here are 2 colors of square coolers
https://www.sstack.com/dura-tech-thoroughbred-wool-blend-square-cooler/p/15639/
Honestly, I had no idea this type of cooler wasn’t still around! I will have to treasure my pure wool ones more! I 100% can not stand polar-fleece coolers. I just miss the days when we just palled around in whatever we had on hand and whatever horse was available. The breed didn’t really matter, the tack wasn’t very specific, I wore cheap rubber (!) boots, and we had a complete blast! It just didn’t seem quite so consumer driven back in the old days, but I was young and probably very naive!!

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The Millers and Kauffmans (amazing New York tack stores from the past) mail order catalogs. As a child living in a small Virginia town without a local tack store, I used to memorize each catalog cover to cover!

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Dansko paddock boots. I can’t fathom why they stopped making them. They were the most comfortable boots. I could wear those suckers all day at a show and my feet never hurt.

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I stocked up, I agree they rule

Saratoga Horseworks makes them.

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Radon still makes wool coolers with custom colors with a great price considering.
http://www.radoninc.com/pricing/default.aspx

150.00 for a square cooler.
http://www.radoninc.com/pricing/default.aspx

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I forgot to add: the older passier bridles. Those suckers last forever and look great doing it.

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The pricing is a little confusing, the base price for a square cooler is $150, but to get one that is larger (or in my case, extra large) - 76" to 80" is $190. I’d like to know what size is the square one for $150. Maybe the higher priced ones are for the fitted style? I think I still have a large full wool cooler I bought a million years ago.

A good friend of mine still events in her old Stubben Siegfried. She can afford one of the fancier brands but it fits her and her horse so why not? My first saddle was a Beval Gladstone I bought when down on HITS circuit back in the 1970s. Totally flat saddle that was the style at the time. Paid a whole $400 for it and I had it for years.

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Higher priced are fitted ones. I measured mine and it’s a 83”x88” and I’ve had it so long that I know it’s shrunk up some. It’s at least 20 years old.

I had been curious about “riding shoes” for awhile (mostly for trail riding since I have always had issues walking in my boots and sometimes we get off and do some walking) and found a pair of gently used Miller’s Heels Down shoes on eBay in my size, so I bought them and received them today. I haven’t been able to ride in them yet, but have put them on and love them so far! I am very hard to fit when it comes to shoes of any kind, and these fit me like a glove. So now, I would like to add the Miller’s Heels Down riding shoes to my list! Haven’t tried any others to compare them to, though.

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I think it is beautiful! :heart_eyes:

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My old Crosby spoiled me for other saddles. I could ride in them fine, but it was SUCH a relief to get back into my Crosby saddle. I just wish I could find a horse that it would fit nowadays. Back in the day I had 3 riding horses it fit fine with maybe a triple fold wool saddle blanket.

I consider them some of the best saddles ever made. English leather, good English leather, I swoon.

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I remember when those came out! A classic. I have the Ariat terrains for trail riding, very comfortable for my wide feet.

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I don’t think those Radon ones are pure wool, but I can’t tell what the interloping over kind of fiber is; its anonymous in the description.

BTW, the best old wool coolers were 15% nylon, made that way in order to give them a bit more strength than wool alone would have. A horse-sized square wool cooler was/is 90"x86".

If someone were to put an illicit, careless and selfish hoof on that while moving, that 15% nylon (and it being washed one or twice to tighten up the weave) might save the cooler from tearing.

You have to think about how to protect these gems because they don’t seem to be made anymore.

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ProJump stirrup pads. Wore like iron. Didn’t scratch my leathers and had phenomenal grip. While many of the newer stirrups have similar treads, I’m still using a traditional fillis iron.

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I, too, owned a Courbette Husar for years. Eventually put it on consignment, after the horse it fit passed. Still looked like new, and it sold for more than I’d originally paid for it – even after deducting the consignment fee! Probably still looks good. . .

I also loved Dansko paddock boots; heard, years ago, that Ariat bought the Dansko design to use for their Hanover paddock boot, but don’t know how accurate that is.

I rode in a white-lined Stubben bridle, oh, close to 35 years ago. Still have a couple pairs of breeches bought from Millers. Continue to occasionally use a Triple Crown Irish sweat, and a Roma Equi-Lite Thinsulate blanket (from back when Roma was a good brand) that are around 30 years old – my Classic Coverups (think that was the name) custom Gore-Tex turnout, of the same vintage, did give up the ghost a few years ago.

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My husband just bought an old Siegfried for his new mare! Such a classic looking saddle.

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I second Aramas bridles. I have one and it’s amazing!