My Other Christmas Gift

I got a few amazing things other than the girth and bride but most of them aren't horse related (including some amazing handmade knit socks from my mom). However, I ended up with a very generous Amazon gift card and I've already bought a few fun things including a Polaroid Cube.

For anyone who doesn't know what these are, I didn't until I found it on Amazon, it's similar to a go-pro but at $60 it's a better price point for me and it's just adorable.

I got the blue one

Along with the price point there are a few fun things about this camera. First, it's tiny!

It's also water proof (or maybe just water resistant) and, my favorite, it's got a small built in magnet!

Sorry for the dirt but look how cool that is!
It's securely magnetized to the metal on the wall
just like a little superhero

It takes video up to 1080 and accepts a micro SD up to 32GB. It also has a wide angle lens so it captures a bit more than my phone which is really nice when trying to get videos in the arena.

Clearly I could have positioned it better
but for a screen shot from a video in bad light this isn't bad!

Mainly, while the quality might not be as nice as a more expensive (or larger) piece of equipment it's really simple, cute, handy, and for the price it will be fun to play around with. I'm hoping to figure out how to best incorporate it in my rides and I'm hoping it will help me get more media since that's been tough otherwise.

Little blurry here (very small part of the shot)
 but not horrible and at least I can get media!

PS of Sweden Flying Change Bridle Review

I've been doing my seasonal "favorites" posts but haven't had much to review recently since I haven't been purchasing much. Thanks to saving up some money I was able to spend a bit more on presents (for everyone including myself) this Christmas and finally got the PS of Sweden bridle that's been on my list for over a year.

Based on the information I had I decided to order the pony sized bridle. I had messaged asking for the bridle size but never heard back. I really should have messaged again before ordering as you're about to see.

Unfortunately when the bridle arrived and I compared it with a bridle I had at home that fit Katai I was pretty sure it was going to be too small. I brought it out to the barn, tried it on her and sure enough it was way too small. Not even close enough to be able to punch extra holes. So, I brought it back home and got it packaged up to return.

In the meantime I spent a lot of time admiring the pretty sparkly broadband

After a couple of emails back and forth and many days later (I shipped it back on 12/5 and it didn't arrive until 12/19) I finally received confirmation that it had arrived and they would be sending me the exchange. They were incredibly helpful and kind throughout the whole thing and I completely take all responsibility for any issues since it's on me that I both ordered the wrong size and was trying to ship back during the Christmas season.

With everything else going on this really wasn't at the top of mind and I've been more worried about figuring out my car. Once I heard that the bridle arrived safely I put it out of mind. It was a bit of a rough week since my car went into the shop mid week last week and I spent a week without being able to get to the barn.

That made it that much more wonderful that through some Christmas gift from the universe the package was waiting for me when I got back from my parent's house on Christmas Day :)

It was more fun and less stressful to open up the package this time since I knew it would fit. I took my time checking every inch and I have to say that I'm completely in love. I should mention that I've only ever owned cheap bridles (under $100) so I don't exactly have much to compare this with but after some of the comments about the leather I was curious what it would be like. Although I may not have an educated opinion I will say that I'm really happy with it and feel like it's completely worth the price.

Perfect for my princess ladybug

I went back and forth on what to order but my total order from PS of Sweden was the Flying Change bridle in cob size, a sparkly broadband, and the throat latch. I was tempted by the reins but in the end I just couldn't justify getting them for $80 when my favorite reins (so far) from Horze were $23 for Black Friday. I may be a bit of a tack hoe but I'm also a cheap tack hoe for the most part ;)

I really like the shape on her face!

I was able to bring it with me to the barn on Tuesday for my lesson and get it fitted to her. As the leather softens and everything starts to mold to her I'll need to adjust again but for now it's, amazingly, right in the middle hole on both sides. So, yeah, my 13.2 hand pony has the same size head as some 16 hand thoroughbreds ;) The only thing that was way too big was the flash but that's easy enough to punch holes in. I haven't used the throatlatch yet as I really got that just so that I can legally show in this bridle. 

She's so tough to get pictures of because
she just wants to follow me around

Sorry for the wonky flash in these pictures. I took these after I rode and I always take the flash off right away. I had it in a loop on top of her nose, like a lot of people do, but she had a mini "Bobby" tantrum and kept running her nose into the walls of the arena so I adjusted it for the princess.

My only complaint is the crank noseband. I've never had a crank noseband before and while I love the extra padding for Katai's face I'm a huge believer in leaving everything really loose so I'll never use it as a crank. Plus, it's just so fiddly to get fastened up! It does make us look very official though so that's pretty cool.

I'm sure that this will end up on one of my seasonal favorites posts in the future after I've had more of a chance to use it!