Half-chaps, a purchase I can live with….

Good morning. Our most recent purchase in the never-ending-drain-on-my-bank-account known as riding, is a pair of Dublin half-chaps. This acquisition was made at our local tack shop. Usually I would order out for this type of thing, but time was of the essence. Our hand-me-down pair of tall boots blew at the seams, and fixing a zipper is not in my repertoire of skills. With a clinic only two days away, the purchase was a must.

So off the girl and the mom went to the tack store. I avoid bringing the girl to the tack store because it is like bring me to the factory outlet store at Lake Champlain Chocolates or bringing the husband to Cabela’s. Get out of the way. Now.

I digress.  So the selection of half-chaps was limited, ‘natch. There were some crappy options and some rather expensive options, and then the pair that was $179.00. Funny, those were on the floor, in a basket, covered in dust.

We tried on about 37 pairs, regardless of the fact that there weren’t actually that many pairs of half-chaps in the store. The girl is the Goldilocks of all shopping experiences. “These are too tight.” “These are too loose.” “These are too short.” “These are too long.” “These just don’t feel right.” And then there’s the ask when no comment is forthcoming: “Do you like these?” The answer: “I don’t know.” Excuse me?

OK, now I am sweating and this may possibly be worse than taking her to try on jeans. In a moment of desperation, I let her try on the $90 Ariat half-chaps, most convinced that these will fit like a glove (say it like Ace Venture Pet Detective, not like OJ).  I’ve been down this road before, where frustration with shopping with the girl led me to purchase $120 Ariat paddock boots, which by the way, where excellent boots, except for the fact that she outgrew them in three months.

So with the sweat starting to pool in my back fat, (because of course, I was the one rehanging and putting away all of the “too” discarded pairs of half-chaps) I tried not to curse. God bless teenagers. Seriously, I mean it. Because the teenage girl working at the store came over to ask the obligatory, “Is everything OK?” Except, because she is a cool horse chick, she really meant it.  Now when she helped the girl, suddenly, maybe these weren’t too loose, and really you know, not that long.

Forty-five minutes later, we ended up at the register with $32.50 Dublin half-chaps (black) and here’s the best part — NOTHING ELSE. I got out of there for $34.45 including tax.

It was worth the sweat.