--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4U00001 Date: 04/24/97 From: MIKE MAY Time: 05:30am \/To: BOB KOHL (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: spring???? -> > -> However I made $5 on the electronic poker games. :) -> -> > But how much did it cost to make that $5.00 ?? -> -> > ;-) -> -> 2 :) Plus airfare! ;-) --- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 2 * Origin: Home of Malla, the spoiled Norwegian Fjord (1:2613/128) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4V00000 Date: 04/25/97 From: MIKE MAY Time: 05:44am \/To: BOB KOHL (Read 0 times) Subj: back! -> Just got home.. dead tired from a 10 day endurance run.. I expect to sleep -> for about 12 hours shortly. Stopped off at the stable.. boy, was CJ glad o -> see me. :) -> -> Anyone heard from Vic?? No. I have tried to call her a couple of times. I only get a machine. I id leave a message once but no reply from her. --- PCBoard (R) v15.3/M 2 * Origin: Home of Malla, the spoiled Norwegian Fjord (1:2613/128) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4V00001 Date: 04/25/97 From: MEG ALFONI Time: 08:07am \/To: BOB KOHL (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: back! BK :>> Hope all went well. Obviously, your flight was OK (g). BK :> BK :>Nope.. lost luggage.. still not found. :( Oh for heaven's sake! What a pain! Meg --- * Origin: Elizabeth's Revenge (1:330/173) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4X00000 Date: 04/24/97 From: JAN MURPHY Time: 10:14am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: shoe-mania Well, I've finally done it, but only halfway, as usual. As you know, I've been reading all these horse magazines, and I keep seeing the ads for Ariat boots. They're supposed to be super comfortable, have a gel-pad in the forefoot portion where your toes live, an improved steel shank for better support while riding, etc. I've seen testimonials in product reviews where cross-country officials wore them all day to stomp around the course and loved them. I'm a big fan of comfortable shoes so I've been wanting to get some of these boots ever since I first saw the ads. Trouble is, where do I get them since I don't have a tack shop nearby. You know. So then Nordstroms in San Francisco started carrying them. If you haven't been to the Pacific Northwest, you should know that Nordy's started out life as a shoe shop and then gradually transmogrified over the decades into the big department store they are now. But they haven't forgotten their roots, and the shoe departments are pretty good. Come last September, when the San Francisco Grand Prix was running, they had a trunk show for Ariat. Well, I was busy, I was broke, I couldn't really justify them, etc. I didn't go. You know what a procrastinator I am. Now my shoe shop in downtown Berkeley has an Ariat sign in the window. Oooh, danger, within walking distance of my house. I was still too broke, I didn't really *need* riding boots, blah blah blah. I stayed away. Yesterday I was at work, put a foot down wrong, it hurt like heck, and I said, that's it, I'm buying new shoes or else. Went on my lunch break to my downtown shoe shop to get a new pair of Easy Spirit walking shoes, my standard thing for work. I don't know what it is about spring, but there's something about being in a shoe store surrounded by all these open shoes and flimsy sandals and jellies and other bits of nothing, I always get this craving for a good solid pair of walking shoes or boots instead. And when I came in the door, I went straight to where the Easy Spirit shoes usually live, but they've moved, and right on the way to where they used to be is a display of shoes from Ariat. I find the Easy Spirit display, and what's more, I find the saleswoman who sold me my last pair. She sizes up the situation in the blink of the eye and warns me off: "oh, no, you don't want to buy them today, we're having a trunk show Saturday and all the Easy Spirit styles will be on sale". So there I am with money burning a hole in my pocket from my paycheck the day before, and sore feet that are saying "new shoes NOW". And yet I don't want to buy shoes that I can get cheaper three days later. And as a retailer, I have a certain amount of fellow feeling for my saleswoman, who has just risked losing a sure sale now in favor of only a possible bigger sale on Saturday. Across the store, I see the Ariat display. So I said, "well, as long as I'm here ..." Savvy saleswoman brings me Ariat shoes and then lets me stand around in them for five or ten minutes while she writes up another customer and chats to me and to a third customer who has been listening to our conversation and doesn't know what a trunk show is. Eventually I notice just how much better my feet feel, even standing in one place, since I have changed out of my totally thrashed Easy Spirits and am standing on this new improved Ariat gel bed. Lots of good arch support which I desperately need. And so on. You can guess the rest. I am now the proud owner of a pair of Ariat Sport Mules, in oiled chocolate Nubuck. These are sort of like boots but also like the kind of shoes that we would have called "clogs" while I was growing up; they look like boots in front but are open at the back (like clogs) so you can kick them on and off. Only the Ariat ones are clever: they have this wide strap which fits over the instep (the top of the shoe where your foot goes in). It's connected with these two little rivets so if you want to, voila, you swing the strap around and then it tucks around your ankle and keeps the shoes on. If you don't need it, it fits smoothly over the top and looks like a design feature. They also have the high-tech heel cup in back, so the heel area has a bit of a rim on it instead of being just flat, which also helps the shoes stay on. Very cool. Why the big fuss? Well, this is the first pair of shoes I've ever bought which come with their own care and cleaning instructions, number one. (It was very amusing for this city girl to see care instructions for shoes that warn you to clean the manure off every time because it is hard on the leather, although I didn't need to be warned about that particular point.) And it is certainly the only pair of shoes I've ever bought which came with a *warranty card*. Maybe all riding boots have them, but coming from street-shoe hell where most of the manufacturers these days don't seem to care about fit or comfort or anything except the price point, I was impressed. So we'll see how they work out, but for right now, yes, my preliminary findings agree with the ads: these barn shoes are every bit as comfortable as the ads say they are. The heels are solid and high enough to ride in, though I wouldn't ride in any open shoes, fancy heel strap or not -- it's just asking for trouble. But they ought to give me a good test run for how comfortable the paddock shoes would be. Anyway, if you are in the market for new boots or barn shoes, check them out. They are good looking shoes, they look well-made, the materials look good, and no, I'm not a secret agent for the company, it's only a coincidence that the company is based in northern California . Too bad the shoes themselves are made outside of the US. :-( Now all I have to do is start saving my pennies for next fall when all the stores have boots again. Then I can get the paddock shoes and the matching half-chaps. And then all I'll need is a hard hat to be armed and dangerous. ;-) --- QM v1.31 * Origin: Sci-Fido II, World's Oldest SF BBS, Berkeley, CA (1:161/84.0) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4Y00000 Date: 04/28/97 From: MEG ALFONI Time: 04:46pm \/To: JAN MURPHY (Read 0 times) Subj: shoe-mania JM :>Now all I have to do is start saving my pennies for next JM :>fall when all the stores have boots again. Then I can get JM :>the paddock shoes and the matching half-chaps. And then JM :>all I'll need is a hard hat to be armed and dangerous. ;-) And a horse would help (g)! Great story! Unfortunately, I tried the Ariat paddock boots and felt like I had the most inflexible, combat boot type things on. I hated them! After all the hype, and my decision to finally spend that kind of money on a pair of paddock boots, I was devastated (g)! Glad your adventure turned out so much better! Maybe I'll give th clogs a go....my stall-mucker wears those wool clogs to muck stalls (even in the winter!)...I think she's nuts! Happy walking! Meg --- * Origin: Elizabeth's Revenge (1:330/173) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4Y00001 Date: 04/28/97 From: BOB KOHL Time: 05:29pm \/To: MEG ALFONI (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: lipizzans 1 > BK :>I can remember when you couldn't get NEAR her! She'd always > BK :>duck under Mom's belly! :) > I was showing the kids some of Fiddle's baby pix the other day and felt > the same way. Gosh was she cute! And looking at them long legs, no > wonder I thought she'd be bigger than she is (g). Her legs just went on > forever! I think she'll really top out at only 15 or 15.1....She'd make > someone the prettiest little hunter pleasure horse...I'm hoping to get > her settled enough for the more advanced kids to ride this summer. She's > really so sane under saddle, and so responsive. Shiloh's great for the > beginners, but when it comes to finesse, she is certainly lacking (g). > The word "clunker" comes to mind VBG! Finese can be learned.. remember "dandy" the anglo arab down in SJC?? he was clutzy, etc etc etc until you took him in the arena and got him to work.. he actually liked it again. ;) > Hope your flight went well...I thought I was a white-knuckle > type...geesh!!!! Flight was fine going out.. coming back in was a little more tense.. but I actually managed to sleep. ;) BK --- DB A3000sl/001347 * Origin: * Conniption BBS * one fit at a time (1:102/861) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4Y00002 Date: 04/28/97 From: BOB KOHL Time: 05:30pm \/To: ERICA PRICE (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: Horses > Yes, I know how to lunge a horse. I know a lot about horses. I pretty > much know what I have to do for training and so on but, I was wondering > if any one had any good tips or so on. I've been riding since I was 3 > and, compete now. Well chuckle.. I've been around horses for 20 years. I sure don't know it all.. ;) > I train with Olympians and, my goal is 2004 Olympics. > My coaches think/know I have what it takes and so does my competition > horse (5 yr old QH Off the track in the summer). It will be a lot of > fun with the pony though. The reason I am getting him is because I > figure it will be easier to break and train a pony before I do the > horse. The horse is going to be a competition horse (hopefully an > Olympic hopefull) and the pony will probab;y be sold as a hunter (MAYBE > an eventer) we'll see!! Good luck. BK --- DB A3000sl/001347 * Origin: * Conniption BBS * one fit at a time (1:102/861) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4Y00003 Date: 04/28/97 From: BOB KOHL Time: 05:31pm \/To: KARIN BREWER (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: lipizzans 1 > -> My pleasure Karin.. really nice of you to dig that stuff up again. > -> Funny.. she seems to have disapeared. :( > Ah, well.. But that was always a calculated risk... > How's the various and sundry aches from your... adventure on Straw? Long since past more or less.. been back east for two weeks. Getting CJ and Tush back to work.. but Tush is once again a little ouchy on one leg.. so I'm watching it. BK --- DB A3000sl/001347 * Origin: * Conniption BBS * one fit at a time (1:102/861) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4Y00004 Date: 04/28/97 From: BOB KOHL Time: 05:33pm \/To: MEG ALFONI (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: Tush > BK :>Then moved her to the same and the reins tied to the > BK :>saddle. :) > Phew! You move fast! I had Fiddle bitted, but didn't do the surcingle > or saddle thing till she'd been ridden for a year. Hmmmm... Teaching the fundimentals is easier early on. > BK :>with it right now.. she'll have a week off then back to > BK :>it. > BTW...how did your trip go? Was that relatively short flight enough to > make you want to quit smoking (g). Cutting back now.. having a bad day at it. ;) BK --- DB A3000sl/001347 * Origin: * Conniption BBS * one fit at a time (1:102/861) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 243 HORSES Ref: E4Y00005 Date: 04/28/97 From: BOB KOHL Time: 05:34pm \/To: MEG ALFONI (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: soon happenings! > BK :>Hey not me.. I found my old show shirt from 89.. wondered > BK :>what I was saving it for and pulled it out and put it on.. > BK :>it fits. :) > 89 huh? I have the suit I wore for haltering classes with > Thistle...don't think I could get my big toe into it (g)! Well since my collection of jeans is greatly reduced.. I actually wore a pair I haven't had on in years.. a little tight.. but they work. > BK :>Yep.. starting to scare me.. and I really need to find away > BK :>to quit smoking.. > I bought the patches this week. Now, if I could just get my head set in > the right place and pick a definite date...this is really my last go. > I've tried absolutely everything else, and nothing worked. I want Jean's > will power!!!! I'm beginning to feel like a real slug that I haven't > been able to kick this habit. Not like me to not be able to do something > when I put my mind to it, and it's really pi**ing me off!!!!!!! I'll let > you know how the patches work out. I have the chewing gum.. I bought them for the flight. They "help".. but it's still interesting. ;) BK --- DB A3000sl/001347 * Origin: * Conniption BBS * one fit at a time (1:102/861)