Cob Jockey

First, housekeeping: I changed my RSS address to a third party that will allow me to not lose my list of subscribers should I ever decide to move the blog.  If you follow Connor and I through an RSS reader, please make sure you are still getting updates from me, and delete and re-add Cob Jockey if you are not!  Thanks!

Earlier this summer, I won a bottle of Vetrolin Shine Spray in Karley's 100 Followers contest, and promised to do a writeup on how well the sunscreen in it kept Connor from fading this summer.  I am not at the barn every day, and I didn't know if a couple of applications per week was enough for it to work, until a clinician asked if he had been on night turnout all summer.  She complimented his non-faded coat and was shocked when I said he was on 24/7 turnout, no flysheet.  "My horse is totally faded, what's your secret?"



Usually by the end of the summer, he's a brassy orange color, his red hairs all tipped with orange, but not this summer.  This summer, he's his normal reddish-orange, shiny and sassy, with very little fading.

Here's my official vote for Vetrolin Shine Spray with Sunscreen: especially if you are at the barn every day, that stuff works.  If you're me and it only gets on your horse's body three or four days a week, you'll still see a difference.  If you're not me and you can apply it every day, it will probably create a glowing force field of sun protection around your horse.  (If that actually happens, take a picture for me.)

Oh my GOSH those breeches are unattractive.  I apologize to all of you, but they're my only pair!

Also on the subject of coat issues, in the above picture you can see the weird hair pattern that develops every summer on Connor's butt.  The hair on his backside actually grows in a different direction than the hair on the top of his hindquarters, and until this summer I didn't know why.  Now I do: his tail is so thick and heavy, it brushes his hair into sort of a natural quarter mark all summer as he swats at flies.  I've never had a horse's tail do that to their body hair before, anyone else's horses do this?

How about some long-delayed product reviews, brought to you by an epically slow week at work?

Vetrolin Shine Spray
Why I have it: I won this in Karley's contest in celebration of her blog hitting 100 followers.  Congratulations, Karley!  Also, Austen broke my Showsheen bottle last winter and it doesn't exactly travel well anymore...

What I like: It left Connor super shiny, and seemed lighter than ShowSheen.  It did not leave him feeling slippery the way ShowSheen does.  I even sprayed it on the saddle area to test it out - living on the edge!

What I found weird: It smells like Vetrolin, but isn't Vetrolin.  Does that make me a poser?

What I didn't realize until I sat down to write this review: It contains sunscreen, which many SmartPak reviewers report keeps their horses from fading.  Though Connor's orange late-summer color doesn't bother me, I'm definitely going to do some experimenting and report back.

Gearmax Equestrian Backpack
What I liked when I went XC schooling with it: It cut my tacking up time in half because I was able to hang this bag on the side of the trailer next to Connor while everyone else was jockeying for position in the trailer tack room.  When we were done, his wet boots went into the vented outer pocket.

What I liked at Greater Dayton: It hung outside Connor's stall, where everything from my brushes to my competitor packet to my tall boots was visible and within easy reach. The only things not in the backpack were his grain, my pads, and my wash bucket/sponge, which went into a small Sterilite container, and my saddles.  I was asked several times where I got it by my teammates over the weekend, and not having to search for my stuff definitely reduced my show stress levels and nerves.  I never misplaced a single thing all weekend.

What you should not think of it as: A backpack.  Instead, think of it as a soft-sided vertical tack trunk that you can put on your back if necessary in order to carry two things at once.

Equestrian Gearmax Backpack

What my husband calls it: The World War II Radio Man Backpack.  He's always asking me how the fighting in the Pacific Theater is going this week when he sees me wearing it.  Apparently my Dressage whip in the side pocket looks like an antenna...

Romfh Coolmax Pre-Tied Stock Tie
What I like: It's lightweight, adjustable, and stayed put when I didn't have a stock tie pin.  (Er, oops.)  I can see the technical fabric being cooler than a tradition stock tie in the summer.

This is not me, you can tell because she remembered her stock tie pin.

What to consider if you're thinking about buying it:  It's cheaper from Amazon than Dover or Smartpak, and shipped free with Amazon Prime.