Rave on!

Earlier I mentioned how unthinkingly death-defying my youthful “trail” rides along roads were.   Since then, I’ve become a complete pussy.  Nowadays, when we go riding through the mainly-equestrian neighborhood where Moon lives, alongside barely-traveled 25mph roads with wide shoulders, my fellow boarders will tromp down the road, expecting cars to go around them, while I’m flattened onto Moon’s neck, trying to duck under tree limbs because I’ve shoved her as far off the road as I can without actually entering woods or private property.

I mean, yeah… horses have the right of way, & motorists *should* slow down & go around you & your horses… but I’ve long since given up on expecting other people to not be enormous, idiotic douchebags.  I’d rather be paranoid than shopping for a new horse online from my hospital bed.

Now that Moon lives in suburbia & not the middle of the woods, I’ve become increasingly desirous of bling-y safety equipment.  Mostly, I’d like to be more visible because my horse & most of my wardrobe is black, & now that it’s summer in Florida, dusk/after dark is the only time of day that it’s less than a bazillion degrees out (mornings don’t exist in my world).  Gotta admit, though, that part of it is my inner cyber-goth wanting an excuse to festoon my horse with glow-sticks & anything else that lights up.

A start is my Ariat Terrain half chaps.  In addition to being not unbearably hot & looking generally bad-ass, they’ve got reflective piping along the top & bottom.  Unfortunately, due to the zipper & other design elements, most of the reflective piping is on the inside of the chaps.  Not terribly helpful in increasing visibility for passing motorists.

More helpful would be adding reflective surfaces to various parts of the horse’s body.  This place sells a bunch of neat looking stuff.  I mean, look at this guy!  There’s no way you could miss his giant, reflective ass walking down even the darkest road!

Of course, reflective gear only works when it’s reflecting something, so it’s not the most visible from a long distance, or for pedestrians/bicyclists/whatever who aren’t shining bright lights toward you.  Which is where stuff that actually lights up comes into the picture!  Like Knight Bright Trail Lights, which clip on pretty much anywhere & are more visible than reflective gear.  Or, Saddlelights, which attach to the front of a breastcollar & illuminate the trail in front of you in addition to making you more visible.

My personal favourites are the reflective/flashing led breastcollar and browband cover at Horse-e-Lites.  How fun is that?!  😀

Seriously… look at that thing!  Can’t you almost see the horse wearing neon-coloured cyber hair extensions?  Can’t you just hear the techno beats?

Ooonce oonce oonce oonce!

Love it!  Only wish they came in a wider variety of colours… you know, like neon green, purple or pink.

Aaaaahhh!  Thank you, Bar F!  I mean, how did we survive in a world before flashing LED SMB’s & bell boots?  Okay, granted, those are more designed for rodeos & parades, so I’m not sure how much their gentle twinkling would add to your road safety… but I need neon rave boots, dammit!

OONCE OONCE OONCE OONCE!

I draw the line at the Bar-F light-up saddle pads.  But only because they don’t make a dressage version.