New Arrival

My chinks arrived last week and I rode in them for the first time last night. They are fabulous!

After much research and procrastination about who to get them from, I ordered my chinks through the Parelli collection, and they are made by K Bar J Leather. I am happy with these custom chinks, although I thought they would fit a little tighter around my thighs. I suppose that being measured by the actual chink maker would have guaranteed a better fit. To be measured, you have to wear a pair of jeans. I ride in a variety of jeans, all of which have different rises and sit differently on the waist. Who knows how accurate my sister and I were in our measurements. I think the chinks are supposed to sit lower on the your waist and we measured for them to sit higher (this is where they fit me better.) Also, I have gone down almost a jean size since I was measured months ago. I suppose I could have sent them back and had the thighs made smaller, but it seemed like such a hassle to do that and wait another six weeks for them. Aw goodness, it's not rocket science!

The chinks butter cream color is destined to be a dirt magnet, but this does not worry me. They are made to use, not show. I climbed up into my dustified saddle last night, which has not been cleaned in months, without hesitation. The only thing that I did was remove my leather bridle reins and put on my rope training reins. Those new reins I bought in California last year, to match my headstall and breast collar, are still staining all of my gloves and hands and anything else they touch a walnut red, I can not figure out why.

The chinks do smell a bit strong right now. They made my sister sneeze. I do not know what an elk smells like, but I have a feeling those antlered beasts are not of a pleasantly aroma. And the sueded inside is shedding horribly. I knew this about them before deciding on this hide, it is common with elk hide chinks and the amount and length of shed varies. Basically, my jeans are left with butter yellow dust after I take the chinks off, which quickly transfers to everything else I'm wearing. But they are so worth it.

I love the basket weave detail on these chinks, it is solid, heavy leather. The brass conchos have horse heads on them and are engraved with the word Parelli. I'm the first to admit that even though I am a Parelli fan, I wasn't sure how I felt about being a walking advertisement. But you can't even see the horse heads or name unless you're up close or staring at my thighs, anyway. I really like the golden brass, it is different from the typical silver concho.


Can ya tell I like them? Nope, I didn't sleep in them.

On another note, you probably noticed the new banner and blog background color. If you read my blog in the wee hours of the morning (because let's face it, you all do, right? I kid, I kid!) you might have noticed I was playing with my template and blog colors late last night. I really don't like many of the blogger templates but I found another "look" that was okay. Then after all was said and done I panicked and changed it all back to what I had before. I really have issues with change. I reminded myself of my friend who recently moved back into the condo she'd leased out for a year. She had it repainted. From white to......antique white. Yep, for some us, these are huge steps, people!

The end of next week is our family ranch camping trip.....the list of things I have to do in order to prepare has been staring me in the face for weeks. Lucky for me, I tend to work better under pressure. On that note, I'm off to start some laundry and start making my pre-packing piles of clothes.