Viva Carlos Blog Hop: Your equestrian fashion

While I'm of course sad to see the end of L. Williams' (and Thad the Unicorn's) magical blog hop, she has a great topic for us: I want a pictorial tour of your closet. Not your riding clothes, but your equivalent of the crazy cat lady ugly cat sweater.

I was putting away some clean laundry today and thought I'd go ahead and take pictures for this post. When I was thinking of the horse-themed clothing I have, I thought of a handful of t-shirts and a couple of old equestrian team jackets.

Top row, left to right:

1. Team Awesome sweatshirt. Team Awesome was the name my best friend Amy and I gave ourselves in college when we stopped seeing the other members of our horse cadre at the barn. One year for Christmas, I sent Amy a hat emblazoned with "Team Awesome", a graphic of a horse jumping, and "Do you want the hat?" printed on the back. (It's a long story.) The next year, she sent me this hoodie. To this day, even though we live states apart, we still refer to ourselves as Team Awesome. 
2. Cedar Hills Pony Club sweatshirt. This sweatshirt is a little too short and a little too small, but I love it too much to ever get rid of it. It's a relic of my Pony Club days.
3. Skyhawk Equestrian Team jacket. From my second year on the team. This jacket had a pair of matching track pants, and we wore these traveling to, and at shows (over our breeches). 
4. Skyhawk Equestrian Team pullover. This is from my first year on the team. It has holes in one sleeve from where I burned it pulling barbecue out of the oven while working the team's concession stand.

Second row, left to right:

1. Adventure Horse Camp shirt. While I worked at the therapeutic riding center, I developed and coordinated equestrian summer camps for able-bodied kids. This shirt was from the first year of camp. I love the bright colors!
2. Rolex Kentucky shirt. Confession: my friend Laura gave this shirt to me when we were college roommates. She found it at Goodwill. The one time I attended Rolex, I neglected to come home with a shirt, so this volunteer shirt from 2003 has to suffice.
3. Keep Calm And Canter On shirt. Johnny's aunt sent me this shirt last Christmas. It's huge, so it's a designed sleeping shirt.
4. National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame shirt. My aunt and uncle visited Saratoga, NY and stopped by the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame. They sent me this shirt years and years ago- I think while I was still in high school. It has some nasty pit stains and I hardly wear it, but I doubt I'll ever get rid of it.

Third row, left to right:

1. Midsouth Pony Club Rally 2003 shirt. It seemed like every Rally had an official t-shirt. This 2003 edition is a sage green and prominently features the three phases of eventing, though the week also included the show jumping, dressage, and tetrathalon rallies. (Quiz wasn't included at this event, but is inexplicably featured on the shirt.)
2. Midsouth Pony Club Rally 1998 shirt. This is the first Rally I ever attended. Of course I bought the t-shirt. It's gray with a very cool sketch graphic of the three phases of eventing. You can bury me in this shirt.
3. Amazing Glitter America Horse tank. Johnny and I were at Wal-Mart around the Fourth of July hunting for an air mattress for our impeding guests. I saw this gem and demanded Johnny buy it for me. Because he is overly indulgent of hilarious clothing, he did. (He bought himself three Fourth of July themed shirts that day, one of which featured a Bichon dog wearing an Uncle Sam-style tophat, rearing on its hind legs, and waving a sparkler. 'MERICA!). Anyway, the shirt features a white horse, galloping to freedom below a banner that proclaims "WILD & FREE". There's an American flag motif in the background, roses at the bottom, and the whole thing is coated in glitter. I have never worn this in public, but I wear it around the house constantly.
4. Unicorn shirt. A birthday gift from Johnny a couple years ago. This lavender colored shirt has a majestic unicorn, a castle, and a fucking rainbow. IT IS THE BEST SHIRT IN THE WORLD. (The few times I work it to work at the therapeutic riding center, all of the kids loved it.) If you're totally jelz and want your own, buy it from The Mountain.

Fourth row, left to right:

1. Cedar Hills Pony Club polo. This served as my cross-country polo shirt for many years. It's a nice shirt, so I've kept it for the times I need to look presentable while still doing something with horses. 
2. Great Plains Equestrian Sports Training Foundation shirt. I got this while taking polo lessons in Wichita, Kansas. Johnny says it looks like something you'd find at a thrift store. I love it.
3. Eventful Life shirt. I bought this a few years ago from Dana's Doodles. It's a cute shirt with text that reads "Lead an eventful life!"; I wore it to work constantly at the therapeutic riding center until a kid asked me if that was blood coming out of the horse's leg in the graphic. 
4. Team NALS shirt. In college, I boarded my horses with three other girls: Natalie, Amy, and Laura. I had these shirts made for us one year because apparently I loved spending money or something. It has my name on the back.

Lest you think that's all the equine-themed apparel I own, just wait. There's more.

• Top row: Varsity Equestrian National Championship 2007 shirt. My first (and only) year going to VENC. This shirt is covered with weird spots, so it's relegated to 'barn only' status.
• Middle row: Midsouth Pony Club rally 2002 shirt. I remember Rally 2002 as a year without an official logo/shirt. I got to choose the shirt design, and the nice people pressed it onto a tee for me. It hasn't aged well, but like most of my Pony Club relics, I can't let go.
• Bottom row: Eventing enthusiast shirt. I got this from a vendor at Rally one year. The front is fairly benign, while the back details the Top 10 Reasons to continue Eventing. They are:
• Snazzy new names of governing organizations.
• Sport saves you from having tons of left over money.
• In a masochistic way, it is fun.
• In a sadistic sort of way, your horse thinks it is fun.
• It scares the fool out of your significant other.
• Extreme sports are the rage.
• Annual meeting usually in exotic places.
• Sooner or later they will do away with the stadium phase.
• Sooner or later they will do away with the dressage phase.
• There will ALWAYS be the galloping, jumping, splashing, adrenaline-producing CROSS COUNTRY PHASE!!!!!!!!

You can go ahead and bury that shirt with me too.