Hi everyone! If you’ve been following me you’ll remember that I used to ride horses regularly. Well, ride a horse. I usually only rode one. Last year in April I started riding lessons as I had always, always wanted to ride a horse and never got the chance to. Despite constantly asking for lessons and bringing books home from the library about them, my parents somehow didn’t realize I was being serious and really did want to learn to ride.

When I was about to turn 25 I decided I’d finally get myself some lessons and learn how to ride a horse! For about 10 months I took lessons, usually once a week although I did skip a few. Usually it was because I was out of town, sometimes because my instructor forgot what day it was…

I have stopped riding because I did get annoyed at my instructor’s lack of professionalism and commitment to her job of teaching me. While I do miss it I don’t have plans to go back to riding right now. I haven’t found a place that I feel I’ll like for a variety of reasons and I have other interests I want to pursue. So today I’m going to be unpacking my riding bag for the last time!

First I fished out my riding gloves! The brand is SSG I believe and they’re black with horseshoes on them that make little hearts! I loved these gloves. They weren’t very warm but did help my fingers not freeze while riding in the winter.

I then took out my Ovation riding helmet. This is their Deluxe Schooler helmet that I bought so I wouldn’t have to use the barn helmets anymore. It made me feel much better riding knowing that I had my own helmet that fit properly and would protect my head if I fell. I luckily didn’t suffer a fall but I have no doubt my helmet would have done the job. I will be keeping the helmet because a) helmets don’t have a very good resale market due to safety concerns and b) I want to eventually take up riding again sometime in the future so I’ll already have my helmet!

I also have a few random things in there as well. I have the bag my helmet came in, all wrinkled from the bottom of my bag. I also have grey gloves for some reason in there although these aren’t my riding gloves. I was riding in the winter so I’m guessing I just took them off after arriving and shoved them in my bag, then forgot to change back or take them out! Whoops! I also had a ton of garbage! Oh dear… I have plastic bags that I used to put my change of shoes in since I rode after work, to cart around carrots/apples for the horses or dog treats for the pups that hung out at the barn, and who knows what else! I thew them all out since I have mountains of plastic bags already. This is why I needed to clean it out! I did still have some leftover dog treats but I’ve actually already given them away to a friend who was dog-sitting for her aunt to give to the pups!

This is the bag I was using! I got this bag from BookCon when I went last year (it was in Chicago) and I grabbed it because it’s a reusable plastic bag. I knew the barn would be dusty and dirty so I wanted a bag that I wouldn’t mind if it got ruined but also wasn’t so flimsy.

My boots hadn’t been in my bag, they had been downstairs actually, but I did finally put them away! My Ariat boots are practically new (excuse the dust) as I got them in December and only used them a few times before I stopped riding. I love them so much because they look and feel great! I miss wearing them and cowboy boots aren’t quite my everyday style but I will keep them for sure! I know, I’m trying to clear out my stuff but I can’t say goodbye to these boots!

And that’s my riding bag! I had planned originally to do a “what’s in my riding bag” post but I stopped riding before I could. I guess this sort of doubled as that post so it all worked out in the end!

Also, what kind of things do you have in your hobby bags? I’d love to know!

Thanks for reading!