Someone once requested that I do a post about all of the "Christian Cowboy" tack making appearances in rodeo rings across the country. I am very much undecided about my feelings on this subject. I have no objection to most that I have seen. I have seen a lot of very tastefully done conchos and saddle decorations. There are, however, some that are really just scary no matter WHAT they depict. Anything can be made tacky. Here are some of the ones I have found.
The first 2 bridles are not too scary. I could do without the hair-on cowhide on the second one, but it does not bother me too much.
These boot covers are just SCARY. Why the fringies? Why make horse boot covers anyway? Aren't they just going to get dirty?
These boot covers are just SCARY. Why the fringies? Why make horse boot covers anyway? Aren't they just going to get dirty?
Ah, here we have another of the ever popular fake ostrich skin saddles. Yuck, in any pattern.
Ah and here we have one of my favorites, a triple threat of hair-on cowhide, pink, crystals and studs. Combine that with the cross conchos and buckles, and you have an absolute mismash of tacky.
Whoa - I did not know that Christian themed tack existed until just now. I like the first headstall and the other stuff is just kind of yech but not because of the Christian theme, it just is not attractive. The boots on the other hand look like something you would see on one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse's mount.
ReplyDeletewow. Even as a christian, there is no way i would own that tack! That saddle is horrible, but maybe not QUITE as bad as the ones with the stars? I am undecided.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it say about me that I'm more upset about the asymmetrical crosses on the saddle than anything else?
ReplyDeleteAny one who wears thier religion on thier sleeve in this manner just plain irratates me. This stuff is just plain gaudy. I've actually seen much worse. I think I recall a headstall with HUGE crosses on it that were f-a-r wider than the straps. Just plain tacky.
ReplyDeleteI think the boot covers are used because they are easier to clean than the boots. Doesn't mean they need giant crosses emblazoned across them.
I am one of those who does wonder why some people feel the need to flaunt symbols of their religion. Is it because they really don't live it? Anyways, most of that tack was just tacky. If you are going to do it, do it nicely.
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ReplyDeleteTouchy subject, indeed.....LOL....
ReplyDeleteIf you want to drape your horse in Christian symbols, that is, of course, your right. If I can't deal with it, that's MY problem, not yours. I just prefer for my beliefs to be a bit more private.
I could do the top 2 sets, and I sort of like the bottom one, but.....
I just can't do the hair-on tack. Putting dead hair on a live-hair animal......just makes no sense to me. I don't even like touching it in a tack shop.
...and is usually seen on the slutty barrel racing/rodeo types in my area who have spawned at least once, wear low cut/too tight garments and have spent at least one hour on hair and makeup. The horse has not been washed, clipped, combed, polished and is sporting one of those gag/wire/bear trap things and bouncing off the end of the arena.
ReplyDeleteWe have a term in my family- Garbage Can Christian. Shiny outside, crap inside. I don't hide my dents and keep my faith display confined to the Jesus fish on my truck.
(why hair-on tack??? whyWhyWHY????)
Viva Lolita: SNORT!! if people like that spent some of that time on thier poor mount, maybe then they'd 'get it'.
ReplyDeleteI keep *my* beliefs limited to a Darwin fish, IN MY HOUSE! Very rarely do I bring it up at all. My beliefs are mine and I don't feel a reason to shove them down anyone's throat, ever.
Another fun one is belt shopping... I need to replace the belt for a buckle I bought years ago, and the belt's now too big. I didn't really want anything too showy, just a nice looking belt with a decent buckle. If it wasn't entirely covered in rinestones, one of the following was true: If I liked the belt, there was a huge cross on the buckle or If the buckle didn't have a huge cross on it, the belt had rinestone crosses all over it.
ReplyDeleteI'm for the most part ignostic, and I finally just gave up on finding a belt I liked that day...
Shadowed Storm:
ReplyDeleteGo to Tandy Leather and buy a belt blank and dye it yourself. Much easier on the eyes, just don't look at their conchos.
HAHAHAHAHA Those boot covers look like something Ozzy would put on a horse!!!!!!!!!! Dude, that's like... SO METAL.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked upstairs from a Christian bookstore, they had to keep all the WWJD stuff up behind the counter because teenagers would pilfer it.
One Palm Sunday, as they were reading the verse about Jesus riding a "colt, the foal of an ass" that had never been ridden, I got the giggles because I thought, Wow! He did the loaves & fishes thing, raised the dead, turned water into wine, faced down Satan, AND started colts!!
WWJD? Well, I'm sure He wouldn't have used a double-twisted-wire curb....
Really, the more a person hangs themselves with Chrstian trappings, the more suspicious I'm gonna be.
"Garbage Can Christian." I love it.
Pat, I'm totally with you on the Darwin fishy. : )
I still want to know, if you deck your horse out in crosses and such and the horse is an athiest, do the restof the herd look at them as being a hypocrit?
ReplyDeleteGarbage Can Christian. I love it. I know a few of those.