I am no exception to this rule. I LIVE in the barn. Even when it's been bitterly cold and windy as hell, I am there: three, four times a day minimum. I go before classes, between classes, after classes; basically, I'm there whenever I'm not doing homework or sleeping.
So why is it that I still cling to the idea of keeping "nice" clothes, AKA clothes I don't wear to the barn? After all, on a normal barn day in Vermont, I deal with this:
And this:
This picture was actually taken in November into early December, during a really warm spell that left our fields and paddocks looking like bogs and our horses looking like piglets.
I should really give up this concept. This summer, I essentially spent an afternoon going through my entire wardrobe, deciding whether or not items would be worthy of being called "nice". For me, "nice" has come to mean clean clothes that lack horse slobber, manure or other horsey stains and smell like something other than a permanent leather clean/hay mixture. It could have holes in it, but it's still "nice". I know I probably needed some things: winter-wear that I could layer, for one, so I stole from my stockpile of "nice" clothes to form a newly refurbished barn wardrobe. It's sad, if you think about it. Normal people go out an buy new things when find they need them: I just rummage through my old stuff and reassign it based on smell, stain coverage and general need. I ended up buying a giant plastic storage bin to store all of my barn gear, and when that got too small, I upgraded to large plastic under-bed drawers so I could organize based on season.
Thus, this brings me to my dilemma: I haven't been clothes shopping (for myself, anyway, I've done it for the Ernie and Stella multiple times) in God knows how long (I take that back: I went underwear shopping about a month ago, but I don't think that counts...) When I go clothes shopping, it's an in-and-out process. I know exactly what I need, how many I need and what color I want. I come, I see, I conquer. I leave no room for trying on random finds or perusing sale racks. After all, I have to get back to the barn.
This fact leaves me with a couple problems. No. 1: I realized the other day my wardrobe has dwindled significantly, down to nothing more than a few key t-shirts, sweatshirts and a few decent looking pairs of jeans. Everything else is stuffed in a bin with other barn attire. I could count on one hand the number of items that hadn't seen in the inside of a barn. No. 2: I have serious issues trying to dressing up. I rarely go out, and when I do the occasion is usually casual enough that I can wear a recently washed sweater or decent-looking top and a clean pair of cords or khakis. I don't have anything else that's fit for the judgmental public eye, the people who don't KNOW how dirty you get with horses and don't understand that fact that you just DON'T CARE.
It's always sad when I get clothing catalogs or go shopping with my mom; I look at the clothes and thing, "Gosh, I'd actually WEAR that..." and just as I feel tempted to get a dressing room, remember that, "Wait, no I won't. I have no place to wear it to." Especially being at a technical college, where "dressed up" is clean Carhartts, I just have no use for those types of things at this point in my life. Clothes are expensive, and I just don't have the money, though it's certainly tempting.
Perhaps one day I'll actually enjoy shopping, because I won't feel bad when I spend money on something knowing I'll never get a chance to wear it. I get far more joy out of leafing through Dover Saddlery and Smartpak catalogs, a concept my boyfriend still doesn't understand. I love buying things for the horses: Ernie got a new mid-season blankie which Eryn has nicknamed the "baked potato blanket" because it's shiny and silver and kinda poofy. Stella got a Newmarket fleece cooler with the classic yellow, red and navy stripe (and she looks gorgeous in it).
Me, I stocked up on handwarmers and wool socks. It gets cold in that barn.
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