So the most exciting thing about the Summer 2023 Marengo Box for me is of course…I designed the art for the box this quarter. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback on it so I’m considering creating some products featuring it and perhaps some of my older designs. If you’d like to see something specific in the print, give me a comment below what you want me to get manufactured for you. Currently I have a sticker you can purchase of this design as well as some others on my Etsy shop (local friends, message me if you want want and I’ll forgo the shipping charges and bring your stickers to you). Even better, I’m working on another box design for Marengo now, so you’ll be seeing more of me there soon! Sadly my beautiful box arrived beat up pretty bad by FedEx…but oh well. Hopefully others arrived in less rough shape!
So if you missed the news, Marengo is a new company started by Cavali Club founder Carly Prosser. The best thing about Cavali Club for me was the thoughtful curations put together by Carly and of course her excellent customer service. Both of those things unfortunately are lacking in the current version of Cavali Club…but don’t worry…you can just subscribe to Marengo instead!
One big difference with Marengo is that you get to select a few of your picks every month to tailor the box to your taste. This quarter western specific items and tack items were added which is awesome!
Things available by selection his month included breeches, riding tops from two brands, a lead rope, a saddle pad, conchos, two different belts, candles, and there may have been more I’m forgetting. Some of those selections are sold out now and items from the Spring box are added in for latecomers.
What Came In My Summer 2023 Box:
– Ace Equestrian Belt (choice) – $45
– The Tack Hack Box O’Donuts Sponges – $13.95
– The Plaid Horse May/June – $8.99
– Horse Word Search – Guessing maybe $10. No idea.
– Centerline Candles (choice) – Enter At A – 8 oz – $15
– Gallagher’s Water – 2 84g packs – $10
– Ace Equestrian non Slip Pad (choice but in my case an extra) – $35
– Dapplebay Lady Light Riding Top – Green (choice) – $72
Retail Value without bonus product: $174.94
Retail Value with bonus product: $209.94
Cost of Box: $79
So this month I ended up in the group of people that had an issue with their box, namely Carly wanted to ship but the Dapplebay riding top had not been delivered to her yet. Instead of waiting on shipping, Carly sent out an email to all of us with that choice to let us know about the delay and let us know that 1. She’d be shipping our box without the shirt. 2. The shirt would come later when they arrive. and 3. She was including a bonus product in our boxes to make up for the wait. Honestly, #1 and #2 were sufficient. Throwing in a bonus product (and a bigger choice item at that) was just beyond excellent customer service. She is serious about making sure her customers are happy and that her box is the best out there.
So there were 7 items in the curation this time (8 for those of us with the late item). I’m going to count the magazine…even if it’s just a magazine. I’m going to break down my thoughts on the box a bit further below, but I’ll just say that the customer service is excellent as always and of course the box art this quarter was the best yet! 😉
So for $79…that’s literally the price of the Dapplebay top with tax and shipping. So…yeah. Basically everything on top of that shirt is a bonus prize is the way I look at these boxes. So this box was already worth my money for the item I don’t even have in hand yet. I know I’ll love it because I love riding tops…I enjoy Dapplebay shirts…and I love green. So that one’s a big win. And this one is a lightweight summer shirt…so perfect for this curation.
I also have past experience with the ACE Equestrian belts (past review here). I wrote that review 5 years ago…I still have the belt and I still wear it and love it. So getting a second one is excellent. A black with black hardware is slick and will go with literally anything riding or street style. Love it.
The candle is always a nice touch. As I mentioned…I love candles. I love smelling them. I use a candle lamp now since I have a young child and I actually go through candles faster now. I love them. This one is lovely. All three scents in this series are delicious. Quality is good, wood wick is fancy. The labels on their candles are a bit cheap looking in design, but oh well. They’re great candles. As you’ll see below…I ended up with 5 of these from this box…LOL.
Maybe the most joy bringing item in the box is the Tack Hack Box O’Donuts Sponges. I love these. I adore these. They are actually one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen…ever. I love them. Not only are they adorable, they’re super functional too and I imagine I’ll be buying more of these once I wear through them. Delightful. Useful too!
The Gallagher’s Water packs will be handy to take to the last couple of horse shows of the year in the heat. Great addition to the box this time of year. I’ve tried a similar type product in the past with minimal success…so we’ll see if Jax actually drinks these or not. But it’s a great idea and timely addition to the box.
The Wordsearch and Plaid Horse Magazine are nice. I mean…I’m going on a road trip shortly, so I’ll take both of them with me…but they’re not super exciting either. I mean…I’m not a hunter/jumper so Plaid Horse isn’t exactly targeted at me…but I’ll enjoy reading it and looking at beautiful horses and shows I can’t afford. The word search is fun. I personally am not a huge fan of word searches and prefer Sudoku and logic puzzles, but again…it’s cute. These two things don’t really increase the value of the box for me…but they don’t really make me feel negative about it either. Just bonuses…but they are timely with summer trips here for most of us and having extra things to do in the car on on a plane is always good!
The last item is the ACE non slip pad which I got as a bonus item. It seems nice quality and is a nice bonus product for sure, but I’m not sure if I’ll end up using it. I’ll probably pass it on to someone that needs it. Again, a bonus item…and I may find a purpose for it off the horse. We’ll see!
The value of the items I’m over the moon about in this box is $145.95, so that is already an excellent value on what I spent with a few nice bonuses thrown in.
Addons for this box (yup…there are addons for subscribers at a nice discount) I ordered a bag of the Mint Julip cookies from the last box and 4 bonus candles…because I love candles and I wanted a chance at all the scents. Thoughtfully of course, Carly sent one of each in the addons. 4 candles and a bag of cookies ran me $23. It was a bargain.
So if you can’t tell from the above content…I love the Marengo box. I’m looking forward to the Fall one already (though that scares me a bit since the artwork is NOT done). LOL. But I can’t wait to see what Carly comes up with next and the brands she adds to the mix to partner with. I do hope that some items for home eventually show up in this curation (I guess candles are…but you know…other things). With the selection options and slightly higher price-point of products, it really opens a whole new world of fun we can see from this brand moving forward. If you’re interested, head over and check out the current options available for selection for your box. If that’s not tickling your fancy, wait for the Fall spoilers to start coming!
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