Advice on a New Hat

[Vixen Van Debz]

Right, time to ditch my old riding hat and for either me or Santa to buy me a new one. However, I see that almost everyone <30yrs old at our yard hasn't bought the traditional velvet-covered hat, but a plastic-looking, rounder number with a white stripe (it reminds me of a bicycle helmet to be honest). I saw a lot of them at WEG sj too, with the plastic strip decorated in each country's livery. I've never worn one of these before and just wondered what people's general opinions were on which type of hat's best/most comfortable/more acceptable for shows and so on?

 

[soulfull]

If you want one for shows or dressage you should have the traditional velvet one. You could probably get away with a stripe for local dressage but not showing. I like charles owen hats. However different makes come in different shapes so it all depends on you head shape, you really need to try a few first.

I have Charles owen for DR and Showing and champion ventair for SJ and schooling

 

[gnubee]

I have a velvet one with vents in, which I quite like as I do think it is cooler in the summer and doesnt get quite so manky and sweaty. The vents are plastic, but the plastic is black so its not quite so noticeable.
I think the plastic ones look a bit silly, and will probably go out of fashion soon. Ultimately its about safety rather than looks though, so whatever you think is comfy is fine.

Would also add that for proper showing (rather than jumping) the full velvet without any vents would be most acceptable.

 

[Vixen Van Debz]

All my life I've ridden in a traditional velvet-covered riding hat, so I wondered what the benefit of the plastic ones were: so ventilation is the answer! I've always worn the traditional style though, and don't know anything other than sweaty helmet hair so it doesn't bother me. I might just play it safe and stick to what I know and what's well accepted then. I know when I picked up someone's modern vented hat at the yard yesterday it didn't feel very robust, though I know they're safety certificated. Thanks for the input guys!