Being a horsey person in a public place

[LHIS]

I'm sure many of you have experienced the same - but I'm staggered each time it happens.
This evening on the way back from the yard I popped into my local little tesco to pick up some milk - and you'd think I've got two heads. One woman stopped and mouth open looked me up and down a good few times before toddling off, a bloke in the queue kept sneaking sideways glances at me. I am usually in jods or leggings, a hoody, ear warmer head band and muck boots, usually with a dusting of hay strands and a bit of muck but nothing too bad.
The area I live in is pretty horsey, so it's not like it's a novelty.

Why oh why is it such a spectacle?

 

[Feival]

Because people are morons.

 

[Haphazardhacker]

I was in tesco wearing my "onsie" a dickies waterproof boiler suit, its amazing and all i wear in winter, and the security guard followed me around while i shopped.

 

[Haphazardhacker]

When I go to waitrose in my jods and boots, dont get any strange looks.

 

[skint1]

I sometimes wear my yard stuff to the nearest little Tesco, and even to Boots at the out of town shopping centre, no one notices me �� I'm a yardie ninja apparently

 

[tankgirl1]

Everyone round here is used to seeing me in jods and boots - they are more likely to gawp if they spot me dressed 'normally'

 

[Getoutmypockets]

My local shop stares more if I'm dressed 'normally' haha

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I'm frequently in the wee Tesco on the way home, people stare, but I just do not care. My boots aren't too bad, the boy is on shavings and the smell is minimised and by the time I've messed round mucking out, walking round doing jobs, most mud has gone. It's a very horsey area, loads of yards, so I regularly see other people in yard gear. I probably stare more, trying to work out where their yard is!

 

[Caol Ila]

Half the people in the Tesco near the livery yard are dressed in horse gear.

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

Come to Dartmoor, no one will notice. I had Sunday lunch in the pub yesterday wearing my breeches, don't think anyone looked twice.

 

[miss_c]

I know the feeling...

Our local Sainsburys garage has a sign up asking builders to remove muddy boots... I'm waiting for them to add a bit about horse owners!!

 

[Shay]

Ditto Haphazardhacker - no-one looks in Waitrose! I did get asked to leave a local tesco's as I was wearing "sports gear" - until I pointed out the sweaty lycra clad cyclists also going in. (I hadn't been to the yard yet and wasn't muddy or smelly -well not any more than usual!)

And it has unexpected benefits. I found a tack shop when I was visiting an area I didn't know by approaching the lovely lady shopping in Asda in Johds. Found an absolute gem!

 

[madlady]

Ditto Haphazardhacker - no-one looks in Waitrose! I did get asked to leave a local tesco's as I was wearing "sports gear" - until I pointed out the sweaty lycra clad cyclists also going in. (I hadn't been to the yard yet and wasn't muddy or smelly -well not any more than usual!)

Really! Since when have supermarkets had a dress code FFS! Some of the horrors in primarni see through leggings are far worse than anyone in riding/farm stuff.

I go in all my local supermarkets in my horse stuff, my local little co-op is used to me now but the larger Asda and Aldi are also places I go and I've never had any odd looks

 

[Merrymoles]

Nobody ever notices around here!

It's probably preferable to the people shuffling around in slippers and onesies.

I can't believe Shay got asked to leave! Round here the shops would lose half their income as there are some many people working in agriculture! At my nearest corner shop (five miles away) I usually apologise to the nice lady who mops the floor if I'm in my wellies but she always points out the three lads in rigger boots and the old farmer further down the aisle who are far more clarted up than I ever am!

 

[LHIS]

Must be dependant on where you live - I've experienced it all places I've lived (and all horsey areas/at the least agricultural). We have a waitrose here...but I don't shop there so can't test the theory.

 

[Merlod]

I wish I was recognisable as a 'horsey person'. I wear joggers and trainers and a coat for evening yard chores, they're all caked in mud so I just look like a bag lady who has fallen in a puddle when I venture into a shop!

 

[case895]

I have shopped in riding and cycling clothing and in filthy farm overalls and rarely had a second look. The only time was post competition in white breeches and tall boots. Couple of women ogled me and 1 of their husbands gave me a dirty look.

 

[Cortez]

Living in rural Ireland, no one notices. Everyone where I live is either a farmer or a horse person, or both. Everyone is caked in mud and....other stuff at this time of year.

 

[Emma_H]

Come to Dartmoor, no one will notice. I had Sunday lunch in the pub yesterday wearing my breeches, don't think anyone looked twice.

And the New Forest, none of the "clean" people really notice us here

 

[[69117]]

I grew up in Gloucestershire and nobody ever looked at me there. Not even when I parked in the car park of tescos in the lorry and went inside in full hunting kit, plastered in mud.

Now I live in Hampshire, and it's totally different. Everyone stares!!!

 

[Orca]

Living in rural Ireland, no one notices. Everyone where I live is either a farmer or a horse person, or both. Everyone is caked in mud and....other stuff at this time of year.

I didn't think anything of going to the pub in my wellies when I lived there!

I'm stig-of-the-muck-heap. I don't care what I look like and regularly (every day) forget to even hose my boots when I leave the yard. Hay in my hair is a natural feature. I know no-one who looks more grubby than me on a daily basis - but no-one (including normal people in normal shops) seems to care ��.

 

[laura_nash]

Living in rural Ireland, no one notices. Everyone where I live is either a farmer or a horse person, or both. Everyone is caked in mud and....other stuff at this time of year.

This ^^

 

[caileag]

I wish I was recognisable as a 'horsey person'. I wear joggers and trainers and a coat for evening yard chores, they're all caked in mud so I just look like a bag lady who has fallen in a puddle when I venture into a shop!

This ^^. Yes it's worse if you don't look horsey enough (to the general public anyway - horsey folks can normally sniff each other out) and just look like some sort of vagrant. I ventured in to Asda on way back from yard yesterday, manky clothes - fair enough but then I looked at my hands, filthy - was mortified handing over the cash.

 

[Lunchbox legend]

I usually don't get any odd looks, at least not that I'm aware of but I have noticed a couple of people keep a slight distance in the queue at the checkout.

That'll be a :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: then. A bigger distance would be even better

 

[Lanky Loll]

I find it useful at Sainsburys - people give you a wider berth if you're a bit whiffy and usually clear the way so I can get to the reduced meat section I did have to laugh one day though when I was in work gear paying at the garage and the staff were grumbling about the lady in front of me who was apparently a frequent visitor and always "stinks of horse" little did they know that of weekend it could easily have been me

 

[LHIS]

I usually don't get any odd looks, at least not that I'm aware of but I have noticed a couple of people keep a slight distance in the queue at the checkout.

That'll be a :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: then. A bigger distance would be even better

I had this recently too, I suspected the chap stood near me was offended by my lovely horsey aromas so I inched closer to him to test my theory - after a few goes he was bunched up awkwardly right against a wall. Good fun! Lol 😈☺️

 

[blood_magik]

I get a few odd looks but I don't see the point in changing out of my breeches just to go shopping. I do try to clean my boots, though... our arena surface tends to stick to everything and then fall off in large clumps. 😐

 

[fatpiggy]

I never had any problems while shopping in my not very clean (but not covered with horse do-do) clothes after a yard visit in the evenings. In fact one of the till ladies got chatting to me about her horse and we remained on first name terms until she sadly died a while later. The only real bother I ever got was as I was walking down through the main shopping street of the local small town/large village when some Asian oik called across the road to me that I could come and ride him any time. His friend thought it was hilarious until I summoned all my volume (being a trained singer and used to teaching over and above the volume of a motorway less than 100 yards away) I shouted back that I only rode things that had a d**k you could see without a magnifying glass. They both scuttled off PDQ!

 

[Sukistokes2]

Ditto Haphazardhacker - no-one looks in Waitrose! I did get asked to leave a local tesco's as I was wearing "sports gear" - until I pointed out the sweaty lycra clad cyclists also going in. (I hadn't been to the yard yet and wasn't muddy or smelly -well not any more than usual!)

I'd of left and NEVER gone in there again!!! They are there to sell food not to be fashion critics.......bloody cheek!!

 

[Sukistokes2]

One Sunday morning I popped in to Tescos Express to get a paper, on my way to the yard. I was dressed in horsey gear but all of it new on, clear, as I had yet to see a horse. A young couple started giggling and waving there hands in front of their noses suggesting that i smelt. They were not brave enough to say anything to me and as they were complete morans I ignored them. Usually no one pays any attention, except the check out girl who has horses of her own and always asks after my boys. Sadly such idiots are around, there is not much point paying any attention to them.