Dressage and SJ phase of eventing - what to wear?

star

star

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 August 2001
Messages
6,781
Location
Woking, Surrey
Visit site
Planning on eventing this year with my new horse but not done it before. Would normally wear blue show jacket and beagler/show velvet hat for dressage and skull cap for SJing with white breeches. I think tweed is the way to go for eventing and I've got one I use for M&M showing so hopefully this will be ok, plus I've got beige breeches. Was wondering about shirt colour and is a coloured tie ok or do most people wear coloured stocks? What colour gloves? And do you just wear skullcap for dressage or velvet hat?
 
Novice and below:
Tweed and beige etc. jods (coloured stock) OR Black/blue jacket and white jods (white stock)
Cream or white shirt will do, better white if blue/black jacket
Velvet hat or skull with silk either are fine I think
Gloves brown, black etc. I wore blue once when I left my deerskins

I as a rule match gloves and boots/chaps to saddle and always wear tweed and its accompaniments if I'm wearing brown tack...anal, moi? :D
 
Then I would go for black boots gloves jacket hat and white shirt stock gloves for the sake of coordination however most people are in tweed at novice and below.
 
so is tweed ok with black tack or is that some kind of cardinal sin? i dont have a black jacket so would normally wear navy blue with white breeches, white stock and navy blue velvet hat but I dont think i've ever seen anyone at BE90 wearing anything other than tweed. i cant afford a whole new set of brown tack!
 
I think either is fine with black tack, provided it fits the rules most things are fine eventing. I wear black jacket, hat, white breeches at BE90/100 which seems quite common in my area at least :).
 
Nowaadays pretty much anytning goes.

cardinal sins are pony tails rather than hairnets and too much bling and dead sheep.

Go for understated hunting turnout and you'll be ok. Tack black or brown with tweed or black/navy.

The rules were changed a few years ago to be more encompassing, although at lower levels tweed still predominates.
 
I believe tack can be either black or brown - whichever suits. There is no reason why you cant wear a black or blue jacket at Novice and below, but you will find that most people do wear their tweed. Also you will find that bling tends to be at a minimum, as are dead sheep under saddles combined with velvet saddle cloths with your name/your horses name. As already said, go for understated and smart hunting turnout and you wont go far wrong. Also, I dont know what level you are starting at, but if you are starting at either BE80/90/100 you cant wear your beagler or Patey while doing dressage.

For SJ, most riders seem to wear their dressae attire, swapping their velvet cap for their XC scull cap with a silk which matches their jackets.
 
You have to start at 100 now - three clears and can move to Novice. You can't, as TX has already said, wear a beagler/Patey for any phase at 100 and your hat must be tagged for all phases. Take it to the seccy when you get your number and get a tag for it. Otherwise the DR stewards may make you do it two mins before your test starts! I can't advise on what looks good as that's not something I have ever managed! Good luck and post lots or reports with pics.
 
didn't realise dressage hat had to be tagged as well - thanks for that!

Have to start at 100??? 100 is my ultimate aim. I have no plans on going Novice ever. We will just be having fun at 90 this year, maybe 100 next yr.

i have no bling - not something I own with a collection of Welsh Cobs and new one is half Welsh so he still doesn't get bling. He does have a dead sheep halfpad for dressage though - saddle wont fit properly without it as fitted with it. Have a plain green saddlecloth for show-jumping - no velvet or names on it if that's ok?

Am very excited about eventing - something I've always wanted to do! Started tonight with dressage for eventers and we got 2 rosettes so hopefully good omen for the season as he is a pro at the jumping bits!
 
i wear for DR and SJ:

skull cap with black cover, tweed jacket, beige breeches, white shirt and green stock (my tweed is green and i love green!)

for XC:
skull cap and cross country shirt over my other shirt/keep stock on (unless its absolutely boiling!) Clearly i still have breeches on as well :eek:

a lot of people wear blue or black jackets though so don't worry about it too much.
 
i've got a nice green tweed for showing so that should be ok. i just need a green stock then as i use a tie for showing. good excuse to go shopping - bound to find something at Badminton :) Thanks for the help!
 
star said:
Have to start at 100??? 100 is my ultimate aim. I have no plans on going Novice ever. We will just be having fun at 90 this year, maybe 100 next yr.
Click to expand...

You're correct in thinking that you don't have to start at 100! Instead, BE100 is the highest level you can start at - so your plans are fine :)
 
star said:
i've got a nice green tweed for showing so that should be ok. i just need a green stock then as i use a tie for showing. good excuse to go shopping - bound to find something at Badminton :) Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

I have only competed unaff so far so not sure how relevant this is, but for dressage and SJ wear tweed, cream shirt and green spotty tie. Stocks are definitely more popular (When did this change? Never used to see coloured stocks in my youth!), but I do see plenty of others in ties. So, I would say a tie will be fine if you don't manage to find a stock you like.
 
LOL I am a bit colour co-ordination crazy (perhaps I should be doing BS or BD!) and I wear:

Dressage:
brown tweed jacket, coloured stock (see below), black velvet hat, black gloves, black boots and gaiters. Obviously horse has white square and did for a long time have some dead sheep under it to assist with fit, no one laughed at me as far as I know

SJ
brown tweed jacket, coloured stock, gatehouse skull cap with black silk, black gloves, beige jods, boots etc. Horse then wears his 'colour', the youngster has a bottle green square with gold edge and older a burgundy one, and I must admit I co-ordinate my stock to their saddlecloth!!

Then obv for XC the colours come out and I match the saddle cloth to the XC colours....black with pink stars!

Totally agree that I have seen plenty of black/navy jackets at lower levels (where I am competing so must be lower levels!). The one thing I havent seem masses of is white jods I must admit, but thats not to say they aren't there, I may just not have been looking! And yes, bling tends to be very understated, bridles tend to be quite 'classic' in style, and not many embroidered names etc!
 
thanks guys - that's really helpful :) glad to know the tie is acceptable although i'm sure i wont be able to resist shopping for a stock at Badminton :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top