In-hand showing outfits.....Why so frumpy and 80s??!

I just wonder what OP thinks we wore in the 80's. I am guessing that she realises that showing attire is so traditional that it doesn't have it's origins in the 80's, so her comment must have meant everyday wear?
 
southerncomfort said:
To get kitted out even for a local show can cost an arm and a leg and not really worth it if you only want to do best mane and tail! 😄
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It doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
I’ve kitted people out for county shows for very little money at all, cost a little bit more when it’s ridden but that is due to helmet.

Inhand:
Tweed jacket from eBay £30
Shirt from thier husbands wardrobe - free (or get them from a charity shop for £1)
Trousers from charity shop - £2.50
Tie charity shop -50p
Beagler - carboot for £3 and then cut the straps off.
Boots/shoes - carboot £5
Gloves - equine carboot -£3.50

Total:£45.50

Ridden:
Tweed jacket from eBay £30
Shirt from thier husbands wardrobe - free (or get them from a charity shop for £1)
Jods - £10 from Aldi
Tie charity shop -50p
Gloves - equine carboot -£3.50
Navy velvet riding hat with flesh strap - new £45
Long black boots - £20 eBay or equine car boot

Total £ 110. For a local show it can be done for £65 as you just use what ever helmet they already have.

Showing is only as expensive as you make it.
 
southerncomfort said:
Showing attire definitely needs to be modernised.

Although we love a bit of a tradition in the UK, I do think the insistence on tweed feels a bit elitist in that it's expensive and conjures up images of country estates and shooting parties.

To get kitted out even for a local show can cost an arm and a leg and not really worth it if you only want to do best mane and tail! 😄

For me it makes showing feel inaccessible to peasants such as myself, although i suppose you could apply that to all equestrian sports.

Handlers in Welsh cob classes seem to buck the trend for tweed though. I've even seen someone in white shirt, white jeans and pink waistcoat and actually I thought she looked really smart.
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and trainers/running spikes. They take their running seriously ;)
 
Dressing up as Edwardian gentry does the equestrian sector no favours.
Why can you not wear plain colour jeans/trousers and a plain colour t-shirt or sweatshirt/jumper? As the Judge said light colours if your horse is dark and vice versa.
Same with riding - buff or white breeches is just stupid to keep clean around horses. Tweed is too hot in the sun and soggy if it rains. Shirts and ties for women is from the dark ages.
 
I think laughter is said to be the best medicine. If people laugh with me and not at me that's fine. It's up to me to find the funny side of a crappy situation.

My choice of horse produces comments, an I offended no. She is a cart horse!
 
D66 said:
Dressing up as Edwardian gentry does the equestrian sector no favours.
Why can you not wear plain colour jeans/trousers and a plain colour t-shirt or sweatshirt/jumper? As the Judge said light colours if your horse is dark and vice versa.
Same with riding - buff or white breeches is just stupid to keep clean around horses. Tweed is too hot in the sun and soggy if it rains. Shirts and ties for women is from the dark ages.
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I get that it might need an updating tweak.
But we still wear a shirt and stock for hunting with light coloured Breeches which is very impractical cantering through muddy fields. It's just a uniform of sorts though.
I don't have any issues with the clothes as it's smarter than my usual scruffy.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I just wonder what OP thinks we wore in the 80's. I am guessing that she realises that showing attire is so traditional that it doesn't have it's origins in the 80's, so her comment must have meant everyday wear?
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Just look up pictures of Madonna or Bananarama ;). Thats 80s gear! showing clothes is 1950s style if not more historic!

ester said:
and trainers/running spikes. They take their running seriously ;)
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you blooming well have to when a Welshie gets into full show-diva turbo trot!
ain't something you can do without practice, especially if you're faced with a big ring.......
Thank goodness that hats and jackets are dispensed with!!
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I just wonder what OP thinks we wore in the 80's. I am guessing that she realises that showing attire is so traditional that it doesn't have it's origins in the 80's, so her comment must have meant everyday wear?
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its very 80s Sloaney-all the nannies at the private school I went to wore funny hats but I think the main point is that showing attire hasnt been updated since then.
 
D66 said:
Same with riding - buff or white breeches is just stupid to keep clean around horses. Tweed is too hot in the sun and soggy if it rains.
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Your tweed jacket must be utterly crap then, I’ve never had a problem wearing mine for hours, even in baking sun or pouring rain. I find I’m cooler in mine than without it and when judges allow you to remove jacket I always keep mine on.

I’ve also not had a problem keeping buff jods clean around horses since i was a child.
 
If it were more practical I'd wear my hunt coat all winter
as it is, it is definitely not more practical and I wear my musto by choice :p. - It has been useful for winter dressage though :p

I have a selection of very nice tweeds in different weights, one is 40 years old, several are on loan, I own one of them. I don't like any of them in baking sun or pouring rain so I guess they all must be rubbish ones.
 
I am not anti-wool, I live in Swanndri wind allowing (Scottish wind, not mine) but some of the get up is old fashioned and weird-the lead rein outfits being the worst. still, I dont have to wear or look at them.
 
Surely it's up to handlers themselves to modernise the outfits that handlers wear. If you don't like tweed, don't wear it. Wear something you feel is comfortable, stylish and suitable and may be others will follow. There aren't many rules about what you can wear in showing, just conventions. No one makes you wear 80s outfits, so don't if you find them objectionable. It's about the horse, not about you.
 
Arab in hand showing handlers basically wear anything other than tweed and most never even wear a hat, I think it's a shame they don't wear what most handlers wear as I think it looks smart and definitely not frumpy.
 
conniegirl said:
Your tweed jacket must be utterly crap then, I’ve never had a problem wearing mine for hours, even in baking sun or pouring rain. I find I’m cooler in mine than without it and when judges allow you to remove jacket I always keep mine on.

I’ve also not had a problem keeping buff jods clean around horses since i was a child.
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Bit rude 🙄 the various tweeds I've had have made me hot & sweaty riding & running in the sun too and something mucky often lands on my pale colour jods 😏
 
Tihama said:
Having been through that process fully and with a serious degree of discomfort and pain requiring surgery, I feel perfectly OK that I laughed in this instance.

The comment was not directed at one person.

You are not the menopause police.[/QUOTE
But its ok for you to tell me not to be offended?
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I don’t think that in hand outfits look frumpy or outdated.

My sister also managed to cobble together an outfit suitable for a groom at county level show out of her existing wardrobe
 
Tihama said:
I didn't tell you any such thing Sandstone - enough seriously
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So, you are the forum police? I also didnt say you were sexist or racist.
The comment did offend me, it was ageist and although I realise it was made in alight hearted way that doesnt make it ok.
I have a right to be offended as you have the right not to be.
That doesnt make me the menopause police!
 
Sandstone1 said:
And I dont find a physical and natural process that all women go through something to make fun of.
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Each to their own. I've heard some fantastic comedy, by women, on exactly this subject. I've reduced people to hysterics myself, talking about the problems I had with bladder control after pregnancy. I'm post menopausal - goodness, if we can't laugh at ourselves, what a dull straight-laced world.
 
Landcruiser said:
Each to their own. I've heard some fantastic comedy, by women, on exactly this subject. I've reduced people to hysterics myself, talking about the problems I had with bladder control after pregnancy. I'm post menopausal - goodness, if we can't laugh at ourselves, what a dull straight-laced world.
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Being self-deprecating is very different to laughing at other people, I don't think anyone is saying we can't laugh at ourselves
 
D66 said:
Dressing up as Edwardian gentry does the equestrian sector no favours.
Why can you not wear plain colour jeans/trousers and a plain colour t-shirt or sweatshirt/jumper? As the Judge said light colours if your horse is dark and vice versa.
Same with riding - buff or white breeches is just stupid to keep clean around horses. Tweed is too hot in the sun and soggy if it rains. Shirts and ties for women is from the dark ages.
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Now you see I like putting on my showing collar and tie and prefer it to my dressage stock. I agree white breeches and white generally around horses is not good. Mind you OH said the other day that everyone at a horse show looks like they should be a ComicCon.
 
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