My first ever showing season!!

[NJM53]

Hi everyone,

This year I am hopefully going to be attending my local riding club shows with my loan horsey - at the age of 16 and being an ex-affiliated show jumper she is well used to the world of shows & is extremely well kitted out by her owner, whereas I have no idea

I am hoping to enter showing classes, and novice dressage (have done neither before) and possibly a few mini showjump classes.*

I would be really interested to hear your hints/tips on all aspects... Including what to wear & what to expect!? Is there a style of jacket I can wear for all classes, what colour? What colour jods, long or short boots etc? Do I need a velvet cover for my skull hat?

Sorry for the rambling post... I am bored at work and got thinking about it! I am so looking forward to getting out there and doing more than just hacking with her... Roll on Summer!!*

x

 

[BYR]

Firstly good luck !

Secondly in answer to your questions I would say ...

If you`ve never done a dressage before it would be best to go for a prelim dressage test as its more basic and you will find the movements easier! You can get a copy of the test from the club secretary or the British Dressage website. Also depending on how strict the club is you need to make sure the bit you use for dressage is legal and no martingale or boots in the arena.

Show jumping anything tack wise goes!

For dressage and show jumping you can wear a saddle pad square (white for dressage, any colour for SJ) but for showing its correct to wear either a shaped pad underneath or no numnah at all. Brown tack is preferable for showing but at lower levels it doesn’t matter too much. Any colour for dressage and sj.

As for clothes, in showing its usually more correct to wear a tweed jacket with shirt and tie, long black boots or boots and gaiters with creamy yellow breeches brown gloves and a navy velvet hat unless your showing a hack or show pony when you need to wear the same but a navy jacket.

As for dressage and show jumping the tweed jacket etc will be fine and you won`t look out of place but at higher levels riders tend to wear navy jackets with white breeches.

I can go into more detail about each outfit but it really depends how much money you want to spend! If you go for the tweed jacket I would say go for a green or brown based jacket as these look smarter and more professional than the blue based jackets.

Tips

Remember to get there in plenty of time to do your entries and warm up for your classes , better to be early than late!
Make sure everything is spotlessly clean, tack, clothes and horse!
Learn your dressage test in advance so you don’t go wrong on the day or get a friend to call it for you.
Walk your show jumping course as if you were riding it on your horse. Don’t take shortcuts because you can`t be bothered to walk all the way !
Take someone with you to help if you can , its hard to go to a show on your own !

That`s all I can think of at the moment but if you want to know anything else just ask

 

[NJM53]

Firstly good luck !

Secondly in answer to your questions I would say ...

If you`ve never done a dressage before it would be best to go for a prelim dressage test as its more basic and you will find the movements easier! You can get a copy of the test from the club secretary or the British Dressage website. Also depending on how strict the club is you need to make sure the bit you use for dressage is legal and no martingale or boots in the arena.

Show jumping anything tack wise goes!

For dressage and show jumping you can wear a saddle pad square (white for dressage, any colour for SJ) but for showing its correct to wear either a shaped pad underneath or no numnah at all. Brown tack is preferable for showing but at lower levels it doesn’t matter too much. Any colour for dressage and sj.

As for clothes, in showing its usually more correct to wear a tweed jacket with shirt and tie, long black boots or boots and gaiters with creamy yellow breeches brown gloves and a navy velvet hat unless your showing a hack or show pony when you need to wear the same but a navy jacket.

As for dressage and show jumping the tweed jacket etc will be fine and you won`t look out of place but at higher levels riders tend to wear navy jackets with white breeches.

I can go into more detail about each outfit but it really depends how much money you want to spend! If you go for the tweed jacket I would say go for a green or brown based jacket as these look smarter and more professional than the blue based jackets.

Tips

Remember to get there in plenty of time to do your entries and warm up for your classes , better to be early than late!
Make sure everything is spotlessly clean, tack, clothes and horse!
Learn your dressage test in advance so you don’t go wrong on the day or get a friend to call it for you.
Walk your show jumping course as if you were riding it on your horse. Don’t take shortcuts because you can`t be bothered to walk all the way !
Take someone with you to help if you can , its hard to go to a show on your own !

That`s all I can think of at the moment but if you want to know anything else just ask

Thanks that's really helpful!

She's currently ridden in a Cheltenham gag when hacking so I know that's something we need to work on for dressage!!