Tweed etiquette??

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fattylumpkin

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This christmas hubby is treating me to my first tweed jacket! Horse is a native and light bay in colour and I've read that I'm supposed to dress to match her :D lovely notion but how do you do choose?! I've discovered Mrs Candy and Le Beau Cheval and I love everything, so hard to settle on just one. I'm also going to be pretty much the only person in this country wearing tweed to a show (recently the rules about proper dressage attire were relaxed here and now riders can wear any colour more or less) so I want to avoid looking like a disaster :)

Guidelines on what to look for and what to avoid would be much appreciated! What classes as a "loud" tweed? What sort of tweed fashion faux pas makes you shake your head? What would you hate to see? What do you like to see?
 
The traditional tweeds for showing natives here in Britain are that the tweed is fairly muted: usually green or brown, 'keeper's tweed' is popular, a small overcheck gives a bit of interest without being too shouty, opinion is divided over velvet collars. It's the cut of the coat that will give it its smartness. Keep the flamboyance to the small details such as tie and tiepin rather than the jacket.
You will see the sort of thing if you look at some pics of natives in the showring (try breed society websites or the websites of the big county shows)

The point of the traditional dress is that you look neat - it is the pony who is being showcased so you want to compliment their colouring and type without overshadowing them (same reason as the plain tack).

Hope that helps
 
Actually on natives you will find that some of the top producers have some pretty loud tweeds.
Ive seen bright orange tweeds, green tweeds with bright pink overchecks etc. A loud tweed is fairly fashionable for m&m's and velvet collars are standard!

I used to have a light yellowy brown tweed with bright red large overcheck for showing ponies and natives.
Now i have a hunter i have a boring green tweed with subtle maroon and blue overcheck.

I havnt seen a keepers tweed in the pony show ring for years! Didnt think you could still get them
 
I love tweed .
And like browns and blues but blues often don't look right if you show IMO.
Green is a safe bet and goes with lots of horses .
I got a green with a purple line in a big square I don't know how old you are but feel it's a little loud for me now I am in my mid fifties it's a nice jacket but I don't feel fully confident when I have it on .
 
I never thought about that Goldstar :D I'm 31, look older than I am, and a bit of a midget so going by ordinary fashion rules I should probably stay away from a large check?

I'm glad velvet collars are okay, I like how they look matched with the helm :) busy trawling through the native pony magazine online for ideas now!
 
conniegirl said:
I havnt seen a keepers tweed in the pony show ring for years! Didnt think you could still get them
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I'm sure you can - though I'm too much of a cheapskate to replace my old one whilst it still fits well :).
Does it not depend upon the colour and type of pony you are showing though? - I think greys look fab with rider in a loud tweed for example but if the pony has hammer marks in its coat or whites or is a flamboyant mover then you would need something plainer.



OP what breed is your pony?
 
catkin said:
I'm sure you can - though I'm too much of a cheapskate to replace my old one whilst it still fits well :).
Does it not depend upon the colour and type of pony you are showing though? - I think greys look fab with rider in a loud tweed for example but if the pony has hammer marks in its coat or whites or is a flamboyant mover then you would need something plainer.



OP what breed is your pony?
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I wore my loud tweed on coloureds, blacks, bays, chocolate duns and greys.
 
TBH I would go for keepers tweed if you only want to have one jacket .
Mine is my favourite hacking jacket it's lasted years it always looks smart if a bit understated .
 
The plan is only one jacket :) now I need to go and google this mysterious keeper's tweed!

Here is my darling hippo (sorry, I never seem to take photos of her from side on only at weird angles) -

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And one of me and her preparing to mooch tea and biscuits from my mother in law -

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I have stupidly long arms with a really short back, so find that off-the-rack jackets rarely fit. I found a pattern and took it to a local seamstress, with tweed fabric that I'd purchased, and had a jacket made for about the same that a really nice off-the-rack one would cost. I went for a brown herringbone, blended with lighter tones and black, to complement a bright bay pony. I hasten to add that this picture dates from the beginning of his Endurance career, when we were struggling with his weight despite his being in a decent amount of work!

show2012_5.jpg
 
this is my current subtle tweed, it is green with burgundy and blue overcheck (from Mrs Candy)
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and my yellow one with bright red overcheck (From Alexander James and unfortunately a bit small for me in this photo)
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spookypony said:
I have stupidly long arms with a really short back, so find that off-the-rack jackets rarely fit. I found a pattern and took it to a local seamstress, with tweed fabric that I'd purchased, and had a jacket made for about the same that a really nice off-the-rack one would cost. I went for a brown herringbone, blended with lighter tones and black, to complement a bright bay pony. I hasten to add that this picture dates from the beginning of his Endurance career, when we were struggling with his weight despite his being in a decent amount of work!
Click to expand...

I have the same problem! Long monkey arms and tiddly everything else. I was planning on going the bespoke route - hubby gets a new computer this year, I get a jacket at a fraction of the cost, but I haven't told him about the new bridle yet so we even out.... you have all my sympathies re: weight issues too, it's tough trying to balance everything with a horse that can expand just by catching a whiff of extra hay.

Also, we have many many especially lovely pairs here at H&H forum :D Loving all of the inspiration photos guys, keep them coming! Green does work very very well. And I'm still a big fan of velvet collars, though I see from Dave's Mum's pic that with a helm on as well as the jacket it's nice with or without! It's tough to picture how the finished result will look. But I need to pick soon :O
 
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