Petrie
Well-Known Member
I do think it's the dressage lot that are mostly guilty of it, and inadvertantly encouraging it, myself included. I wear a proper crash hat for everything, apart from dressage competition, where I wear a beagler.
It's totally ridiculous, and hypocritical, I know. My horses are both quite sharp and of course, any horse can stumble, so at a competition there's no good reason why I couldn't have a fall, and my lovely velvet beagler wouldn't protect me at all.
Why do I wear it then? Because it looks smart, elegant, and everyone else is wearing them. It's as simple as that.
And I bet there are hundreds on the forum who are the same as me. I can't see it changing unless BD makes it illegal to wear hats without straps, which would also mean banning toppers. And I can't see that ever happening.
Also, I used to go for dressage training with Jenny Ward, who is a top trainer/judge/competitor, and also heavily involved with the BHS as a trainer and examiner. She schools her horses without a hat on, and allows private pupils to wear what they like on their heads when they come for lessons. My current trainer is the same.
I guess the thinking is, well, I compete without a crash hat, so why would I bother schooling at home without one on? Which is fair enough really, isn't it.
As I said, it won't change unless BD changes, and I very much doubt that would ever happen.
It's totally ridiculous, and hypocritical, I know. My horses are both quite sharp and of course, any horse can stumble, so at a competition there's no good reason why I couldn't have a fall, and my lovely velvet beagler wouldn't protect me at all.
Why do I wear it then? Because it looks smart, elegant, and everyone else is wearing them. It's as simple as that.
And I bet there are hundreds on the forum who are the same as me. I can't see it changing unless BD makes it illegal to wear hats without straps, which would also mean banning toppers. And I can't see that ever happening.
Also, I used to go for dressage training with Jenny Ward, who is a top trainer/judge/competitor, and also heavily involved with the BHS as a trainer and examiner. She schools her horses without a hat on, and allows private pupils to wear what they like on their heads when they come for lessons. My current trainer is the same.
I guess the thinking is, well, I compete without a crash hat, so why would I bother schooling at home without one on? Which is fair enough really, isn't it.
As I said, it won't change unless BD changes, and I very much doubt that would ever happen.