What to wear.. M&M

[JackDaniels]

Hello. (this is my first ever post, so I hope i get this right!!)
This year I want to take my black section D to a couple of shows.. I have never shown before, and trying to find out exactly what I should wear is giving me a head ache. I have black tack (which I am told is not ideal) and I also would like to wear a black hat - but a friend of mine tells me that I should wear a navy hat and that black looks unprofessional.
Also I would like to know what colour gloves I should wear? . would brown leather gloves go with black tack? or with a black hat? or will I have to buy a completely new wardrobe???
:mad:
if anyone has some pictures of outfits (good colour combinations..) they would be much appreciated!! thanks!

[Mehitabel]

http://rehorses.com/natives.html

have a look here. black hat and tack are not the end of the world in native showing, it's more important for classes like hunters, which are still more traditional. plenty of people wear black tack for showing natives - i do, and have a black hat, gloves and cane too.

[Sparkle1]

Hello JackDaniels

I had exactly this issue when I was about to try a bit of in-hand showing (very local, very 'low key') with my young highland pony. Showing won't be his long term career (he's not "show quality" according to the requirements of the HPS) and as I have no experience at all of showing, I had totally no clue what to wear (for either me or him!). It turned out that it was much less formal than I had envisaged (although, as I say, it was only a small, local show) and everyone was kind and helpful.

When I was worrying about it all, I found this site useful (and it also gives a link to the Welsh Pony and Cob Sociey which might give you some useful info as well).

http://rehorses.com/natives.html

Good luck!:)

[Sparkle1]

Ooops - sorry - cross posted :rolleyes:

[JackDaniels]

thanks very much for the advice. the rehorses.com/natives website is useful and i will be going shopping this weekend (first show on 17th..) :o

[Daffy Dilly]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Daffydilly/DSC00372.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Daffydilly/scan0002.jpg

I think the only things the same are the horse and rider, oh and shirts ;)

First picture; Second Picture
-Navy hat, black harness - Navy hat, leather harness
-No hairnet/bun as short hair - Hair in a bun, with nets
-Blue tweed - Green tweed, shorter in the body
which I think looks neater, but
depends on the combo
-Corn shirt - Corn shirt
-Plain blue tie - Burgundy tie with a discreet pattern
-Black gloves - Brown leather gloves
-Beige jods - "Sand" coloured jods
-Plain leather long boots - Laced leather long boots
-White number string - Black thread for string
-Black tack - Brown tack
-No numnah - Fitted brown numnah
-Black cane - Brown cane

Ultimately I think the leather harness, tack change and jacket (green/brown are generally better than blue) really made the difference. However, by changing the white string for black thread, and wearing a better tie, brighter jods and having a bun, I instantly looked better. It's hard to tell from the second photo, but the brown tack makes Daffy look black, instead of bleached.

Overall the changes have cost me roughly £185, £80 and £60 being for the hat and boots respectively. Not including jacket, as that was made to measure by my mum, she estimated £250, but you can get a really good one for about £130, and a good one for about £60 (especially on ebay) and the tack, which was about £800, as that was insurance money replacing my stolen black tack. Obviously that could be done a lot cheaper ;)

If you're buying new kit now, I'd recommend going down the navy hat and green/brown jacket route. It saves buying it all later if you get hooked, which is what I ended up doing, over the space of two years. Not necessarily expensive kit, as you may decide you don't like it, but you can look the part quite cheaply.

Can we have photos when you've been shopping? I'm so nosy :p

Eta, how come my spacing didn't work? I had two lovely columns. :(

[JackDaniels]

Hi Daffy Dilly
Thanks for the advice and pictures :-)
think i might go for the green tweed and yellow shirt as you suggested.. I will stick with the black tack for now, as I am not quite ready to spend that much money on showing gear! but i never thought that using brown tack would make the horse look blacker!! (good trick - i am also always looking for ways to get my horse look blacker in the summer months.. he gets these brown patches ggrrrr..)
I will post some pictures of course

[Daffy Dilly]

Feeding seaweed and black sunflower seeds really helps. Leaving sweat in the coats, or indeed oil, causes them to bleach more in the sun, so it's a good idea to rinse the coat thoroughly. If you want extra justification for a fly rug, those help prevent bleaching too, but personally I'm not so concerned about it that I'd use one, or keep Daffy in all day, just to make him that tad blacker.

You can get blackening shampoos as well, but I've never tried one of those.

[JackDaniels]

how do you feed the black sunflower seeds? whole in the husks? or can you buy them specially prepared?
(i have started shopping for a BROWN show saddle!!) :o

[Daffy Dilly]

I just buy them from our feed merchants, whole in the husks, they're in the section with the bird/small animal feeds. Suspect you could buy them at Pets at Home or similar, perhaps the petshop in your local market if you have one?

Quantity wise I give a 45ml scoop (the size you tend to get with a broad spec supplement such as equivite) in each feed, so he effectively gets 90ml of the things a day.

[Vicki&Milo]

To carry this on, just looked at the web site you suggested-two things I need to ask.

What classes as a small bred for this purpose, I'm 22 but ride a 13.3hh new forest, long boots or short, or personal preference, and if short would brown be good since all his tack is brown.

Also hats, I have one of those wierd cross breed things, velvety effect but basically a skull [skurries off to find a link] This one in navy http://www.harryhall.co.uk/harryhall/default.asp so it is the right colour technically.

Vicki

[Mehitabel]

NFs are a large breed, whatever height they are, so long boots for you.

the link takes me to the main HH page, have you got the name of the hat?

[Vicki&Milo]

Its the elite. First one on second row down of hats, although mine is navy and needs a damn good brushing.

Vicki xx

[Mehitabel]

not ideal, but fine for small shows. you'll stick out at a county show in one.

[Vicki&Milo]

not ideal, but fine for small shows. you'll stick out at a county show in one.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha, sorry, the thought of me at a county show is just that funny. [wipes tea of keyboard], Milo is a lovely pony, but I have the grace and elegance of a dead cabbage.

I mainly want to take him for some experience of being involved. Would mainly just like to do fun stuff, but figured that having stuff that owuld be generally right for a M&M would give us more options.

Vicki xx

[bellazebra]

Don't forget that tack and clothing are just the trimmings to finish off the overall picture. Personally, the main difference between DD's pictures for me are the fact that horse and rider look so much better in the second picture. The horse is gleaming, muscled up nicely and going very well for the rider. Of course the overall impression counts, but having the nicest showing stuff in the world won't make up for any holes in your riding or the horse's way of going.

Best of luck for the season with Milo - don't forget to tell us all how you get on! (Including pictures, of course!!) :D

[horse_converted]

hi welcome to NR! :D

[Vicki&Milo]

Don't forget that tack and clothing are just the trimmings to finish off the overall picture. Personally, the main difference between DD's pictures for me are the fact that horse and rider look so much better in the second picture. The horse is gleaming, muscled up nicely and going very well for the rider. Of course the overall impression counts, but having the nicest showing stuff in the world won't make up for any holes in your riding or the horse's way of going.

Best of luck for the season with Milo - don't forget to tell us all how you get on! (Including pictures, of course!!) :D

Thanks, we will probably just be pottering, if that, he's a bit backwards :p Just figure if I'm going to be there I ought to look the part or not bother at all.

But don't worry, there are always plenty of photos.

Vicki xx

[JackDaniels]

Yes you are right.. clothes can't cover up a bad horse and rider.. perhaps i shouldn't bother buying anything new at all!!! ha ha
does anyone know where i can buy long leather boots with the garter strap on? i search on the internet and all that comes up are underwear sites!!

[Daffy Dilly]

Regent do them. Don't buy the Caldene ones, they aren't worth the price IMO.

Downside to boots with garter straps is they rarely have zips in. Dressage ones are easier from that respect. You should be able to find some on ebay, or just find some straight topped ones and get a cobbler/saddler to put a loop for a garter strap on for you.

[Daffy Dilly]

http://www.discountsaddlery.co.uk/

Go into for the rider, then Riding boots, and about halfway down the Regent Windsor. They have slots for a garter strap. That's the kind of thing you're after, if they don't have it in your size they have the catalogue, so give them a ring!

[Horsewoman]

Feeding seaweed and black sunflower seeds really helps. Leaving sweat in the coats, or indeed oil, causes them to bleach more in the sun, so it's a good idea to rinse the coat thoroughly. If you want extra justification for a fly rug, those help prevent bleaching too, but personally I'm not so concerned about it that I'd use one, or keep Daffy in all day, just to make him that tad blacker.

You can get blackening shampoos as well, but I've never tried one of those.

Not a tactic you would really want to try (at least I wouldn't) but if you keep your black horse indoors and out of sunlight it helps to stop the hair going "rusty". (This is followed by people who show black cats as well.)

I throw this in as a matter of interest not as a recommendation.

Arrgh, sorry, Daffy Dilly, I've just read your post properly!

[JackDaniels]

yes keeping him in would solve the coat colour problem.. don't think i'd do it either as he would probably go nuts!

i found on the internet a coat blackener food supplement called: black as knight.. it only seems to be available in america and i don't know if it is legit or not.. does anyone know anything about it??

[Daffy Dilly]

Yes - it's very expensive, and you can acheive the same results by feeding paprika (which contains small traces of a banned substance if I remember correctly, so ditch it a week before a show if going above local level), seaweed and black sunflower seeds, and keeping a fly rug on your horse. ;)

Oh, and do skin tests first, but Champion Tails do a coat restorer called Maximum Effect (which washes out), or you can get spray on hair dye. I'll be playing around with both this year.