Riding Gear

[Marlena]

Hi!

I am now sure that I want to stick with riding & want to start looking into buying some proper riding gear. (So far I've been riding in a track suit and a pair of sneakers (!).) What should I get first? I want to buy things gradually, nothing fancy, just good quality. Any suggestions?

Marlena

P.S. Does the right gear make a difference (= will I FEEL it)?

[Sarah]

hello!

By far the most important thing to buy first is your own riding hat - and make sure the shop that sells it to you knows how to fit it.

The next item i bought was then a pair of half chaps - it was amazing what a difference they made.

Then i bought some jodphur boots, then some jodphurs. up til then i had been riding in leggins which seemed to work fine - but again i noticed the cahnge when I had proper jodphurs.

hope that helps and i hope you don't need to remortgage you house to buy these things!

[Alison Baxter]

HI!
My friend recently started horse riding and thoroughly enjoyed it. She asked me what she thought would be the best piece of equipment to buy first. I agree with Sarah that a riding hat is a good investment, but if you're not 100% sure that you are going to carry on riding then I think boots are the best first buy, as I found it really hard to find shoes that had the right sort of sole. So I definitely say boots and a hat are the best buys - after all you can manage really easily in a tracksuit, you don't need the extra expense of jodphurs unless you want to buy them. That's just my opinion - hope it helps!
Alison

[Heather]

Don't buy rubber riding boots if you can help it. They concertina up round your ankle, and constantly try to spring back, so that it makes it very difficult to keep any weight into your heel, without forcing the heel down, which in general pushes your foot, and lower leg forwards. Try to buy a pair of short leather jodphur boots, and a pair of half chaps, usually made od suede. They are like knee length leggings. they give your lower leg some support and a bit of 'stickablity', whilst the short leather boots do concertina a bit, but stay that way and don't spring back. It makes keeping the lower leg position so much easier.Jodhphurs needn't be very expensive.Harry Hall here in England do some very nice stretch cotton ones, with smart continental styling, which retail around £28 a pair. they will be much more comfortable than jeans. I can supply a couple of names of mail order catalogues if anyone is interested.

Heather