First Affiliated. What to wear? What to expect?

[FudgieFoo]

Hi

I'm doing my first affiliated dressage in June and wondered what to wear?

I currently wear

Long black leather boots
Black plain show jacket
Shirt with collar (no stock)
Black gloves

Plait horse but don't put white tape on plaits. Do I need to?

Starting to panic!

Also will I get marked down, looked down on because I'm 22 and ride a 14.2 SMALL HORSE LOL!
(eg an adult on a pony)

[horseaholic]

I don't really know much about dressage, sorry :o but if you try the British Dressage website I think they have a list of dress rules?

[DITZ]

I'd invest in a stock shirt and stock. Rarely see shirt and tie unless on children.

You can use tape its personal choice but you dont see it very often at low levels.

[star]

agree with ditz. for affiliated everyone wears a stock shirt and stock (well, everyone I've ever looked at anyway!)

plaits are not compulsory, so white tape definitely isn't.

and you wont get marked down for riding a pony. i'm 24 and i ride a 15hh welsh cob who has won a lot at aff Novice and just been to the Winter Champs - they mark on what you do, not what you look like!

[FudgieFoo]

I wear a stock shirt with a collar not a stock and have been using it at unaff.

My instructor has been telling me that judges will look at an adult on a pony and see what they think they see and not what is in front of them??

She kept saying about how I'll be up against big warmbloods and that even if we go really well in comparison the lovely classy warmblood will be marked better.

So I looked Welsh sec D and french trotter in my breeds book and both were warmbloods. So i have a small warmblood horse!! LOL

[DITZ]

I wear a stock shirt with a collar not a stock and have been using it at unaff.

But you are asking if you should wear it to an affiliated event and the answer is no you should wear a stock.

[star]

So I looked Welsh sec D and french trotter in my breeds book and both were warmbloods. So i have a small warmblood horse!! LOL

a welsh section D is not a warmblood!!!!!!! not by any stretch of the imagination. i have one and he is a British native pony. Eventually I can trace him back through Norfolk trotters to the English Thoroughbred - no warmbloods ever came near that line!

[FudgieFoo]

I thought they were natives. The other Welshes are down as natives but this book had them as warm bloods. A warmblood being a cross between a hot blood- like the throughbred & arab and a coldblood like irish draft.

Anyway she isn't full Welsh D & I'm only messing about!

Thanks Ditz I'll get my stock & wear it with my current shirt!