What to wear...

[HorseManiac]

What do you need to wear in a dressage test? at the moment ive got:

Black Show Jacket
Cream Jodphurs
Black chaps
black jodphur boots

I am doing Prelim 4 . Also what kind of whip do I need?:rolleyes: I there anything else I need to buy? Will i need long boots instead?!!:D Help!!

Thanks:)

[star]

chaps are not allowed for any competition running under BD rules, which is most of them, even the unaffiliated ones and a lot of organisers are very strict on that rule. you can wear gaitors or long boots.

you also need a shirt and tie, or preferably a stock shirt and cream/white stock.

you'll need a skull cap with blue or black silk or a velvet version.

gloves are compulsory - blue or black or brown.

whip's are optional - if you do use one then most people would use a schooling whip as you wouldn't want to be taking your hands off the reins to use a short whip.

your horse needs a snaffle bridle and a saddle with some sort of numnah or saddlecloth - doesn't need to be white, just make sure it's clean! boots aren't allowed in the test, but you can use them to warmup. no martingales but you can use a breastplate if needed.

[nicolaj]

Have a look at this link from British Dressage:

http://www.britishdressage.co.uk/_documents/rules_EquipmentandDress.pdf

With regard to your chaps, I'd check with the organisers or alternatively ride in your short boots and jods.

Make sure your schooling whip is not too long, there used to be a limit on the length but this has been abolished, the whip needs to be inproportion, so if you are small then a really long whip wouldn't be suitable.

Good luck!

[KateWooten]

Fortunatley, over here at the lower levels, most of the sillier rules don't apply. We have to wear protective hats and you're not allowed gadgets on the horse, but apart from that it's no biggie. The BHS rules are quite off-putting ... have to have a noseband ? Why ? A correctly adjusted cavesson does absoultely nothing. Here we normally show in a clean white short sleeved shirt with a collar, that's about it, which is neat because I sure can'tjustify buying a tweed coat ad stock for the 2 shows a year we have here !

BTW, by 'gaiters' - do they mean what I call 'half-chaps - I think they do - I think they're allowing short boots + matching half-chaps which look like tall boots, from reading the document.

[teapot]

read the BD rule book - quite easy to understand.

Basically for prelim levels - strip horse down to bare essentials, check if your bit is legal.

No boots on horse

and double check whether you have to have a bridle number

[horseaholic]

Sorry to hijack your thread HM, but are Champion-type hats with the silver stripe allowed?

[DITZ]

Sorry to hijack your thread HM, but are Champion-type hats with the silver stripe allowed?

yes. most only stipulate that it has a recognised safety standard PAS or EN) chin strap and its done up when mounted. Affiliated comps dont need to have chinstrap or any safety standard at all.

Mind you it might be worth checking with the organisers as I know some pony clubs now have the rule that vented hats arent acceptable. Not sure why:confused:

[star]

BTW, by 'gaiters' - do they mean what I call 'half-chaps - I think they do - I think they're allowing short boots + matching half-chaps which look like tall boots, from reading the document.

there's a difference between chaps and gaitors. chaps are normally suede with a zip up the side - they're not allowed and i've seen people turned away from the arena, even at unaffiliated shows.

gaitors are leather with a zip at the back and from a distance look like long boots. these are allowed.

[Bay Mare]

I think that the whip rule (don't have my 2006 rules book with me) is that it doesn't interfere with anyone else rather than specifying size/proportions. I guess that they'd take it off you if you took a lunge whip in :)

Gaiters can be worn but must be the same colour and leather as the boot and not have any 'decoration' on them.