Every day I head out to the barn to work. Like other trainers, I work outside in temperatures from 0 to 100 7 days a week, almost 365 days a year, from dawn till dark and sometimes longer. As a professional trainer and riding instructor I am called on to muck stalls, fix fence, buck hay, dump grain, rake footing, fill water buckets, sweep the aisle, clean tack, change bandages, medicate, lead beginners, longe riders, heft children into saddles… oh! And ride horses. My daily attire needs to be flexible and frequently involves layers upon layers of various types of fabrics depending on how deep the snow is in Spokane. The first layer however, is always proper riding attire. Proper riding attire? For Western Dressage?
So what does one wear for Western Dressage? Actually, there is both schooling attire and show attire. I really laughed at myself when I thought about the clothes I wear some days. I am likely to be found schooling in my helmet, a pair of Justin Ropers w/kilties, Ariat half chaps, leather full seat breeches, a custom stock seat equitation saddle and my white lined black Kieffer dressage bridle with a German hollow mouth snaffle. I cracked a joke last week in the Horse Radio Network interview I did about western dressage on the “Horses in the Morning Show” saying that I can't wait for the new "boot cut leather full seats!" Imagine my surprise last weekend when one of my dressage students showed up at a clinic wearing a pair of Kerrits boot cut breeches with a knee patch! The full seats are actually here…. Thank you Kerrits, you brought it! We western dressage riders were just waiting for these…
The blending of traditional riding attire seems to have been more successful
than similar attempts with protective headgear have been.
Troxel has this to say about the western helmet: ***Due to customer feedback
regarding its large appearance in size, the Western Hat Helmet has
been discontinued***
I’m happy to see that conservative clothing is encouraged so that the judge’s won’t be blinded by bling, and I am glad chaps are optional. I will choose to wear proper protective headgear and hope that an acceptable version of the western helmet cover is available soon.
For more information about North American Western Dressage, to read articles, see the tests through Level 6, or start your free basic membership visit: http://www.northamericanwesterndressage.com, and join them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/NorthAmericanWesternDressage.
If you would like your story to appear in this column, please email 200 words and a 300 dpi .jpg photo file of you and your horse with credits to [email protected]
Michelle Binder is the founder of the Relational Riding Academy. Relational Riding is a program that utilizes dressage as fundamental training for all horses performing in all disciplines. She has been an ARIA certified Instructor since 1989. She is currently working on her second book “Relational Riding: A Horsemanship Tutorial,” and has completed work on two professional video productions, “Any Horse, Any Rider: Relational Riding: A Universal Foundation.” and "Understand Riding From the Ground Up."
For more information about North American Western Dressage, to read articles, see the tests through Level 6, or start your free basic membership visit: http://www.northamericanwesterndressage.com, and join them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/NorthAmericanWesternDressage.
If you would like your story to appear in this column, please email 200 words and a 300 dpi .jpg photo file of you and your horse with credits to [email protected]
Michelle Binder is the founder of the Relational Riding Academy. Relational Riding is a program that utilizes dressage as fundamental training for all horses performing in all disciplines. She has been an ARIA certified Instructor since 1989. She is currently working on her second book “Relational Riding: A Horsemanship Tutorial,” and has completed work on two professional video productions, “Any Horse, Any Rider: Relational Riding: A Universal Foundation.” and "Understand Riding From the Ground Up."