One of the challenges of competing in the summer time in dressage involves staying cool enough to ride well. When the temps climb high enough, show management will often allow riders to compete without jackets. But not everyone looks fabulously wonderful in a white shirt and white breeches while sitting the extended trot!
In a recent issue of Horse & Hound magazine, a new rather chic piece of equestrian apparel caught my eye. Made by Equetech, the same company in the UK that made some of my favorite competition shirts, it is a waistcoat / vest which looks like a double breasted tailcoat without the sleeves and long tails.Personally, I think this is a very elegant looking alternative. And definitely very dressagey. But would it be accepted in the USA? Would it be allowed with the current USEF DR120 dress code rules? Would riders want to buy it?
I also wonder if Equetech will make a version with points, like on a tail coat. But that would be redundant, I guess, as the points on a tailcoat are supposed to make it look like the rider has a waistcoat on under the double breasted coat. Still, I think points would finish the look quite nicely. Just a couple triangles of gold at the waistline....
Time will tell. In the meanwhile, I am VERY tempted... My first thought: Time to email Dressage Extensions!. Let's see what they think!
One final thought about these nice "cool" alternatives to jackets.... It gives the jacket-less dressage competitor a place to display their USDF medals. And you know, for those of us who worked very hard to earn our medals, being able to wear them is kind of important. :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment