dressing like a pro-rider…

i went shopping for my equestrian apparels today… how do i look? :P

in full apparel…

previously, other than my helmet, i went for my lessons in my normal clothes, meaning a pair of slacks, a t-shirt and my brown hiking shoes.

then i discovered that i always end up with bruises in my inner calves. coz as we’re riding, our calves will be rubbing against the leather of the stirrups and sometimes a bit of flesh will get caught in between the leather and the horse’s body. sometimes our ankles will also hit the stirrup metal, causing bruises. so now you know why riders wear boots when riding. it’s not for fashion hor!

then i discovered that my fingers will always get blisters, coz they’re always rubbing against the reins, which are made of leather. hence the gloves…

and as i get more advanced (not advanced as in pro, but more advanced as compared to when i first learnt to ride), we’re required to start whipping the horses to make them go faster (with the trainer’s reassurance that they won’t hurt one bit). up until now, i’ve always used the trainer’s whip, but as they were not so expensive, i decided to get my own.

soft leather-like thing at the end of the whip. i gave my thigh a tiny slap with it and it hurt like hell! which was why i always only use it to slap lightly on the horse, much to my trainer’s exasperation coz my speed didn’t pick up at all! :P

actually i only bought an ankle length riding boots. i’d love to wear those knee length boots, but as i have such extraordinarily big calves, that i think only the phua chu kang boots will fit me! argh!!! so i had to go for ankle length boots and half chaps. half chaps are these covers for the calves, something like sleeves but worn on the legs to protect our calves.

ankle length riding boots and half chaps… sorry for the blur photo! click here for a clearer picture of how half chaps look like.

the riding pants, called “schooling breeches”, also has an extra layer of reinforcements at the calf area, for extra protection. it’s form fitting for ease of movement, as well as to increase the touch between our legs and the horse, coz we also cue the horse with our legs to get them to do what we want.

now, maybe you’ll ask, “since you have the extra padding in your breeches and the half chaps, why do you still need to buy the riding boots?” well, remember when i fell down twice previously? the 2nd time that i fell, my right foot actually got caught in the stirrup and my leg was still hanging onto the horse while my whole form was lying on the ground. it was a good thing that sebastian stopped when i fell. if he’d continue to trot, he’d be dragging me along by my foot! the reason my foot got caught in the stirrup was because i wore the wrong shoes. a pair of hiking shoes has more spikes and better gripping soles. but for riding, we want to wear something that has a bit of heels so that our feet will not slip too far into the stirrups and get caught in it, as well as will slip out easily in case we fall.

actually, looking at my photo now, i see that i’ve bought the wrong helmet. it doesn’t match the rest of the apparels at all! the helmet looks like it’s more for horse racing than for equestrian. should’ve gotten something more pretty and charming… haiz, too bad lar.