Hi all, I’m new at eventing and have yet to compete. I’m going to start soon though, and was looking at the rulebook of the USEA. I was slightly confused when reading about boots. I ride in half chaps and paddock boots. On their website, it says that half chaps are not allowed. I don’t really have the expenses to pay for tall boots. Would it be alright if I were half chaps? Could I get eliminated for wearing them?
Only the smooth leather type that look like tall boots are legal at recognized events. If you’re competing unrecognized, any reasonably clean and tidy black or brown ones are likely fine, whether they are suede or ribbed or have big velcro fastenings or whatever, but it wouldn’t hurt to email the event secretary/ organizer to check.
Matching smooth leather (that means not suede- the artificial leather is OK) leggings (which most people call “half chaps”) and paddock boots are fine. You can also wear just your paddock boots.
It is the suede or canvas half chaps that are not allowed.
Just to be correct, it is the USEF rulebook, not the USEA rulebook.
Great, thank you so much for the clarification!
Cultural differences cause linguistic confusion. “Chaps” in UK English are the many types of soft, suede, synthetic, buttoned, zipped etc etc things one puts on over short boots. “Gaiters” (now an old fashioned word) are the rigid leather things one puts over short boots so that they look like long boots. Gaiters are fine in competion. FEI rules are also a bit unclear due to poor translation.
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