love this as an example
no as flashy but pretty
Love This
When it comes down to it between two riders who are VERY close, I think judge’s will go for the one with better ‘presentation’, but this was me a few years ago pretending I was a WP rider at a local show…we even pinned, and not dead last!
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/17054_293289527373_6949853_n.jpg
Clean and modest with a good ride is always better than having a horrible ride with all that eye catching bling drawing attention to you, IMHO
I love “retro bling” I’ve go an old parade saddle, not the over the top covered in silver, just diamond shaped nickel spots all over. It is delightfully tacky.
If Tinkerbell decides she doesn’t want to drive, I may have to get a coruna pad and get dolled up like Dale Evans.
Looks a bit like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Silver-Horn-Parade-Saddle-Set-Bridle-Breastcollar-Near-Mint-Used-Shape-/360458620983?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53ed021037
I hate bling of any sort with riding. Western has become a clown outfit with way too many multi-coloured and ghastly pimped out horses and riders. Some people would have english riding go the same way…ghastly.
Class always fits and is always in good taste. Quality riding and horses don’t need bling to hide what’s there. Make the competition look like pimps and riding slatterns.
[QUOTE=HeyItsCharnae;6349762]
I don’t see the minimalist trend becoming popular in the 4+ APHA/AQHA shows. I know tons of people still buying the $1500 used blindingly bright jackets/vests/shirts, nevermind the new custom made one they get every year finishing over $4000. It’s a terrible stigma about the tack needing silver and the shirts needing rhinestones, but that’s what’s fashionable atm. Most of the ‘trends’ factor around scalloped vs. fringe chaps and whether or not to get their boots colored to match their outfit :rolleyes:. This is why I stuck to english lol.
But if you’re just showing local, there is absolutely no problem with a clean, non-sparky look. Lots of people don’t have a fortune to spend on clothes, and it’s about the fun anyway. No judge in their right mind should ever penalize you for wearing a helmet.[/QUOTE]
I work the APHA World Championship Shows and part of my job as a journalist/photographer is to watch the events and interview winners. While you will see a lot of bling, there is also a movement toward the minimalist look—I’ve seen it with my own eyes and interviewed the world champions who were wearing/using minimal bling.
Hey Ozzerati, do you have any photos you could share? I don’t suppose you’ve seen any winners wearing helmets have you? Thanks!
I have shown locally at open shows with my helmet for several years now and don’t feel it has affected my pinnings. I bargain shop for my clothes. I by many very nice current shirts on Ebay and rarely spend more then $50.00. I have also gotten great deals at the EA on the sales racks.
The saddle I have been using the past two seasons (including AQHA) just had a touch of silver with a few small corner plates. I have a lovely show saddle that is loaded with silver, but it doesn’t fit my current horse. So, the less fancy one it is. I don’t feel this has affected me in the show ring on the local level. If I have good rides, I pin well.
On that note, I don’t use a helmet at the rated shows. I keep it on my head until I am walking in then swap to my western hat. The helmet goes back on immediately when I am out of the ring.
I hit post reply before I was finished…
I wanted to say, I think if you dress neatly, your horse is well turned out with good fitting tack and well groomed, you will be just fine with less “bling”. It’s those that show up looking like 70’s throw backs and ill fitting tack with dirty, hardly groomed horses that might not get a second look…or they might get lots of looks, but for the wrong reasons. LOL!
[QUOTE=meaty ogre;6350380]
Hey Ozzerati, do you have any photos you could share? I don’t suppose you’ve seen any winners wearing helmets have you? Thanks![/QUOTE]
Sure. I don’t think I can embed images, but here are a couple links to check out.
2011 AjPHA Youth World Championship Show
http://ywcs.apha.com/news/jwoc
In the above link, check out Youth Aged Geldings, Youth Reining 13 & U, YOuth Western Pleasure 14-18 and Youth Western Riding 14-18. I can think of a young man in the horsemanship who used a plain saddle/bridle—nicely tooled, but NO silver—in the (very competitive) Youth Horsemanship 14-18 class, and he placed in the Top 10.
2011 APHA Open/Amateur World Championship Show:
http://oawcs.apha.com/news/jwoc
In this link, check out Amateur 2-Year-Old Mares, Amateur Weanling Stallions, Junior Reining, Junior Trail, Limited Working Cow Horse, SPB Trail (black saddle/bridle). These aren’t all-inclusive. I didn’t include many events where plainer clothes are the norm (speed, roping, halter), and there were others wearing basic outfits, but I can’t go through our 10,000+ photos per show right now to find them. 
The Pleasure Horse Journal forum has recently (in the last 6 months or so) had several queries about plain horsemanship-style shirts for women from folks who show the major APHA/AQHA/ApHC shows.
As far as helmets, we see them in the fence classes, of course, and speed classes quite often. You don’t tend to see them in all-around type western classes, but they’re not prohibited. We host an international team event called Youth World Games, and in 2010 the YWG Trail Class winner, a young lady from Sweden, wore a helmet.
Do you see “bling” at the big shows? Absolutely. But do you need it? Not really. The judges truly have enough to look at, and most have repeatedly told me that they don’t judge riders by their clothes, so long as their outfits/equipment is clean and well-fitting. “Have” vs. “Have Not” in terms of tack/equipment/clothes is a very easy way to justify not placing well, and I’d venture to say it’s very rarely the real reason.
I’m not trying to argue with anyone here; just want to make the point that not having fancy clothes/tack/equipment won’t necessarily keep you out of the winner’s circle.
Thanks ozzerati!
So, it sounds like most of you guys would vote for minimalist/basic look vs. the retro/vintage? Bummer, I was actually going to try for a throwback look but simple probably is best.
I have seen a lot of the all-black look in researching photos, but I don’t want to look like a bad cross between a ninja movie and an old western.
I think I’ll go with a solid button down shirt, black vest, black chaps, pants and boots and my black ovation schooling helmet, and a saddle blanket with black and my shirt color to tie it together. I may do a scarf pin and small earrings but that will be my only bling.
do you have a blue or green button down shirt?
blue and green look great on all colors and easy to match to a saddle pad and I would skip the vest, just wear the button down shirt
[QUOTE=meaty ogre;6351671]
I think I’ll go with a solid button down shirt, black vest, black chaps, pants and boots and my black ovation schooling helmet, and a saddle blanket with black and my shirt color to tie it together. I may do a scarf pin and small earrings but that will be my only bling.[/QUOTE]
Don’t wear a vest or a scarf pin. Scarfs are ok, but be sure you tie it correctly.
Oh, I really like the look of a vest. I’m not talking about a jazzed up vest. I think that black chaps with a different colored top cuts the rider in half. That may be OK on a tall slender rider but it isn’t going to flatter me at all.
I’m talking about this kind of look (except my vest isn’t sparkly…just plain black). I think it is so much more flattering to a rider.
http://www.hobbyhorseinc.com/shopping/vests/2246_silhouette_vest.shtml
Does that make a difference?
I was thinking of this saddle blanket:
http://www.tackwholesale.com/zealand-arrow-saddle-blanket-purple-cobalt-p-3532.html
or possibly this one:
http://www.tackwholesale.com/zealand-wool-saddle-blanket-cathedral-p-3559.html
because I already have dress shirts in my closet that would coordinate with them.
IMHO I would forget trying to go retro- too easy for it to look to “costume -ish”. Go with something classic and stylish in your own right. Don’t get me wrong, I love well done sequins and silver saddles, but a nice long sleeved twill shirt with nice matching colors done right is just as eye catching to me.
But that being said- my mare is black and I use a black saddle pad, dark oil saddle and headstall and dress in mostly black. As she goes around the ring, it is striking, and all you see is the silver on the tack and the silver plate on the pad.
Could I have bought a light saddle? Yes. But I like the dark, it looks better on my horse than the light, just takes a little work to pull it together correctly. (and tons of patience when people hear you have dark oil tack- until they see it)
Oh, hail, I have just shown up with clean, workmanlike stuff, from 60s thru aughts, and it has never for me made a difference in the results. Any judge worth his/ her salt is going to look at many, many other things to break a performance tie before how much silver is on the saddle or the clothing. Wait, I have pics somewhere.
Moldy oldy, 1965: http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd89/BevHeff/?action=view¤t=BevCrumpet.jpg
Roughly 2000 or 2001, I think (on the western shot):
https://picasaweb.google.com/100310658467918237790/EnglishWestern#5746991427267738066
Saddle in both pictures which is to say 1965 and later shot, is the same. Chaps didn’t come along til 1968 or so.
Ironically, first time I showed up to show in Utah, 1995 state fair, probably same outfit, we did reasonably well, nobody had a clue who I was, and I got asked, ‘are you from California?’ As I was near my trailer at the time I pointed to the license plate I hadn’t changed yet and said no, actually, Virginia. But I asked someone about the curious question and was told that should be taken as a compliment, apparently Utahns think the ‘good’ riders come from California…
When I showed WP and did rail classes, I wore a plaid long sleeve with blue jeans. Of course it was a schooling show.
When I showed two red head horses, I had a brown show shirt with bling that wasn’t over kill. It’s preference!
Foundation QH shows… NO BLING anywhere.
I showed western back in the 70s and we were not grubby. Most men wore blue jeans and white shirts and women wore polyester riding pants with flared legs that looked nice on the horse but were like wearing your own portable sauna.
Before QHs got so specialized they were expected to do more than one job.
I did WP, Western Riding and amateur Reining. The horses in WP and Western Riding displayed their ability to do the more intense competitions by the length of their manes and tails, always trimmed (or not) to reflect the more difficult and competitive classes.
NO bling to be found. Lots of giggling about ‘how much silver can an Arabian carry before it tips over?’ QHs then went waaaaay past that in carrying silver.
I am glad to hear that the bling and silver is diminishing. Now if they could just get back to horses that are versatile again.
Well, since BarbB requested it:
This guy is about as versatile as it comes… The Krymsun Kruzer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ5CB9mdtJk
I even saw a video last year of him in a reining class. Looked pretty darn respectable too!
Propspony- I have a 2012 filly by TKK… and she is phenomenal and will be aimed at the all-around!
