Training and below?
[QUOTE=tle;8279352]
The no coat required at 1 day events has been in the rules for about 10 years, folks. This is not new.[/QUOTE]
And yet most organizers and judges in Area IX are still unaware!
[QUOTE=HiJumpGrrl;8279626]
Training and below?[/QUOTE]
Follow the link in post 17
Multi-Day, BN - Tr
One day, ANY level
[QUOTE=Fergs;8279671]
And yet most organizers and judges in Area IX are still unaware![/QUOTE]
I attended a schooling event the year it was put into effect and was called out by the judge after my 2nd dressage ride as “you should have a coat on”. I explained the new rule politely. Nothing he could really do about it… it was a rule. If they don’t know, that’s on them just as if a rider doesn’t know. They can’t eliminate you for following the rules. 
Has anyone noticed this:
There are lots of people, myself included, who feel (very often self inflicted) pressure to wear the dang jacket anyway (for dressage), because:
A- I am afraid I’ll be the only one without one
B- I am afraid the judge, unconsciously, might think less of me or lean towards not giving me the benefit of the doubt - it could have been a 7, but a 6.5 - not on purpose at all, just because habit
C- various other random insecurities that my mind just loves to entertain
I just see it at events, even unrecognized. Half or more still wear jackets, even on hot days.
I have often wondered if the USEA has considered just saying no coats to be worn T and below, period. That way it would leave the ambiguity out of it.
Just an opinion.
[QUOTE=redalter;8279822]
Has anyone noticed this:
There are lots of people, myself included, who feel (very often self inflicted) pressure to wear the dang jacket anyway (for dressage), because:
A- I am afraid I’ll be the only one without one
B- I am afraid the judge, unconsciously, might think less of me or lean towards not giving me the benefit of the doubt - it could have been a 7, but a 6.5 - not on purpose at all, just because habit
C- various other random insecurities that my mind just loves to entertain
I just see it at events, even unrecognized. Half or more still wear jackets, even on hot days.
I have often wondered if the USEA has considered just saying no coats to be worn T and below, period. That way it would leave the ambiguity out of it.
Just an opinion.[/QUOTE]
While I hate to be the only one not wearing one, I’m in favor of keeping it optional. It’s nice to wear them on cool spring/ fall days, or when you have someone with you to take glamour shots.
I sort of felt obligated when they were waived at a multi day HT recently. I didn’t wear it. A liberating feeling. I do think sometimes jackets hide little flaws & can make riders more comfortable with their appearance, so I would not ban them. Particularly on a chilly day. They do look nicer. It is one less thing riders have to worry about. Ever have a button fall off right before your ring time? Not something a BN rider should be stressing about.
Slightly off topic, but Janet maybe you can help. I thought a black polo shirt would count as appropriate dressage attire, but my trainer told me I’d have to ask the TD for permission as black is not technically a conservative color. I changed into a white button down show shirt. Looking around, I only saw white shirts for the folks not wearing jackets. Same for the last event I went to, it was either jackets or just white collared shirts. So…really??? Black isn’t a conservative color?
somAsk the TD
Some TDs, one, a former USET coach are sticklers in that riders must ask the organizers/ judges for permission to ride without a jacket on that particular day:no:!
I blissfully got rid of my jacket the second this rule came into force, except for really chilly days.
For a long time I was very much in the minority.
During this time I have ridden 3 horses at a variety of levels. I have had crappy tests, and really nice tests. I have been scored accordingly. I really don’t see that my scores have been affected AT ALL.
Get over it, take the jacket off, and enjoy being an athlete dressed in clothes that don’t gratuitously give you heat stroke. 
me, too!
[QUOTE=dotneko;8193139]
Sorry, Janet, I disagree about the clarity of the rule.
The first time I read I thought ‘whoa, they are making boots and breeches optional’ (and aren’t they breeches not britches?)Ha, ha, I,too , wondered about boots and breeches being optional?but, then could not imagine riding a dressage test with no breeches:eek: not to mention embarrassing:o my mares totally!:mad:
For added clarity, the phrase ‘coats not required’ should have been added after the sentence about tucking shirts in.
I wondered if someone arrived at the ring naked but for, helmet:confused: would they be allowed to ride?
I guess that would depend on if your skin tone was deemed a conservative color.
[QUOTE=Carol Ames;8280259]
(and aren’t they breeches not britches?).[/QUOTE]
Curious, I looked this up. And according to Wikipedia:
The spelling britches is a spelling variant, not a corruption, dating from the 17th century. Presently, britches reflects a common pronunciation often used in casual speech to mean trousers or pants in many English speaking parts of the world. Breeks is a Scots or northern English spelling and pronunciation.
Also, more fun info:
Breeches is a double plural known since c. 1205, from Old English br?c, the plural of br?c “garment for the legs and trunk”, from the Proto-Germanic word *br?k-, plural *br?kiz, whence also the Old Norse word brók, which shows up in the epithet of the Viking king Ragnar Loðbrók, Ragnar “Hairy-breeches”. The Proto-Germanic word also gave rise, via a Celtic language, to the Latin word br?ca or bracca; the Romans, who did not generally wear pants, referred to Germanic tribes as br?c?t? or bracc?t?, “wearers of breeches” (or rather, of fabric wrapped around the legs.)
I now want a goat or a donkey so I can name it Ragnar Loðbrók.
ETA: Er… go here to the Wikipedia entry if you want to be able to read what’s above without all the missing symbols.
Weirdly, I could have sworn when I read the rule book it stated “a light or conservative color.” But I was wrong.
Maybe “conservative” is being interpreted as “pastel”?
[QUOTE=Highflyer;8279865]
While I hate to be the only one not wearing one, I’m in favor of keeping it optional. It’s nice to wear them on cool spring/ fall days, or when you have someone with you to take glamour shots.[/QUOTE]
True! Hadn’t thought of it that way - makes total sense.
[QUOTE=Duckz;8280221]
Slightly off topic, but Janet maybe you can help. I thought a black polo shirt would count as appropriate dressage attire, but my trainer told me I’d have to ask the TD for permission as black is not technically a conservative color.[/QUOTE]
When asked, one of the PTB, who is involved with the rule writing, said “you can not get much more conservative than black”.
But that does not mean that every official shares that opinion.
