Hunter Jacket Color Rule Change (Proposed)

[2bayboys]

@Pennywell Bay

Just quoting you because it spurred my thought.

Besides “tradition”- any idea where this crack down came from? Is someone in a burgundy. light blue, or piped jacket or blue topped boots really a big deal? Again- as personal taste equinosauraus - I don’t find the new colors/look/trend attractive. I love the classic looks (oh hell I even love the puffy breeches look hides my thighs) . I just can’t grasp what the problem is (besides some think it is ugly).

I just wonder which tradition this rule is trying to protect.
Rust breeches and pale linen jackets of the 80s?
Velvet chokers from the 70s?
Loud plaid tweeds from the 60s?
True canary breeches with flares from the 50s?

All of these things are gone now but were perfectly acceptable and even expected in their day.

[eclipse]

Please…I beg you Equine Canada…please please please…keep all discussion of jacket colour and trim out of our rules, …pleeeeeeeeeeese! (We currently just state jackets must be worn unless a judge deems it too hot lol)

[Renn_aissance]

@2bayboys

I just wonder which tradition this rule is trying to protect.
Rust breeches and pale linen jackets of the 80s?
Velvet chokers from the 70s?
Loud plaid tweeds from the 60s?
True canary breeches with flares from the 50s?

All of these things are gone now but were perfectly acceptable and even expected in their day.

That is exactly my question. This really just sounds like somebody fussing about a personal vision of what a rider “ought” to look like in the ring, in a division where the rider’s appearance is not being judged.

Here’s Jackie Kennedy in a contrast-collar hunt coat on Thanksgiving Day Hunt (and this illustration shows a contrasting collar on a women’s riding habit from the 1840’s.) Plaids, checks, and herringbones were seen in men’s shooting attire through the 1800s and are likely to have been worn hunting as well, both a light pattern on a dark base and a dark pattern on a light base.

Personally, the only reason burgundy coats bother me is that the particularly light-colored ones look like scarlet. In that sense it’s kind of appropriating colors a rider isn’t entitled to wear (USET coat or hunt staff.) I think the wine-colored ones look sharp on dark and gray horses.

[Nancy1]

@eclipse

Please…I beg you Equine Canada…please please please…keep all discussion of jacket colour and trim out of our rules, …pleeeeeeeeeeese! (We currently just state jackets must be worn unless a judge deems it too hot lol)

Equestrian Canada - hahaha

[MHM]

@staceymc

Yes. I know of a junior hunter rider who got eliminated in HITS Ocala a couple years ago for a burgundy coat.

Interesting. Thanks.

[MHM]

@2bayboys

Anything we do to discourage people from participating in our sport is to its detriment.

Well said.

[busylady]

@MHM

Have people been showing in these coats at USEF shows? If so, have they been getting eliminated?

I have not seen a burgundy coat in person yet. Just in pictures.

I showed in my burgundy AA jacket all season and won championships in Thermal and Thunderbird. Two of my barnmates also show in the burgundy jacket (and we wear classic velvet helmets). We have never been disqualified or even admonished by a judge. I did email USEF prior to purchasing my jacket and I was told, in an email, that burgundy is not prohibited.

[RugBug]

@busylady

I showed in my burgundy AA jacket all season and won championships in Thermal and Thunderbird. Two of my barnmates also show in the burgundy jacket (and we wear classic velvet helmets). We have never been disqualified or even admonished by a judge. I did email USEF prior to purchasing my jacket and I was told, in an email, that burgundy is not prohibited.

I feel like you’ve given your identity away.

[Sticky_Situation]

@Renn/aissance

That is exactly my question. This really just sounds like somebody fussing about a personal vision of what a rider “ought” to look like in the ring, in a division where the rider’s appearance is not being judged.

Here’s Jackie Kennedy in a contrast-collar hunt coat on Thanksgiving Day Hunt (and this illustration shows a contrasting collar on a women’s riding habit from the 1840’s.) Plaids, checks, and herringbones were seen in men’s shooting attire through the 1800s and are likely to have been worn hunting as well, both a light pattern on a dark base and a dark pattern on a light base.

Personally, the only reason burgundy coats bother me is that the particularly light-colored ones look like scarlet. In that sense it’s kind of appropriating colors a rider isn’t entitled to wear (USET coat or hunt staff.) I think the wine-colored ones look sharp on dark and gray horses.

Aren’t contrasting collars traditionally worn by someone who has earned their “colors” as a member of a hunt? So maybe that is the rationale for excluding them.

I don’t compete in the hunter classes, at least not at recognized shows, but I really couldn’t care less if someone’s jacket is dark burgundy or light blue or whatever. Still, I could sort of see trying to prevent people from wearing jackets that make it look like they earned something they didn’t.

[MHM]

@busylady

I showed in my burgundy AA jacket all season and won championships in Thermal and Thunderbird. Two of my barnmates also show in the burgundy jacket (and we wear classic velvet helmets). We have never been disqualified or even admonished by a judge. I did email USEF prior to purchasing my jacket and I was told, in an email, that burgundy is not prohibited.

Huh. That’s very interesting. It almost seems contradictory to the current rule. Thanks.

[busylady]

@RugBug

I feel like you’ve given your identity away.

You have a one in three chance of figuring me out, those are pretty good odds.

[Renn_aissance]

@Sticky Situation

Aren’t contrasting collars traditionally worn by someone who has earned their “colors” as a member of a hunt? So maybe that is the rationale for excluding them.

That’s an interesting point. I know that that is one designation hunts use to recognize members who have earned their colors, but I don’t know if it’s historically been the only purpose of a contrast-color collar. I believe there’s at least some element of fashion, as shooting and sporting clothing also featured contrasting colors for the sake of style.

[gottagrey]

@Renn/aissance

That is exactly my question. This really just sounds like somebody fussing about a personal vision of what a rider “ought” to look like in the ring, in a division where the rider’s appearance is not being judged.

Here’s Jackie Kennedy in a contrast-collar hunt coat on Thanksgiving Day Hunt (and this illustration shows a contrasting collar on a women’s riding habit from the 1840’s.) Plaids, checks, and herringbones were seen in men’s shooting attire through the 1800s and are likely to have been worn hunting as well, both a light pattern on a dark base a.

Um Mrs. Kennedy had gotten her hunt colors which is the reason why the collar contrasts. It has nothing to do with fashion, despite her reputation as a fashionista.

[hoopoe]

the first hunt coat I had was in 1968. A Britney of New York, bought used for the princely sum of $4. It belonged to one of the Woodington girls. I still have it, a lovely green buff and brown. tiny houndstooth. beautifully tailored and sewn. My mom patched repaired some moth holes exclaiming how beautifully made the coat was.

I also had a beautiful Pytchley , circa 1980 a beautiful gray blue tweed, man that was a beautiful coat.

[lmlacross]

I’m all for tradition, but we’ve really jumped the shark in the hunter ring is someone feels it’s a pressing necessity to exclude burgundy coats by rule. Honestly, who cares?

[Midge]

@staceymc

Yes. I know of a junior hunter rider who got eliminated in HITS Ocala a couple years ago for a burgundy coat.

Wait. Eliminated? As in, excused from the ring?

[staceymc]

@Midge

Wait. Eliminated? As in, excused from the ring?

Finished her round and the judge radioed the gate and said they weren’t using her and why. Recommended that she change coats before showing again. Kid was (in my opinion, rightfully) annoyed and pretty vocal about it on social media.

[atl_hunter]

@dmacaramel

just FYI the burgundy and bright blue coats are currently illegal. All the proposed rule change does it clarify the existing rule. In both the hunters and equitation the rule is:

2. Attire. Riders are required to wear conservatively colored coats (black, blue, green, grey or brown) which are free

from adornment which in the judge’s opinion is overly distracting. Shirts must have a choker, similar collar or tie.

Breeches may be buff, canary, tan, rust or white.

And for the record I am a USEF Judge and Steward.

But Aviation Blue is not bright! It is more of a muted dull grey-blue. And one could argue, using Ralph Lauren decor from the 90’s as an example, that it doesn’t get a lot more conservative than burgundy and hunter green - the two very colors for the era based on their own stodgy hunt club theme. Even Audi mocked hunter green and burgundy in their “say goodbye to old luxury” ad campaign.

[atl_hunter]

@2bayboys

I just wonder which tradition this rule is trying to protect.
Rust breeches and pale linen jackets of the 80s?
Velvet chokers from the 70s?
Loud plaid tweeds from the 60s?
True canary breeches with flares from the 50s?

All of these things are gone now but were perfectly acceptable and even expected in their day.

Rust breeches are not gone - they still make appearances from time to time, especially in the fall.

[Sswor]

@staceymc

Finished her round and the judge radioed the gate and said they weren’t using her and why. Recommended that she change coats before showing again. Kid was (in my opinion, rightfully) annoyed and pretty vocal about it on social media.

Ridiculous.

Proof positive that our judges are working tirelessly and thanklessly, day in and day out, to effectively kill our sport.