Jumpers, if you want an audience, we need to change our image

[aekowner]

This is going to be hard to swallow for some, please bare with me.

When I was young, I dreamed of being at the top of the show jumping world. I remember watching clips of the World Equestrian Games on TV and at 7 years old I knew that was my ultimate goal. The power of the horse was clearly incredible and unmatched, and the strength, discipline and bond with the rider was fierce. At some point in the coming year after the WEG, I would ask my mom what channel I could find more on, and to my despair, there was none.

With the coming age of the internet, it’s fairly easy to watch yesterdays rounds, which is nice. However, those who are unfamiliar with our sport will never have direct access to it unless a specific search is made, and I guarantee you that isn’t happening. In case you aren’t aware, after the London Olympics, our sport was dropped a tier. This means we get LESS television time than we already had, which wasn’t a lot. I blame a large percentage of this on the decision to hire the worlds most boring, quiet, unenthusiastic announcer in the world (sorry if you know this man.) But another large percentage of my blame goes to how ridiculous, outdated, and utterly unrelatable our stupid outfits are.

Karl Cook recently reacted to a comment on this topic on his Instagram post about getting sponsors and fixing horse shows. His reply was, “what you don’t find a sport where you compete in a sport coat and white pants relatable, wow!! Of course you’re right, we look austere and bifurcated from reality wanting fans to watch a sport where the athletes are in formal wear.” This is spot on guys. We look ridiculous, and we need a huge change.

Imagine you’re not involved in the horse world. Imagine that you have never ridden a horse in your life. All you’ve ever experienced is what you’ve seen in movies and tv, and the occasional drive by a horse farm. “Well, looks easy, all you do is sit on a horse and hold a reign in the direction you want it to go.” It couldn’t possibly be a sport, at least not for the human. This is your uneducated opinion, and about 90% of the population agrees.

This is an opinion that I have to hear just about every day. I would HOPE that people would think about physics, at least a little bit, but they don’t. And they most certainly aren’t going to start when we aren’t treating ourselves like athletes.

Now let’s get blunt. We are expected to wear LITTLE TO NO ATHLETIC WEAR. We wear tan or white pants (not even leggings) made of a variety of heavy cotton blends, underneath heavy leather boots. A long sleeve formal white shirt, fortunately some lighter material these days. And some of the worlds ugliest formal sport coats in history (sorry guys, but look at fashion magazines.) All so we can ride our horses while looking as though we are cosplaying George Washington. At least he kept his ponytail out while suffering from heatstroke.

And we are really sitting here wondering, why isn’t this sport popular? Well let’s compare it to another sport that isn’t easy to understand, but is still popular.

Like tennis. Do I know how to play tennis? No. Do I know the rules to tennis? Not really, maybe two. Do I think this is a sport? YES. Why? Because holy s#!t. The arms on Serena Williams, the way she smacks that ball, I can see it clearly through her Nike athletic wear. Nike has done an immaculate of taking a traditionally pretty, reserved outfit and making it sport.

And you want to know something else? I can root for Serena Williams because I know what she looks like. If I didn’t sit on the sidelines at every show and see the same people riding every day, I would have no idea who they are! We look identical. Here, you know how when you’re not familiar with any teams while you’re watching a sports game but sometimes you just say, well they’re dressed in a cool uniform so I hope they win! That’s individuality, which is something this sport needs. Desperately.

And NASCAR? I mean sometimes I sit there and think, how the heck does anyone watch this? Is this really a sport? I wouldn’t know, but what I do know is that they look straight up AWESOME. AND, they have BIG sponsors.

If we want to change the way people think of us, if we want them to know that this is a sport, we have to act like it. And part of that, is wearing outfits that are appropriate, and attention grabbing for a sport.

Here’s a few links to elaborate, make sure to at least click the first one.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markfid…/#48552e3b5267

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markfid…/#38c70a0d7785

[Pippigirl]

Just from my small point of view but it didn’t matter what riders were wearing (in and outside of the show ring) to my non horsey friends or family. They didn’t recognize just how much of an athlete riders are and how difficult and technical the sport can be until I explained it to them. To Joe Average it does look like we’re just sitting there. I’m not sure if wearing outfits that are attention grabbing would help? A lot of people don’t recognize golf as a sport either but it gets a lot of attention. I don’t know what the answer is.

[pds]

Amen! I have long said that our sport has needed an overhaul in terms of athletic wear or lack there of. We must shed the stuffy, snobby look for real athletic clothing, sponsorship patches, logos and creative design.

[skydy]

@aekowner

This is going to be hard to swallow for some, please bare with me.

When I was young, I dreamed of being at the top of the show jumping world. I remember watching clips of the World Equestrian Games on TV and at 7 years old I knew that was my ultimate goal. The power of the horse was clearly incredible and unmatched, and the strength, discipline and bond with the rider was fierce. At some point in the coming year after the WEG, I would ask my mom what channel I could find more on, and to my despair, there was none.

With the coming age of the internet, it’s fairly easy to watch yesterdays rounds, which is nice. However, those who are unfamiliar with our sport will never have direct access to it unless a specific search is made, and I guarantee you that isn’t happening. In case you aren’t aware, after the London Olympics, our sport was dropped a tier. This means we get LESS television time than we already had, which wasn’t a lot. I blame a large percentage of this on the decision to hire the worlds most boring, quiet, unenthusiastic announcer in the world (sorry if you know this man.) But another large percentage of my blame goes to how ridiculous, outdated, and utterly unrelatable our stupid outfits are.

Karl Cook recently reacted to a comment on this topic on his Instagram post about getting sponsors and fixing horse shows. His reply was, “what you don’t find a sport where you compete in a sport coat and white pants relatable, wow!! Of course you’re right, we look austere and bifurcated from reality wanting fans to watch a sport where the athletes are in formal wear.” This is spot on guys. We look ridiculous, and we need a huge change.

Imagine you’re not involved in the horse world. Imagine that you have never ridden a horse in your life. All you’ve ever experienced is what you’ve seen in movies and tv, and the occasional drive by a horse farm. “Well, looks easy, all you do is sit on a horse and hold a reign in the direction you want it to go.” It couldn’t possibly be a sport, at least not for the human. This is your uneducated opinion, and about 90% of the population agrees.

This is an opinion that I have to hear just about every day. I would HOPE that people would think about physics, at least a little bit, but they don’t. And they most certainly aren’t going to start when we aren’t treating ourselves like athletes.

Now let’s get blunt. We are expected to wear LITTLE TO NO ATHLETIC WEAR. We wear tan or white pants (not even leggings) made of a variety of heavy cotton blends, underneath heavy leather boots. A long sleeve formal white shirt, fortunately some lighter material these days. And some of the worlds ugliest formal sport coats in history (sorry guys, but look at fashion magazines.) All so we can ride our horses while looking as though we are cosplaying George Washington. At least he kept his ponytail out while suffering from heatstroke.

And we are really sitting here wondering, why isn’t this sport popular? Well let’s compare it to another sport that isn’t easy to understand, but is still popular.

Like tennis. Do I know how to play tennis? No. Do I know the rules to tennis? Not really, maybe two. Do I think this is a sport? YES. Why? Because holy s#!t. The arms on Serena Williams, the way she smacks that ball, I can see it clearly through her Nike athletic wear. Nike has done an immaculate of taking a traditionally pretty, reserved outfit and making it sport.

And you want to know something else? I can root for Serena Williams because I know what she looks like. If I didn’t sit on the sidelines at every show and see the same people riding every day, I would have no idea who they are! We look identical. Here, you know how when you’re not familiar with any teams while you’re watching a sports game but sometimes you just say, well they’re dressed in a cool uniform so I hope they win! That’s individuality, which is something this sport needs. Desperately.

And NASCAR? I mean sometimes I sit there and think, how the heck does anyone watch this? Is this really a sport? I wouldn’t know, but what I do know is that they look straight up AWESOME. AND, they have BIG sponsors.

If we want to change the way people think of us, if we want them to know that this is a sport, we have to act like it. And part of that, is wearing outfits that are appropriate, and attention grabbing for a sport.

Here’s a few links to elaborate, make sure to at least click the first one.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markfid…/#48552e3b5267

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markfid…/#38c70a0d7785

You lost me at …“we look austere and bifurcated from reality”.

[skydy]

I am not nearly as impressed by the “awesome” NASCAR coveralls, festooned with sponsor logos, as you are.

Equestrians do have the advantage over race car drivers in that they are unlikely to catch fire while competing, so the flameproof onesies that work so well for car racing may be unnecessarily restrictive for equestrian competition.

I’m not aware of any studies regarding helmets with face shields such as NASCAR uses, for use by equestrians, but I believe they would be likely to restrict vision to an unacceptable degree. ; )

[chunky_munky]

Not sure how long you have been around the show world, but this whole clothing theory has been explored, at one time pretty seriously about 10 years ago. FEI regulations make it not so easy. And you might be surprised how much of the old guard is against any modernization of attire.

[Calvincrowe]

Many sports still use traditional attire. American football for example hasn’t changed much beyond different fabrics and helmet styles or Cricket which is hugely popular in much of the world and they wear white pants and sweaters or tops! Those cover their whole bodies! Oh, the horror! We could go back to the original Olympics and compete nude. I bet that would get LOTS of TV coverage…or at least notariety! Our sport isn’t ‘popular’ as a TV show because it is hard to understand and Americans don’t “get” horse sports well unlike other countries where it is seen as a normal, not elite, sport. Even rodeo is popular here only because of the high probability of violence. No one is asking bull riders to strip down to tanks and shorts are they?

Seriously, our clothes are the least of the problems surrounding acquiring a larger audience in America. I really don’t want to see the not-so-toned bodies of our equestrians and I sure as heck don’t want skin tight, lycra and revealing tops on ME in the ring.

[kaya842]

To add to the other well laid out points: there are several (plenty?) of athletic fabrics and modern options as far as riding clothes go. We wear leather boots for a reason (personally I don’t like having bruises up and down my legs from the stirrup leathers pinching) as well as breeches (not replacing the seat in my $6K saddle every few years because there aren’t any seams, not to mention the “stickiness” of knee patches/ full seats). Yeah the formal coats and long sleeved white shirts are a bit much, but they come in so many athletic fabrics and different options for those who have different styles. I have no issue showing in my Icefil cooling breeches (love that technology) and my black, short sleeved, lacy show shirt or my mesh show coat or a bamboo and cotton show shirt. I like that look. Others in my area show in athletic polos, which seem to be closer to the look you’re envisioning. Unfortunately for me? them? the same number of people watch my rounds in my fancy “outdated” clothes that watch them and their athletic, modern outfits.

[skydy]

Much of the attire required by the rules makes perfect sense. Most people who ride hunter/jumpers understand that the current rules for attire originate from the Fox Hunt where ambulances were not in attendance. Tall boots are still a good safety feature (decent splint if you break tib/fib) as well good protection from chafe and brush. Breeches are practical since they are effective against chafe as well. The stock tie can still double as an effective bandage and a rudimentary sling or a tie for a splint in the field.

I can’t imagine any leg wear other than tall boots would be a better choice.

The only reason to move on from tradition is if something better comes along, approved helmets for example.
More practical fabrics have been introduced.The coat requirement can be waived during hot weather. The rules regarding permissible colors could be argued but I really don’t think they would have much impact as far as spectator interest is concerned.

[Texel]

Oof. So many people here deliberately missing the point.

OP, I am for radical choice in attire for showing. If someone feels that they perform the best in a t-shirt, jeans, and paddock boots, then they should be absolutely allowed to do so.

That said, I don’t think changing attire will do anything to make the sport more popular. I think the discourse you’re seeing around attire, here and elsewhere, is just a symptom of a toxic conservative culture that would rather see itself wither on the vine than put in the concerted effort to get more people interested in the sport.

Though to be fair, I would expect nothing less of a culture so conservative that it can’t even clean up the messes it makes in its own house.

[trubandloki]

@Texel

Oof. So many people here deliberately missing the point.

I don’t think people are missing the point. The OP is saying to make English riding sports more viewer friendly we should change the outfit to be more appealing. The responses are addressing that.
I guess if everyone had to wear a bikini there might be more audience.

@Texel

OP, I am for radical choice in attire for showing. If someone feels that they perform the best in a t-shirt, jeans, and paddock boots, then they should be absolutely allowed to do so.

Pretty much all sports have some type of required uniform at all but the most entry levels. Why is it so shocking that people are required to wear a uniform for riding and not just show up in whatever they like best?

[LilyandBaron]

I could see jumpers being a bit like golf - which is far more popular in the US than equestrian sport. They wear somewhat traditional clothing, but have fun with color and certainly use athletic materials. I do not see the point of the jackets in jumpers. No one is going to care about hunters as a mass spectator sport - maybe hunter derbies? But for jumpers, wearing more athletic tops and more appealing color combos with horse gear and rider could make it more relatable and marketable.

[foursocks]

I’m not sure how watching a bunch of people riding around in jeans and t-shirts would bring in more spectators. It would be a bit hard on our saddles, too.

I like our outfits. I think they look neat and tidy and similar to what I wear to ride in everyday: a fitted shirt, a hairnet, breeches with a belt, gloves, and tall boots. All of my show coats are lightweight and washable, fit me well, stretch where I need them to, and are very comfortable.

Overall, these are functional clothes: I haven’t ridden in jeans since I was a kid and I had full chaps. Talk about hot! Riding wear has changed dramatically: no more stretchless wool coats, or heavy, also stretchless breeches. My first pair of fancy show pants were those puke green TS sidezips that weighed about 10 pounds. The Pikeurs I wear now are lightweight but still protect me from rubs.

Yeah, our coats are formal, but they are now lightweight and breathable, as are our shirts. Given how little time one has to actually wear a coat while competing, and the fact that when it gets very hot they are usually waived, I’m just not seeing the problem.

I don’t watch other sports for the outfits. There are many reasons why the average person doesn’t feel the desire to watch H/J competitions, if they can even find them to view in the first place, but I don’t think the clothing is the root of any of it.

[Texel]

@trubandloki

I don’t think people are missing the point. The OP is saying to make English riding sports more viewer friendly we should change the outfit to be more appealing. The responses are addressing that.
I guess if everyone had to wear a bikini there might be more audience.

The responses have a certain air of defensiveness that can only be mastered by an equestrian who is not comfortable with having their opinions challenged.

Pretty much all sports have some type of required uniform at all but the most entry levels. Why is it so shocking that people are required to wear a uniform for riding and not just show up in whatever they like best?

See, this is where you’ve misunderstood my position. Outside of the basic necessary safety gear and coordination for true team sports, I believe that athletes should have the choice to choose whatever attire maximizes their performance. In some sports, that will lead to attire centralizing around a standard set of gear. Riding is not one of those sports.

[EmilyM]

i really don’t think clothing is the issue. I happen to have a lot of non horsey friends who love the outfits

[foursocks]

@Texel

The responses have a certain air of defensiveness that can only be mastered by an equestrian who is not comfortable with having their opinions challenged.

See, this is where you’ve misunderstood my position. Outside of the basic necessary safety gear and coordination for true team sports, I believe that athletes should have the choice to choose whatever attire maximizes their performance. In some sports, that will lead to attire centralizing around a standard set of gear. Riding is not one of those sports.

Hunh? Long pants and tall boots are basically protective gear for riders, as are fitted shirts. Jeans are not kind to the thinner leather of most English saddles. I also can’t see how they would be any more comfortable or attractive than the super-stretchy, lightweight breeches we now have available. I’m having trouble sorting out the problem, here.

I’ve ridden in my sports bra a time or two when at home in very hot weather, but given that I’m riding a 1400lb animal having somewhat more fabric between my skin and the dirt seems like common sense. I guess it is also taste: I don’t want to compete in casual wear at a rated show, and the athletic fabrics we have available now for show clothes don’t inhibit my movement in the least, so that’s not an issue for me.

Again, if we are talking about attracting spectators I’m not seeing the rationale behind making our show clothes more jazzy or whatever. Dani Goldstein is well-known for her imaginative feather hair extensions and riding in yoga pants. Does anyone honestly think that if we all copied her people would flock to watch us?

[Horse_Rider]

I will never understand why we think anyone watches horse sports for the people or what they wear. Maybe I’m biased but I think the pants and jackets are very dapper, the same way I admire the cleanliness of the white fencing outfit. Different is good. Sure, some color choices would be fun, but do you know what my non-horsey friends care about when I talk horse sports? The horses.

Went to Home Depot once to pick up something for the barn. Needed help getting it down and the assistant asked what it was for. My horse. Eyes wide as saucers. You have a horse?! He stood there for five minutes asking about my horse. He was just blown away. I could have been an Olympic rider and we would never have gotten to that information. I was superfluous to the mystique of the horse.

Equestrian sports want to be appealing to non-horse-people? It needs to be about the horse. They’re our magic. Tell me what this horse has achieved, not its rider. Want to blow my socks off? Give me foal pics. Give me mama horse pics and daddy horse pics. Gawky yearling pics fading to the full grown beast frothing and ready to attack the fences. Show footage of this horse failing as a race horse and eating up ground in the ring, at home in its new environment.

Yes, the riders are good at what they do, a little chat about their successes is reasonable, but we are here for the horses. That’s what we have to draw people in. You know why people think the horse does all the work? Well, the obvious reasons, but also because they’re there to see the horse be a magnificent beast.

Look at horse racing, arguably our most publicly popular equestrian sport in the U.S. Do those jockies and trainers have rivalries? Sure. And do some of the owners have great stories? Sure. But the public is far more interested in that horse. We remember names like Secretariat and Man o’ War far better than their people unless we’re truly deep lore horse folks

Off my soap box. 😆

”‹”‹”‹

[lcw579]

@EmilyM

i really don’t think clothing is the issue. I happen to have a lot of non horsey friends who love the outfits

Exactly. That’s why every other year it seems one fashion house or another sends an equestrian line down the runway. That’s the year you don’t get odd looks shopping in breeches and boots - instead you get asked where you bought them. 🤣

People will always think it’s the horse doing all the work and that the rider is not a real athlete. I remember having that argument ad nauseum way back in my teens. The one thing that stopped it was when I was working in a restaurant with the quarterback of the football team and 5’2” me could carry heavier stacked bus pans than he could from the upstairs dining room. He then decided maybe I was pretty fit and I wasn’t lying about riders being athletes.

[173north]

To my mind, there’s zero difference between white breeches in a Grand Prix and the white athletic pants baseball and football players wear. Is it impractical, color-wise? Yes. But it’s tradition, and it’s an athletic material, so whatever. I do think coats could stand to be waived but even at a local show on a hot day, you’ll find riders refusing to take off their coats - I think the ‘formality’ of showing and the importance of turnout is very deeply ingrained in our community’s psyche. For every Karl Cook who’s ready to chuck coats at any moment, you’re going to have 2 traditionalists who hate the idea.

Last night I watched a couple jumping rounds of a pentathalon competition with my non-horsey SO. He couldn’t understand why I thought some riders were better than others but started to catch on when I explained to look for quiet riders, rhythmic canters, and minimal drama overall while still being fast and leaving the jumps up. By the end he was going “oh, this guy’s pretty good!” after the first jump or two when he saw someone tight in the tack. We then switched to the Rio show jumping final so I could show him the top level of riding from people who ONLY ride, and he was in total awe and could clearly see that this was a higher caliber of rider and jumping competition. (No shade to pentathlon athletes, they jump higher than me and do 4 other sports too!)

Part of why he got it is also because he sees how hard I work to jump around 3’ at home - so when I tell him they’re jumping closer to 5 feet in the Olympics, and if I tried to do that I’d pass out from terror before I reached the first fence, and that there also isn’t a horse in my barn who could jump around 1.60m, he has some context for normal riding vs Olympic riding. Watching figure skating or gymnastics, you know in an instant you can never do what Simone Biles does. She’s obviously a once-in-a-generation talent. But it’s a lot harder to explain why Beezie Madden or Nick Skelton are the same level of athlete because the athleticism and skill is not as apparent unless you know what to look for.

In the pentathalon, all the riders were wearing very different outfits, mostly military-inspired - some all gray, some all green, some brown, some with classic white breeches and red or navy coats. There was a lot more diversity in apparel than in your average weekend GP. But the CLOTHING wasn’t why he didn’t understand the sport. I don’t think he registered the clothing at all. Time and jump faults are simple to explain but what makes show jumping rewarding to watch - understanding why leaving out a stride or taking a bold inside turn is a risk/reward proposition that hinges on some combination of physics, timing, horse ability, reflexes and a bit of luck - is harder to grasp, whether the rider is wearing a team coat or a t-shirt.

I urge you to do this experiment with a non-horsey person in your life! Show them a few rounds of a few different levels of competition. See what questions they ask and what they find hard to understand. Is our clothing off-putting? Yes. But putting everyone in a sunshirt only removes one tech-fabric layer of what makes our sport inaccessible to the public.

[173north]

Edited my above post and it made a new one in quote format?