This is one of my favourite COTH exchanges from when the transition from top hat to helmet was still moderately fresh
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“HOW WILL PEOPLE DISTINGUISH ME FROM THE PLEBS IF I DON’T HAVE A FANCIFUL JACKET ON?!?!?!?!”
get over yourself
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At least the rider was wearing something. Not like that French guy who wore his birthday suit to that jumper costume class a while back
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If I am engaging in any sort of athletic endeavor I want to be as comfortable as possible. If that means ditching the coat (I absolutely will). Why be uncomfortable for the sake of “tradition?”
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My rider is actually the one who a) has to be reminded what day he has to wear whites and still forgets and has to go back to the hotel and b) gets stopped by stewards going in and told to take his jacket off from over his riding jacket because he doesn’t find his jacket fashionable at all haha
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They won’t waive them for appointments, because the coat (well, turnout generally) is part of what is being judged. But I absolutely have seen coats waived for sidesaddle in the summer, for the hack and over fences. I’d shed my heavy wool coat from that much faster than my techy, light-weight regular show coats, given the chance.
Coats get waived pretty often at Upperville. The weather is almost always absolutely terrible for it. If it’s not pouring, it’s hotter than Hades, and many people showing there do opt to skip the coat if they get the chance.
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Just ask yourself: WWGMD?
(What would George Morris do?!)
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Clicked on this thread to see what “really” was all about… I don’t know how ye-all have so much time and energy for this kind of stuff… well off to check the farm sprinkler system and take a nap 
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You would be amazed at how much time you save if you don’t have a farm sprinkler system to check 
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[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:9783799}[/ATTACH] today he wouldn’t wear the coat perfect timing!
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Wow OP, aren’t you a peach.
This is me riding in an FEI GP last August: http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a484/PNWjumper/Facebook/2016%20Horseshows/FFX_4185small_zpsyv9adkzp.jpg
Want to know how much I cared about the opinions about my lack of a hunt coat from people sitting and watching? Next to zero. Funny story - most of the people who were sitting on the sidelines and watching were in shorts and tank tops because, you know, it was freaking hot out (right around 100 that day). Many of them paid admission fees. Are they disrespecting the show by showing up in non-show-appropriate clothing? George Morris was also in the stands watching, and I’m not gonna lie, the thought crossed my mind that I was not going to make a good impression on him that day. But hey, I have a lot of other struggles and flaws that are more directly related to actual riding and horsemanship than the decision to clothe myself in fanciful colored fabric with no actual purpose.
Along those lines, I have enough other stuff on my mind, which looks something like this in the hour or so between the course set and the class start: “holy crap fence 5 is enormous! Is there any way we’ll make it over? Nope, definitely not going to survive that. But if I do, what about the 7 1/2 stride line to the widest oxer on course to the 3 1/2 stride line to the 5’ plank vertical? Oh crap, there’s no way we’re making it through that even if we do get that far! But if we do what about the turn to the water jump? Will I remember to hold out far enough?” And so on and so on.
Generally I wear a coat until about the upper 90s, at which point I couldn’t care less about tradition and just want to be wearing something that’s not going to trap heat and hopefully take an action to make the ride (about which I’m already flustered before we even warm up) that much less stressful. When the show waives hunt coats there is ZERO DISRESPECT FOR ANYONE AT OR RELATED TO THE SHOW. No one is offended by riders optioning out of coats except for casual watchers who have a ridiculous hang up on coats. The sponsors aren’t disrespected, the judges aren’t disrespected, the horseshow is not disrespected, the horses aren’t disrespected. The whole discussion and debate is ridiculous and the biggest hangups I’ve seen are from people who say things like, “well I don’t ride at that level, but if I did…” :uhoh:
As for the horses, two things. First, horses are well equipped to exercise in the heat. My horse is far less physically stressed by galloping around a course at 100 degrees than I am. Saying that, I realize it’s an individual thing for both horses and people. I have a mare who doesn’t do well when the temps near 100. With her I might follow the rule “if it’s hot enough to forego my hunt coat, perhaps she doesn’t need to go either.” But that would be a silly decision with my guy. And secondly, my horses are incredibly fit. Much fitter than me. I would LOVE to be that fit, as a matter of fact. Maybe someday I will make that dream come true. But as long as I’m trying to juggle real life with my kids with my farm with my horses I just am not as fit as I think I would have to be to not overheat in the heat. Or maybe, like my mare, I’m just not an incredibly heat tolerant person.
So at this point I do this crazy thing called KNOWING MYSELF AND DRESSING ACCORDING TO RULES AND MY OWN PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS. It’s great to be a grown-up sometimes and to have the freedom to make decisions for your own personal welfare. And I totally respect if you would prefer to wear a coat yourself regardless of the temps - have at it.
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PNW what a great photo!
As to coats/no coats-- heavy woolen and tweed coats were developed in England for a reason. The weather. As has been pointed out in a few posts, for winter outdoor hunt riding in cold and damp. When people moan about tradition, I want to say what tradition? Hunters as in the US is not a thing in England-- not much tradition there. Jumpers? Again, the show ring has developed its own rules and ways-- the cry for tradition is a bit thin. Yes, look workmanlike, showmanlike, professional, as in the PNW photo. Heatstroke is not a hunting tradition.
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This is idiotic. As a child I knew ladies who grew up hunting side saddle in habits in the 30s. And wearing mink coats and painting rosebud lips on their faces and generally dressing generally in the fashions of their time. I guarantee you if they were alive today they’d not be wearing non stretch heavy wool fabrics in the summer or nattering on about tradition. Or riding aside, mind you. They only did it in the first place because their fathers made them, the more progressive rode astride and they all did by the late 40s. It messes up your back to ride aside all the time and it is idiotic to wear a wool coat doing an athletic endeavour in hot weather.
And we wonder why fewer and fewer people ride horses.
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Er, if show management waived coats, it’s not disrespecting anyone. It’s doing what’s comfortable and safe.
Like PNWJumper, I’ve done some GPs where coats were waived - and I took mine off as soon as the announcement was made. When I did hunters, I would never dream of showing without a coat, but there’s so much physical effort involved in staying with a horse over a GP fence that for me, a heat-intolerant and cold-loving organism, not having a wool coat made a big difference, especially when I moved to the Midwest where the summer humidity is killer. I don’t really understand the sport’s fascination with clinging to tradition when it comes to coats - a neatly tucked in, well-fitted polo looks fine. There are more important things to worry about in a GP than whether your clothing might causes someone to clutch their pearls.
Frankly, I only worried about whether my RIDING or how my horse was treated caused people to clutch their pearls.
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I was judging a little schooling show yesterday and asked management to ensure NO ONE wore a jacket. I know it’s different at the local level, but I don’t want anyone fainting off their horse on my watch and it was 40C here.
As an ammy hunter rider, I’m always happy to ditch my coat, and if jackets are waived and my pro asks if I want them to still wear theirs on my horses, I’m not having it.
At Spruce Meadows this past weekend it was 7C and pouring rain. Watched the $400K RBC Grand Prix on TV and most of the riders had raincoats on, many had rain pants on as well. Didn’t seem to upset the sponsor in the slightest.
Back in the day, the gentry wore suits and ties and beautiful dresses for everything. They also had valets and maids to dress them and care for those clothes meticulously. And they changed for dinner every night-- black tie, thankyouverymuch. Those days are long gone, and I think our ridiculous antique uniforms should be too.
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By the outrage in the title and original post you think someone had died.
Apparently, no one died. Weird.
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Waived coats invites riders to show without them. I have no problem with it at all. And Tracy wore it for the presentation, which to me was respectful of the horse, the venue, and the win…
Don’t we have more in the horse show world to be concerned with other than a rider opting to not to wear a jacket?
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Personally, as someone who has ridden and shown hunters all of my life, I would love to be able to wear the fun things that the jumper riders can wear. First of all, the companies that make and sell hunter clothing know they have a captive audience so the prices are RIDICULOUS. Secondly, I am old and fat. I honestly will sometimes avoid showing in the summer because I can’t take the heat of the “monkey suit.” I love the look but am jealous of the fun things that jumper riders get to wear whilst still looking competitive and “professional.” I would love to see hunter riders get more options.
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Not at all shocked - as others have pointed out if jackets were waived they were appropriately dressed. However was anyone else surprised that the stewards allowed Alison Robitaille to continue jumping around after her helmet came undone? I would have thought that would have been an issue.
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And you can save even more time by not taking a nap.
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