Nope!
That is more in my mind what a bold pattern is.
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Another traditional reason for āconservative coloursā is that it is supposed to be the horse on show rather than the rider.
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Yes, that is similar to the photo in the USDF Apparel Guide. If you look at page page 35 of the guide, all of the shirts shown are a solid color. Thatās why I am confused. Using one sun shirt with a wild floral pattern as an example is not great because there are hundreds of āshowā shirt with patterns or lace.
Now I am aware the style guide has changed because last year they had some shirts with lace inserts that were not legal. Those shirts have been removed from the guide. Anyone who has not looked at the updated guide may be unsure of what is legal or not.
I think USDF really whiffed it on this one. The put out a guide, got backlash, and then made changes. It seems to have been a poorly thought out process.
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WD has bling. My friend just bought a very blingy shirt to show in. What WD has is about 3 distinct types of western wear. So you have WP style blingage, very plain and workmanlike ranch wear, and some vaquero leaning styles.
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And so I ride a loud tobiano and wear a rather staid navy coat - people canāt miss us anyway 
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I have a chestnut Overo Paint with a huge blaze. She is so not a frills and sparkles girl. She looks fantastic in working ranch gear and a few discrete silver conchos. But life has given us black dressage gear even for back country trail riding. I keep my own colors subdued but honestly end up looking kind of like a cop in navy blue and black :). So I havenāt hit the sweet spot between vulgar and dowdy
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At least at AQHA and APHA, youth and ammy riders do wear approved helmets now. But the hunt coats? Ugh. When I show my Paint in hunters under saddle itās like stepping into a time machine. Seriously. I think Iām wearing the same hunt coat-- wool blend fabric, velvet collar, piping on the lapels-- that I wore in the early 80s.
I do have a super blingy browband for my double bridle with patent noseband, her snaffle is a little more subdued. That said, I eventually want to finish our Dolly Parton mfs and I may go ham on the rhinestones then but who can blame me then? I feel like thatās the one time very few people would be upset if Iām a little ostentatious.
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Can you wear a Coat of Many Colors?
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Well, she is fond of āDiamonds and Rhinestonesā! 
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If showing Arabian Sport Horse, the riders (99% of the time) wear regular hunter (or low-level dressage) attire. The āHunter Pleasureā division is most definitely NOT a hunter class, it is a āshow horseā class, so the riders wear āshow horseā coats (of many colors), sometimes with matchy breeches, and velvet hunt caps. (For me, when I rode in Hunter Pleasure, I wore more traditional, low-key, hunt attire, because I started in hunters and thatās the type of attire with which I am comfortable. The most exotic I ever got showing any of my Arabs in HP was a navy pinstripe jacket and rust breeches on the bay mare I was riding at the time. Of course, to me that wasnāt exotic at all as I had used the same colors showing our TB many years before. But at the time, the Arab people thought it was unusual. Guess maybe the judge didnāt mind because I won that particular class.)
Yes I am aware 
Sport horse is more with the times than main ring.
I know a few people who show Arabs. They show in so many classes, they must have a dozen outfits for a long weekend. Not sure how they keep them all straightā¦
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I am not a fan of bling either. I donāt mind a sparkly browband or pad with a bit of color/trim but thatās about it. I agree with those who stated that it is the horse who is supposed to be center stage. Call me crazy, but I have always felt the rider should dress herself or himself in ways that do not detract from the horse. When I see folks glittering like The Electric Horseman, it screams attention-seeking behavior to me. Maybe thatās not the case for everyone, but itās the impression I get.
You can have fun with colors and bold patterns schooling at homeā¦but at a show I just want people to see my horse.
Itās sort of like going to the symphonyā¦the conductor wears formal black tails and the musicians are also in black. If they were all in Hawaian prints it would seem rather like a circus to me. They dress this way out of respect for the composers and the timelessly beautiful music.
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Not all riding tradition is English.
The Spanish are really classy and the lack of white breeches is refreshing
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I googled to see what everyone is talking about. The movement is horrendous and so deeply weird. It took me several ticks to realize theyād transitioned to jog. I had never seen that gait. Then the lope - if I saw that out of context I would assume the horse was lame. What on earth is going on there? And the fake tails look legit awful. Sorry for the combo necro post/hijack.
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Bit of a tangent for the dressage forum, but I watched some of the classes from the QH Congress for the first time in years.
Enjoyed ranch riding. Also saw some reined cowhorse which was quite impressive.
WP. Thought the outfits were a bit less blingy than in years past, though still plenty of sequins! Happy to see mostly level necks without the horseās nose in the dirt. The lope was less of a trope though I found it hard to watch the crookedness and the up-down the horses had to do to maintain that slow lope. It was actually a bit faster than last time I watched. OTOH, the jog seemed to get slower! A lot were doing a kind of bouncy walk. The walk was also surprisingly slow, although in the classes I watched they didnt seem to judge much at the walk. I chuckled because even the line up and presentations took a long time as the horses moved so slowly. Sometimes I felt like they were underwater.
Western trail: Wow, lots of poles! Impressive control over their horseās feet. Apparently just the lightest touch of a pole is very costly. I wonder how they train them to be that careful.
And I found the big tails carried between the butt cheeks distracting! When I went to the Congress as a kid, only reiners had big tails. The other QHs had shorter tails pulled to lay between the butt cheeks and show off thebooty!
I was told by a TD earlier this year that the bold pattern shirt rule is gone for 2023, and the guide is outdated. Not sure if that is accurate, but it is what I was told.
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