What do you wear?
I think I want a long sleeve shirt because I love the look, but I don’t know where to begin. Obviously I don’t want to be hot… But it’s a long sleeve shirt.
What do you wear that keeps you cool?
I usually just wear a tech material polo or long sleeved shirt-- I run, so I usually wear running shirts with the three quarter zip if I wear long sleeves. I tend to get them at Walmart/ Target or at places like Marshalls/ TJ Maxx. I can’t stand long sleeves in the summer though. Maybe try the sun shirts with the mesh?
Right now I just wear a short sleeve white technical shirt (Smartpak or Ariat) but I really want to try this one in navy with white mesh/red accents:
I felt it in person–very nice material, feels like it’ll breathe and wick sweat away to keep you cool. Also pretty inexpensive for an equestrian brand (vs going to Dicks Sporting Goods or something.)
My favorite long sleeve shirt, with the mesh, is by Equi In Style (EIS). I have 3 of them. They are very expensive, but I went to their website and got the discontinued colors. I have worn them, with washing afterwards, for 4 years. They have held up beautifully. I wash them in the washing machine, then hang dry. They are sized pretty small. I have to get the 2X for it to be comfortable for me.
I have other brands, too. I save the shirts in my eventing colors to use only at events. I have an Under Armour with vents all over the back that I like, too. Being a squamous skin cancer survivor, I have to cover up.
Love love love under amour sun shirts for summer riding, non show shirt competition. They wear like iron and wash up beautifully.
I got asked all summer “how can you ride I long sleeves” but I was usually better off than they were
I have a couple different shirts and have never felt hot in any of them. A silver long sleeved tech material shirt from Kerrits (can’t recall the model) An Air-Silk shirt from Tredstep and my favorite so far a long sleeved competition shirt from Romfh it has mesh along the underarms. http://www.romfh.com/shirts/romfh-competitor-show-shirt-long-sleeve-468447
The Romfh one also has a wrap collar so you can wear it through all three phases.
My two xc shirts are Romfh and EOUS, both long sleeve as I am blond haired/fair skinned and want to protect my skin. I love the Romfh shirt because it has the underarm mesh and is white with black details (my colors are black/grey/white). This is my main xc show shirt and I’ve never been hot in it - even during full endurance days at long format events and middle of the summer. The EOUS shirt I got on sale on TOTD. It is supposedly a technical fabric that keeps you warmer in cool weather and cooler in warm weather… but really I just wear it because it is purple (added color for my second horse). I’ve yet to wear it in true heat, though, since most of the summer shows have me doing xc on both horses on the same day and there is no time to change tops.
I don’t really have a dedicated x-c shirt–I dress more for the weather. Short sleeved, long sleeved, fleece-lined, raincoat–whatever suits. At the past couple events in VA I have had to wear like 3-4 shirts, layered. So happy it’s finally warming up.
I dress for the weather too but through and through my Riding Sport Polo has pulled through for me – for the rainy or overcast days I wear my Underarmor Half-Zip Long sleeve.
http://www.doversaddlery.com/riding-sport-plaid-trim-zip-mock/p/X1-200028/
http://www.doversaddlery.com/ua-coldgear-cozy-14-zip/p/X1-20940/
I have a cool blast ice fill (long sleeve) that I really like, nice bright color and very cool, even when it is warm. On occasion I forget how not warm it is and throw it on as a long sleeve shirt when it is cooler out and immediately regret the decision.
[QUOTE=skipollo;8633520]
Right now I just wear a short sleeve white technical shirt (Smartpak or Ariat) but I really want to try this one in navy with white mesh/red accents:
I felt it in person–very nice material, feels like it’ll breathe and wick sweat away to keep you cool. Also pretty inexpensive for an equestrian brand (vs going to Dicks Sporting Goods or something.)[/QUOTE]
I have this shirt in both the Navy and the cobblestone grey (which is more of a beige really). They are as nice as you would expect them to be for $35. Idk that I would show in one, but I do event in my Tailored Sportsman sun shirts. The feel of the fabric on the TS is soooo much softer and I find I stay cooler in the TS than the Horze. of course, the TS costs almost twice as much so there is that. 
I also have the Noble Equine sun shirts and Kastel Denmark (can you tell I love sun shirts?). Both the NE and Kastel are on part with the TS imo. They are all in the same price bracket so there is that.
I have a couple custom sunshirts in my colors that I wear xc. All long sleeve. I wear the white based one when its hot and the Navy based one when its not.
I have a riding sport short sleeve zip polo that I like, and that’s one of the high tech materials, but my long sleeved shirt is basically a striped kid’s jersey in my colors. I saw some beautiful shirts at the trade show at the USEA meeting that were high tech material and came in all manner of custom colors and patterns, but the price, at over $130, stopped me cold. It’s a shirt. That I will be wearing for about 10 minutes under a vest.
I did have a funny experience yesterday at the schooling derby - I put my vest on and then realized it had started to rain and I was cold. So I put my fleece jacket on over it. I stayed warm, but I looked like I was in a perpetual shrug because the vest’s shoulders were big. And then I nearly couldn’t get the pullover back off because it was tight on my vest. I was this close to needing someone to pull it off for me, as if I was a toddler. Lesson there - wear the zip up next time…
I wore a burgundy long sleeve shirt with mesh today at a CT, and it was really nice to not have the sun on my arms. It really felt cooler. I have some of the sun shirts that were on sale from Zulilly a couple of months ago (can’t remember the brand?) and they look like they will be even cooler.
I used to use a regular or wicking material type polo shirt, but now I have the Rompfh show shirt with mesh under arms/vents mentioned in a previous post, and I’ve been riding in that xc since I got it earlier this year- stays cool and looks nice, I think. It has magnetic snaps on the collar, I just leave the collar open for xc, but can put my stock tie over it for the other phases.
I have a quarter zip Riding Sport Icefill shirt for summer schooling that I have worn xc before, it’s quite comfy and fits nicely (not in my xc colors so don’t show in it regularly though). I also recently won a shirt from I Love My Horse (they had a booth at almost every event I went to in Area III this winter)… it’s a similar style to the Riding Sport and Rompfh shirts I have, but two tone in color and really nice and cool- it has a Danish flag type emblem on it, not sure of the brand.
If it’s cool/cold, I have a nice white Under Armour shirt for running that has a mock turtleneck and is warm but breathable. Cheap at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
I think just try things out and see what you like. As long as it’s not sleeveless you should be good to go.
I’m one of the few that prefer cotton or similar fabrics. Don’t get me wrong, I love the technical fabrics and have several:
UA long sleeve
Sun shirts with vented arm pits
UA cold gear
But, I sweat a lot, and no matter how much I wash, or what detergent I use, the tech fabrics eventually hold onto stink. I get incredibly frustrated by it. I’m not overly picky about having to ride in a polo, so for XC my go to is a long sleeve T (if it’s not cold enough to require the UA cold gear) from Target, and if it’s arm a short sleeve T from Target.
I hate long sleeves, even though they do look sharp. My last barn had long sleeve tech shirts made and I’ll show (if we can, anyway) at least once in it, for nostalgia sake. But, I prefer sunscreen + short sleeves. My favorite would be a three quarter sleeve, but those are hard to find that aren’t baggy.
My colors are blue and white (and now red is creeping in), so I mainly wear Ralph Lauren’s big pony polos. I have one that has three diagonal stripes across the front of red, white, and navy, and another one that is royal blue with red and white accents and “Paris” written across the front. This works perfectly because I am a huge francophile (Here’s the men’s version of my Paris shirt: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/59/fe/59/59fe599833300c03fd84949594c727ff.jpg.
Ralph Lauren’s shirts have a lot going on, but I love how colorful they are, and they are super comfy. They also come in long sleeves.
Also - even though my shirts are short-sleeved, if the weather is cold, I will wear a long-sleeved complementary color underneath. For the shirt linked above, I usually wear red long sleeves, and it ends up looking very sharp.
Kastel–long and short sleeve
