Saturday 2 August 2014

Riding wear

 I love riding my horse. In fact I love horses whether I'm in the saddle or not! Riding wear needs to be very comfortable, and the top half needs to be good for layering, because it can be chilly up in the wind, or really hot if you are working hard. Not that we do too much of that! Sorry, these photos are not the sharpest - not sure what happened, but as it was mild today I wore one of my much modified Gertie Portrait Blouses.
This one is a light cotton and has shirring in the back to give it shape and stretch. It is already crumpled because it had been out to the saddlery shop. I promise I did iron it!
The back forms a sort of peplum which is ideal for riding. The colour is a bit risky for riding, but it wasn't muddy this week so Zanny, my horse, was clean. She gets extremely filthy on wet winter days, and shares a lot of that dirt with me. I had to put two photos of the back view in because you can see my furry children milling around in this one, and in the one above I love the way Fergus is patting at something. 
 I bought some new boots today. They are Shires paddock boots, and are much smarter than my previous pair. I'm wearing them with neoprene half chaps. When we were children we never had chaps but practically everyone wears them here now. I always wear Horze jodhpurs because I have found they have a style that suits my womanly curves. They have a nice high waist and are very sturdy. Some brands are hipster style, but who wants to see butt crack on horseback? Even horses hide their butt cracks with their tails.
 Zanny and I had a lovely ride today. I threw a cardie on over the top, as I usually do. I have several merino cardies that have been demoted from work wear to riding and gardening wear. I loathe the look of polarfleece, so only wear it for freezing days exercising or gardening.

Onto the details. I modified Gertie's original blouse pattern from her first book by narrowing the shoulders and adding a simple self-drafted sleeve. I used double ended darts in the front for shaping, rather than pleats, and used shirring instead of darts at the back. The blouse is longer than the original to stop it riding up while in the saddle and doing active things around the stable yard. My blouse is looser than Gertie's original to cater for my generous bust, so didn't need the side zip.

Would I make my own jodphurs? Not on your life as long as I can get my favourite Horze ones (although the brand name brings to mind the ladies of the night - am I right??).

3 comments:

  1. Horze...That makes me snort with laughter...

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  2. Despite the rather dodgey name, they do look great and sound comfortable. The wee top is really sweet, you are looking fab xxxx

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  3. Super comfy and chic at the same time! I just love your kitty playing in the background!

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