What to Wear Horseback Riding: Tips for Your Comfort and Safety
If you’re going horseback riding for the first time, you might feel overwhelmed as soon as you open your closet. What should you wear? And do you even have the right clothing and equipment? Well, don’t worry – there’s no need to stress. Our guide on what to wear horseback riding will answer all of your questions!
What to Wear Horseback Riding: Figuring Out the Basics
First-time horseback rides usually fall into one of these categories:
- A tour: Perhaps you’re on an amazing trip in a fantastic locale, and you’ve decided to sign up for a horseback riding tour. It’ll be your first time on horseback, but you’ll be part of a group led by a knowledgeable guide.
- A lesson: Maybe you’ve always been interested in taking lessons, and you finally have a chance to attend. You’re participating in a private lesson with a skilled instructor.
- Riding with friends or family: Let’s say that your friend or relative has a horse and they’ve invited you to come ride. They’ll teach you the basics and lend support since it’s your first time.
Each of these scenarios is different, but for the most part, you’ll prepare in a similar fashion. We’ll break each scenario down and then get into the specifics of the gear you’ll want to purchase if you plan to ride more than once.
Horseback Riding Tour
Horseback riding tours are usually quite casual. In most touristy destinations, you can book same-day tours (meaning you won’t have a ton of time to figure out what to wear horseback riding).
At a minimum, most tour operators will want you to wear close-toed shoes. Horses are heavy animals, and even an accidental step could cause a significant injury. Therefore, you’ll want athletic shoes or boots that have a nice, thick covering over your toes. Slip-on shoes made from flimsy material won’t do the trick.
Apart from shoes, the tour operator may ask you to wear long pants to avoid chafing or discomfort. The combination of leather and fabric can cause chafing on your inner thighs or seat. This uncomfortable feeling will ruin your tour, so if you can, it’s wise to wear long pants. Jeans, leggings, or any pants made of stretchy material should do the trick for a short horseback tour.
Finally, the tour provider should give you a riding helmet to wear for the duration of the tour. Helmets are a must for head protection if you take a fall.
Lessons
If you’ve signed up for a lesson, you need to figure out what your plans and goals are moving forward to determine whether you should invest in gear. Equipment can be expensive, so you should think carefully before buying attire and safety gear if you’re unsure about taking lessons.
Once you have a lesson scheduled, you should check with the barn ahead of time to ask about their policies regarding dress/equipment. If they don’t have stringent requirements, you should show up in close-toed shoes and long pants. If you plan to take multiple lessons, you may want to buy riding pants (also called breeches). These form-fitting pants have patches on the inner part of the knee to provide a better grip.
Most facilities have helmets that students can borrow for lessons. That said, it’s valuable to have your own properly fitted helmet to ensure your safety. You can also buy gloves for some hand protection. Lastly, you may want half chaps or full chaps for extra leg protection and grip. Chaps cover either your calves or your calves and thighs and help prevent chafing.
Riding with Friends or Family
Riding a friend or family member’s horse might seem like a casual affair. However, this is one of the least safe scenarios in which to try riding. Even if your friend is a conscientious horse person, they may not have experience teaching beginners (like an instructor would) or working with random tourists (like a guide would). Therefore, the chances of something going wrong in a casual “riding with friends” scenario may be higher than in lessons or on a guided tour.
With that in mind, at a minimum, you must have close-toed shoes and a helmet. Even if your friend or family member rides without a helmet (because their horse is “so good” and “never spooks”), you shouldn’t take a gamble with your own safety. You don’t know the horse, and as a beginner, it takes time to learn horse behaviors. Even seasoned horse people get injured in unexpected ways. Therefore, it’s always worthwhile to wear a helmet.
What to Wear Horseback Riding: Items to Buy if You Continue Riding
If (when) you get hooked on riding, you’ll want to invest in some high-quality items for your comfort and safety. In the “old days”, you’d have to visit specialty shops to buy safety equipment. Now, you can find excellent items from reputable brands online. Some major brands even sell on Amazon, so it’s easy to find what you need.
A note on pricing: prices can vary dramatically for riding gear. You can afford to go “cheap” on some items, but don’t cut corners on anything that impacts your safety (such as a helmet). A head injury is NOT worth the risk!
Boots
Riding boots come in several shapes and styles. For English-style riding, short (ankle) boots are quite common, but some riders prefer tall (knee) boots for training and showing. Western riders usually wear cowboy boots.
Above all, you’ll want to make sure that your boots protect your toes and the tops of your feet. A 1,000+ pound animal steeping on your foot does NOT feel good!
Riding Pants
English-style riding pants are referred to in several ways – breeches, tights, or jodhpurs are some examples (although jodhpurs and breeches are technically different). In general, for riding, you want form-fitting pants that won’t bunch up or chafe when you’re in the saddle. Therefore, riding pants are tight from the waist to the ankles, and they often have reinforced patches on the inside of the knees to prevent chafing. Many modern styles have grippy rubber patterns on the seat and inner thighs to provide traction.
You can find riding pants in all sorts of colors, styles, and cuts. Generally, for showing, you’ll want standard beige or white pants that don’t have any special markings. However, for lessons or training, you can choose breeches in any color you want. The fit is the most important feature – make sure the fabric doesn’t bunch, sag, or twist in uncomfortable ways.
Western riders often ride in jeans or heavy-duty work pants. You might want to pair these pants with full chaps for added protection and comfort.
Chaps
Chaps are leather or suede leg coverings that offer protection from chafing. Full chaps start at the waist and cover the entire leg (usually with openings for the seat and crotch so that you have plenty of mobility). Half chaps start below the knee and attach beneath your boots. Western riders often wear full chaps, while English riders typically wear half-chaps.
Gloves
Riding gloves should be thin, lightweight, and grippy. For English riding, heavy-duty work gloves aren’t ideal since it’s hard to maintain a “feel” on a horse’s mouth when wearing bulky fabric. You’ll want a grippy material so that leather or rope reins won’t slip through your fingers. Work gloves will do the trick if you’re riding Western – just make sure the gloves aren’t too loose or tight.
Gloves aren’t mandatory, but they can increase your comfort. This is especially true if you’re riding a horse that pulls down on the reins.
Helmet
No matter the riding style or discipline, A helmet is by far the most important item on the list of what to wear horseback riding. Helmets come in many shapes and styles, but most helmets have a flat brim to protect your face.
Even if you have a helmet for another sport, like biking, you should purchase a NEW riding helmet from a reputable source. Helmets expire after a certain amount of time, and you shouldn’t buy them secondhand. The helmet could be have damaged at some point.
A properly fitted helmet hugs both sides of your head (without squeezing) and doesn’t tilt in different directions if you shake your head. If you take a fall in a helmet, you should replace it – it’s not safe to continue riding in a helmet that may be damaged.
Conclusion
Horseback riding should be fun, enjoyable, and educational. Wearing the right clothing and gear keeps you safe and comfortable so that you can soak up the experience.
