LLOC & DISTRICT RIDING CLUB

Handler

• Trousers are better than jodhpurs or breeches. Black or dark if your horse
  has light legs, and beige or light if your horse has dark legs. This means the judge can see the horse's legs move without getting them mixed up with yours.
• Shirt and tie - as for ridden classes.
• Tweed jacket.
• Hat. Can be 'cowboy hat' type, or riding hat. A velvet hat without straps looks neat and tidy, but of course offers less protection than a normal riding hat, which must be done up if worn. You should never be penalised for putting safety first and wearing a proper hat.
• Hair as for a ridden class - neat and tidy. No hairnet if you are wearing a cowboy hat, but tied back out of the way.
• Jod boots or discreet trainers of a similar colour to the trousers. You need to be able to run in them!
• Gloves as for ridden classes.
• Show cane as for ridden classes.

Native ponies and horses eg: mountain and moorland -welsh ponies and cobs

Rider

• Tweed jacket.
• Beige or canary jodhpurs or breeches (not white).
• Long boots if over 16, short boots with jodhpur clips if under 16 and small breeds if rider is over 16.
• Hat - some shows specify current safety standards and chinstrap to be done up, others don't. Velvet hat or skull cap with velvet cover. Most affiliated M&M classes do specify proper hats to be worn, regardless of the individual show's rules, so you'll never be incorrect in a proper hat with harness.
• Hair in a hairnet if long enough. Should always be neat and tidy.
• Shirt and tie - tie discreet and matching/complementing your jacket. No gaudy ones! No stock. Shirt can be plain white, some wear coloured stripey ones.
• Waistcoat is optional.
• Brown or black plain gloves.
• Show cane is correct, but not imperative. It finishes off the overall picture. Should match gloves and tack - ie - all brown or all black. Black cane with brown tack is better than brown cane with black tack.

Horse

• Plain browband - no coloured velvet. Metal or clencher is permitted but may be frowned upon by more traditionalist judges. Brass is traditionally for stallions.
• No numnah, or a discreet one that matches the saddle and shows as little as possible.
• No boots or bandages allowed. Remedial shoeing (i.e. eggbars) may be taken to mean the horse has a conformational problem, so may mark you down.
• Brown or black tack. Brown is preferred by traditionalist judges, but many wear black these days. Brown is always correct in the show ring, black may not be.
• Snaffle bit for novice classes, double bridle or pelham for open ones. If a rugby pelham is used, then a separate sliphead for the snaffle ring makes it look much better.
• Bridles should be reasonably plain and workmanlike. Discreetly stitched nosebands and browbands are acceptable in some breeds, but need to be matched with the horse's head.
• A straight cut or working hunter saddle will show off the horse's shoulders and movement, so is preferable to a GP. Leather girth, or a white one is acceptable if your horse is grey, as a dark girth can distract the eye.
• Manes, tails and feathers may be trimmed or pulled in some breeds, according to the breed society's specifications. Check these, as some societies do not allow any type of trimming.
• Welsh Ponies of all sections may be shown ridden and inhand with a single plait behind the ear, not rolled up.
• Quartermarkers are not correct for native ponies.

Horse Inhand

• White halter or rope halter is correct for New Forest, Highland (rope, not webbing), Fell, Dales, Welsh A, C and D youngstock, mares and geldings of any age.
• Shetlands, Connemaras, Exmoors, Dartmoors and Welsh Bs are shown in leather foal slips, then inhand bridles.
• Inhand bridles are acceptable for youngstock and broodmares. Yearling fillies or geldings should not be bitted, 2 year old fillies or geldings can be but the judge may assume they are badly behaved and you need it for control. No bit is preferable.
• Horses who also do ridden classes can wear either riding bridles with normal reins or inhand bridles with couplings - not riding bridles with coupling and lead. If they are in novice classes then a snaffle bridle, once they have won an open class then double/pelham.
• Stallions should, once they are 2 or over, wear bridles with bits. Yearling colts sometimes wear bits, but are led from the noseband. 2 year olds often wear the little nylon bits, but 3 and over (large breeds especially) should wear the proper stallion bits with horseshoe shaped bit rings on an inhand bridle. Small breed stallions (but not Exmoors) often wear the nylon bits at all ages, as the horseshoe bits can overpower a small face. Clencher browbands and brass buckles are often seen.
• Some breed societies stipulate that stallion harnesses must be worn on stallion of 3 and over. Check with each society as to the rules on this.