Essential English Horse Back Riding Apparel
The two main riding styles are English and Western, with English being the more popular of the two, partially because you and your horse don't need so much expensive horse back riding equipment. Now, your horse needs a saddle and bridle, but choosing them is beyond the scope of this little article. Let's focus on what horse back riding apparel you need to wear. If you are renting the horse for lessons, many stables won't let you on their horses without wearing the proper horse back riding apparel.
Hard Hat
If you can only get one piece of horse back riding apparel for now, make it the hard hat. Ride naked if you have to, but wear that hard hat. Some stables that offer riding lessons will provide the hat, but it is far more comfortable for your head to have your own. Also, when a hard hat fits better, it's less likely to rub and cause pain or fall off at an inopportune moment and cause even more pain.
Hard hats are usually black or brown, but there are some colored caps you can put on them. They tend to be solid and really bake your head in the heat. Do yourself a favor and keep your hair as short as possible if you want to do a lot of English riding - otherwise, your hair becomes a real liability. This most important piece of horse back riding apparel must have a chin strap. A bike helmet is too flimsy.
Boots With A Heel
Actually, riding naked is not only uncomfortable, but also unsafe unless you are an expert rider or a centaur. It also can scare your horse pretty bad. But if you have to ride naked, you can keep yourself a lot safer by wearing not only a hard hat, but a pair of boots with a noticeable heel. This horse back riding apparel keeps your foot from getting caught in the stirrup.
You might think the whole point of a stirrup is to get your foot caught in it, but you'd think wrong. If your foot gets caught in the stirrup and you fall out of the saddle (and trust me - you will fall out of the saddle), you care caught angling by your foot thumping on the side of the horse. If your horse decides to take off and your foot is caught, you are dead.
You don't have to have a full boot in order to ride safely. Many people have been able to ride in Ducks or half-boots, which are really huge shoes with a half-inch heel. There are small riding footwear called paddock boots which are also safe for riding. They are also far more comfortable for general walking about in.
