What to Wear to Your First Schooling Show, Head to Toe
A schooling show is the forgiving place to return to competition, and turnout is more relaxed than a rated show. Still, you want to arrive looking correct and feeling like yourself. Here is the head-to-toe list, with the room a schooling show gives you.
On your head
Your helmet must carry a certification accepted for competition, and more than one standard qualifies. Our guide to helmet safety and replacement sets out which standards USEF and USPC accept and when a helmet has to be replaced. Check the label inside the helmet, and confirm the current requirement for your division in your rulebook. At a schooling show a plain, well-fitted helmet is entirely correct. This is not the place to economize on age or fit.
On top
A schooling show rarely requires a show coat. A clean, collared sun shirt in a conservative color is correct and comfortable, and the technical fabrics breathe far better than the cotton of your junior years. Keep a show coat in the trailer only if the class or the weather calls for it. If you are buying one for the season ahead, our show coat buyer's guide covers cut, fabric and what each discipline expects.
Legs and seat
Breeches in a traditional color, tan, white or a subtle neutral, that fit your body now and sit at a proper rise. Gloves if you like them. This is where a technical, adult-cut breech does its work.
On your feet
Tall boots, or paddock boots with half chaps, clean and correctly fitted. If your tall boots are twenty years old and stiff, ride in what is comfortable and safe rather than what is nostalgic. Our guide to choosing a tall boot covers fit and construction when you are ready to replace them.
The unglamorous essentials
A hairnet, a belt, a spare pair of gloves, and your number holder. The small things are what separate flustered from composed on the morning. Lay them out the night before, in the order you will put them on, and the morning takes care of itself.
What you need for a schooling show is in The Schooling Wardrobe.
Your first show back, handled.
The complimentary Show Day Companion lays out the entire morning head to toe, in order, so you arrive composed instead of scrambling. Click this link to download yours.