# New to Driving...Attire??



## 4headleys (Apr 17, 2010)

Here is the history, I bought my first mini in November and have fallen in love with his big horse attitude in a small horse body. He was PA 4H State Champion Miniature Yearling Gelding in 2007. I really lucked into this guy. He is now at the trainers learning how to drive. (Of course so am I.) This is the first time I have ever driven a horse...I have a Quarter Horse mare that I show in Dressage.

I must admit...I am in love with driving. What a thrill ride it has been. Midas is doing awesome and taking everything like a true champion. I can't wait to show! I am going to be doing mostly open shows my first year since I am so new to everything. However, I'm not sure what proper attire is for both Halter and Driving classes. I have some western showmanship clothes, would these be acceptable for both? Or should I have flash and color for halter and more refined jacket for driving? Also is it required to have a driving apron? Okay one more...What type of hat for driving? I have seen some videos of people in western type hats and some in Easter Sunday type hats. If anyone could please help this newbie out I would greatly appreciate it.

Right now I have a basic wooden and metal easy entry cart and a harness. If we both do great this year, then maybe next year we can update our equipment to more show quality.


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## RhineStone (Apr 17, 2010)

It really depends on what type of driving you are going to do. Like for example, if you were to take your Quarter Horse in lower level Dressage, you probably wouldn't wear the same thing that you would at FEI level. And open shows generally don't have "rules" in that regard either, so I would suggest following either the rules for the mini breed shows or the American Driving Society rules.

Since we don't show breed shows anymore, I will defer that answer to someone who does. However since we do show ADS shows, I can tell you that the rule requirements are a conservative dress, tailored suit, or slacks for women (I assume you are?). Floppy hats are discouraged (and they are hard to keep on your head). Junior drivers must wear a helmet (but it helps if it "matches" the turnout, i.e. don't wear a bright purple helmet with a red cart and a black coat




) Also, the driver must wear an apron or knee rug, and gloves. The dress should match the style of vehicle, i.e. formal (not exactly tux, but there are very few if any formal mini vehicles anyway), park, country, or sporting. So don't wear a prom dress and a Kentucky Derby hat in a Meadowbrook vehicle, which was actually a "grocery getter" vehicle in its day.

Now for the "unwritten rules". The term conservative means that if you dress like Wonder Woman, you will get lots of looks, but probably not lots of placings. If you think Hunt Seat attire or nice church clothes, especially in your easy entry cart, you will be fine. Sleeves should be long, but you should "dress for the weather", at least weather in England, where it isn't exactly 80+ degrees. You don't _have_ to have a coat, but I think it creates a more finished look, like riding with a coat vs. just a shirt in Dressage, or at least a tailored vest over a blouse. Avoid a heavy wool coat when hot, and maybe go with more of a summer weight coat. A hat, if you are not a Junior (under 18), should be smaller vs. Easter Sunday. (I have "Easter Sunday" hats, but I also have a more formal cart, too.) The apron should go with the vehicle (see helmet comment above, black is usually very versatile if your metal is painted black) and go to at least below your knee at a seated position, but some judges like them even longer, like at the crease of your shoe or boot. The historically practical purpose of the apron was to keep the dirt and oils from the reins off your clothes, so you could take your apron off when you reached your destination and be clean underneath. Therefore, the apron goes over your coat and around your waist. Even for guys. This does not have to be an extremely fancy piece of attire. For years, we had ones made of gabardine, with just a casing for a belt and buckled in the back. Footwear should be practical (limited or no heel) and match the color of the harness (black with black harness, brown with russet). Socks should blend (don't wear your white athletic socks with black pants). Gloves should be brown leather, acorn color or darker, not "yellow work" gloves. The reason for brown gloves was so that when you took your gloves off, you didn't have black hands (or any other color) when you reached your destination. If you are serious about driving, don't skimp on the gloves. Get good leather ones. Jewelry, if any, should be small and match the rest of the metal on the cart and harness (i.e. don't wear a gold brooch and silver earrings). We get our show clothes (other than gloves) at second hand stores, because who needs to spend an arm and a leg to "roll around in the mud" at a horse show?!

For ideas on "do we look like we belong?", check out the turnouts on this website. www.carriageclassic.com

It is my understanding that you could show breed shows with the above turnout, but for some classes, there are other "requirements".

Hope this helps, and please ask if you have more questions!

Myrna (who should be in bed, but is waiting for a horse to poop.



)


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## mydaddysjag (Apr 18, 2010)

Well, I cant help you much, Im just venturing into driving, but I wanted to say welcome to lil beginnings, and good luck.

I dont know If I ever refered you to the forum, but Im actually the girl you bought Midas from!

As far as color for halter, I can tell you with Midas I wore black, royal blue, and burgandy/maroon and they all looked good.


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## 4headleys (Apr 18, 2010)

Thanks for all of the great advice. I think I will look for a black blazer on ebay and to from there. Black is always in. As far as the hat goes, guess I will have to look around. Thanks for the great website and yes you did refer me to L'il Beginnings.

I will look at the carriageclassic.com web site as soon as I am done. Thanks for the link.


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## mydaddysjag (Apr 18, 2010)

I get a lot of my show blazers from goodwill, that way when I get horse face goop on them, Im not devistated. Im not sure how far you are from Valencia, I remember you were a little ways off from me, but there is an AMHR mini show at horse on course on May 1st, it would be a great way to see the different attire people wear in the ring, and pick up some behind the scenes tips and tricks.


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## 4headleys (Apr 18, 2010)

I may be able to attend that show its not too bad of a drive. I leased my throughbred in Ellwood City so I will check on him and then I'll just keep going on the show. Thanks for the heads up.


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## MiLo Minis (Apr 18, 2010)

For breed show driving in western, country, pleasure or park for all but the Nationals and Area shows you could choose long sleeves and slacks or long skirt. A jacket or long sleeved blouse if it is hot is suitable. Match your hat to your jacket or blouse and the style of it would be similiar to a carriage driving hat although they are not required wear and not everyone uses a hat these days sadly enough. No apron is necessary either and gloves are not a requirement - if you do wear them they don't have to be brown. Make sure your jacket fits comfortably for sitting. The same outfit would do for National level shows for day classes and for evening classes or stakes classes you would go with formal wear such as evening dress or jacket and skirt or slacks. Floppy hats or long dangling sleeves or coattails are frowned on. Serviceable, closed, flat or low heeled shoes are a must - some judges won't notice but others will. For roadster class you must have silks.


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## REO (Apr 18, 2010)

I just wanted to say, welcome to the awesome world of minis, and welcome to the forum!


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## Coventry Lane Farm (Apr 20, 2010)

Everyone seems to wear black and we were told by various trainers that you need colors to make you stand out from the crowd, and that everyone looks like they are going to a funeral with wearing black pants, blazer, ect.

I know a few trainers that wear very bright colors like lime green, pale yellow, purple, tangerine, white jackets. You want to stand out even in halter classes.

Depending on what class you are driving in also means of what attire you would be wearing. Most ladies and gentlemen wear hats for the finished look and gloves, shoes are a issue with driving because there has been some instances even at a local show that the judges will actually look in the cart to see what shoes you are wearing, no open toed shoes either. One fellow was wearing tennis shoes and he had a great driving horses and the judge made comment of his shoes that he had on, and needless to say he did not win the class.

We have done country pleasure, pleasure, roadster and park harness driving at the local and National level shows and after awhile you have a lot of different sets of clothing for the certain class that you are in, most of the time you can find clothing at the goodwill stores.

Also, try to be complimentary with the color of your horse if you can with your wardrobe.


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## Katiean (Apr 20, 2010)

we show AMHA. Jessie has been in the 12 and under group since we started showing. I have not shown so I could get everything done for her. She hates halter so we have just done the Driving and Liberty. In driving She has done Country Pleasure and we have one Single pleasure mare and my stud may also be single pleasure. She has always worn a modest "Brides Maids" dress. What I mean by modest is (and I stand firm on this) She can have 1" wide straps but no Spaghetti straps. The dress must have straps. NO shawals. My reasons for the "don't even think about it list" is, you are out there to drive the horse and to show it to the best of it's ability. You can not do that if you are grabbing a strap that slipped, a shawl that wraped around a wheel or grabbing for your top as it slids down displaying "your girls". She thinks I am crazy but when we try on a new dress I make her jump and raise her arms in the air and I make her do all kinds of tricks to make sure the top is going to stay put. She has 1 burgendy satin dress with a 1" strap for a sleave. She had a sea green chiffon dress that I really do not like her to wear because the sleaves are designed to sit just off her shoulder but that dress was a hand me down. She has a very beautiful cream lace dress with long sleaves and her newest one is a light lavender halter style dress. The most I spent on any dress is $11.50 at Ross and that was the lavender one. I like to go into the GoodWill bargin bin and pay $1.50 per pound for dresses. This sums up her youth driving dresses. I have purchased myself 2 dresses that are easy in and out, over the head just longer than mid length that would be considered church dresses. but I am older. I will be driving Country Pleasure and single pleasure too. Last year Jessie did one Hunter class and she had a light pink long sleaved shirt and black pants. We each had one so we matched when we were in the Liberty class. I was planning on showing halter but training got sidelined so no halter either. But, I went to the Goodwill bargin bin and I have bought 3 jackets for a total of about $5.50. I got a really striking red jacket (but I need to lose about 10lbs to ware it), a lavender jacket and a very nice cream colored jacket. I made sure they all had pockets so if I show halter I can stow treats in the pockets. I can also use these jackets in the driving classes with either a skirt or pants.


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## Mominis (Apr 21, 2010)

I think that the ladies that drive wearing hats that coordinate with their outfit look very smart. There was one woman at the Touch of Class show that had a gorgeous hat on. She looked so finished and so ladylike, it really impressed me. It was a straw looking hat, but a very nice one and it had a black ribbon tied around it with a large bow in back with the tails of the ribbon hanging down to about halfway down her back. It was really lovely, not that I know what I'm talking about as far as attire, I haven't been in the AMHR ring yet and my boy won't be driven in the ring until next year.

Welcome and best of luck to you with your new driving adventure.


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## 4headleys (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the great advice on attire. I am going to do a little of both. I have a nice suit outift that has a copper paisley print jacket with tan pants that I am going to use in halter. Midas is a palomino so I think I will compliment him nicely. As for driving, I am going to do black jacket with a lime or coral tank top underneath with black pants. This will keep us traditional with just a flash of color.


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