Sadly for the Sayre School Horse Show, an annual event at Masterson Station Park here in Lexington, Ky, it hasn’t stopped raining all day. Of course this wasn’t enough to deter most of the hardy eventers who like to use it as a schooling show, coming as it does two weeks before the Maydaze Horse Trials at the Park, but spectators were definitely a rare breed today, although we did see lots of umbrellas. And rain gear….
I’m afraid I can’t give you any scores or anything useful, BUT, I did learn all about the latest wet weather riding apparel available, and I was pretty gobsmacked. We’ve come a long way from the crackling, smelly, heavy head to toe Drizabone that I used to sport for about 9 months of the year in England – Thank God!
This is my friend Kathleen, modeling her waterproof, lightweight, and very good-looking show jacket that she bought last year during the WEG. It’s made by an Italian company called Animo which explains why the cut is so stylish, and the material is very breathable and stretchy – it feels like something you’d put on to go running in, if that was your wont!
Check out the nice flat pockets, and the zip beneath the buttons. As usual excuse the second rate photos,( where IS Nico Morgan when you really need him, oh yes, he’s at Windsor, hobnobbing with royalty, from his twitter feed: “@nicomorgan Feeling rather self-conscious: being asked questions by The Duke of Edinburgh and being papped. #royalwindsor ) but we took these with my phone in a rather soggy trailer! Of course Kathleen was completely dry!
But wait, there’s more…..
No point in being dry on top and having wet legs – Kerrits have got you covered.
Now that I look these up on the Kerrits website, I see that they’re actually called knickers, which means something completely different where I’m from, but anyway, you pull them on over your breeches, you honestly can’t tell they’re there,
they’re completely waterproof, very lightweight, sticky on the inside so you’re not sliding around on the saddle, or sweating too much, and then when you’re finished….
Ta-da! You just unzip to reveal, well, whatever you like really! Genius!
Thanks to Kathleen of course for being such a stunning and patient model. We may follow her more closely in future in a diary fashion if she’ll let us, because not only is she a very discerning shopper as you now know, but she is also the consummate horsewoman. Prior to earning a living not on horseback, Kathleen competed at Rolex several times, has finished the Tevis Cup 100 mile ride more than once, arguably the toughest endurance race there is, as well as turning her hand to jumping, and is a hard woman to hounds, having fox-hunted in Ireland and lived to tell some very amusing tales about it. For now, she has a beautiful chestnut gelding that she competes at training/prelim level, and combines that with a very high-powered job in the financial field, a beautiful but high-maintenance German Shepherd, and a wonderful husband who has taken up foxhunting with her in the winter, I think so that he can spend some time with her! Thank you for reading as always; stay dry and go riding!
