What It Means to be an Equestrian

Recently, “equestrian” has become a popular style of clothing.  Girls all across campus where leggings with their “riding boots” and vests.  This style completely perplexes me.  I do not have anything against boots or leggings, but those girls are not equestrian.  I see girls in tan leggings with black boots and I have to do a double take to realize that those leggings do not have the appropriate leather knee patches to keep her leg from slipping against the horse and her boots, well let me tell you about these so called “riding boot”.  A real riding boot, what I would call a tall boot, is never any color but black.  It never has a zipper, or any seam, on the inside of the leg that would rub against the horse.  If it has any zipper at all, it is hidden along the back seam.  A riding boot fits snuggly to the calf, so as to provide maximum support, keep from rubbing, and give the rider a sleek look.  Riding boots never fold over at the top or involve masses of buckles.  I do not mind that people wear these things, in fact they often look nice, but please do not call it equestrian.

These are equestrians.

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Ok, now that I am done ranting about what an equestrian is not, what is an equestrian?  The word equestrian comes from the latin word “equus”, which means horse.  That is where we get the adjective “equine”, which means of or relating to horses.  Equestrian can also be used as an adjective referring to anything horse or horseback riding related, but I like to use it as a noun.  Most simply put, to me an equestrian is someone who loves horses.  Someone who is willing to get up at the crack of dawn to muck out stalls and ride through any weather (but won’t, because that would be bad for the horse).  Someone who always puts the horse first, even if the horse bucked her off.  Someone who is “horse poor” from spending so much time at such an expensive sport, but is rich from all the joy horse bring.  Someone who cannot imagine life without horses.

Here at Penn State I have been lucky enough to make the Equestrian Team.  So far this season the Penn State Equestrian Team is undefeated.  That is partly because we have a large team, so we can be more selective about who actually competes (for instance, I have not competed at all this season).  But PSET also rides well, cares about the horses, and makes sure to look the part (we always show in proper equestrian clothing).  For me, horseback riding and being an equestrian has also always meant being part of a community.  It is about sharing my passion for horses with other people who understand that fake spurs are ridiculous, vests are for riding in the indoor when the weather is bad, and they are breeches not leggings.

2 Comments

  1. Amanda Ward

    I never really thought about how equestrian style could be very annoying to an actual equestrian but now that you mentioned it I get what you mean. While I like riding boots, I don’t really seem them as equestrian anymore since most of the people I see wearing those type of shoes have probably never ridden a horse before. It’s great your post really got to the point that equestrians are people passionate about horses rather than a style.

  2. Zach Welsh

    Tell those fakers off! I really enjoyed this post. I love it when people go on rants that’s when they say the most interesting stuff.

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