Are You A Fashion Guru?

 
    Every little girl's dream somehow involves fashion, right? Well maybe not quite all girls; I on the other hand had a different dream in which was being a horse trainer that had the passion to show both barrel and pleasure horses. However, at the age of 21 the only thing I have seemed to accomplish that is even remotely close to my dream was showing pleasure horses competitively. Since I was 17 months old, I have been in the show arena. Even though I do not remember what the show outfits looked like back in those days. Fashion doesn't just exist out on the runway, but does exist in the show arena.

I do know that over the years, the show fashions have changed tremendously throughout my show career. I have had numerous outfits for each of my horses. The new norm seems to be that the nineties are coming back into the show pen: in wearing vests with a long sleeve button down shirt underneath which is a much cleaner look for women. Anymore you see the same outfit used in showmanship, horsemanship, and in western pleasure. By creating these outfits in multiple pieces not only does it save you money down the line, but it can be quite costly at the start. 

When I was showing my horse Libby in small fry classes at that time, the outfits that were very popular were the fitted rhinestone jackets with dress type pants, along with the cheap sprayed painted cowboy boots to match your outfit color. There were a couple of years that I remember most exhibitors wore customized monogram starched shirts with cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and chaps to complete their outfit. Lucky for today's exhibitor, you can still be tried and true when picking your outfit(s) of choice. The most common outfit that is worn for western pleasure, trail, and western riding is a fitted jacket with a color that looks good on your horse. For showmanship and horsemanship, your safest choice is to keep it classy and traditional with a good fit.  

All in all, just remember to create and or find outfit(s) that fit you the best and the color that is best fit for your horse. My mom and I find show saddle pads that have color variety, then we customize my outfits based on the saddle pad design to ensure that my horse and I are always riding in style. 

~Taylor~