In which Endurance 101 covers rider clothing, with details

Endurance 101 : what to wear, what to wear?

Years ago, the Cascade Challenge endurance ride was held on the Memorial Day weekend at a popular horse-camping  site in the mountains of Washington State.  I went a day early to help ride management get ready for the ride, so I was in a prime spot to watch everyone roll in for the weekend.  What a show it was:  our familiar endurance rig village was amplified by heaps of local “backcountry” riders, out for a weekend of cowboy-esque riding adventure. 

The cowboy rigs looked a lot like our rigs (maybe a little cleaner, since our season had started 3 months earlier and the places we’d been camping were not exactly the paved streets of a KOA campground); it was the attire of the riders that afforded me endless amusement. 

These cowboys were dressed in their finest worked-leather apparel:  elaborately tooled-and-embossed batwing chaps and chinks with full leather fringe, hide-on leather vests with a convenient star-shaped pocket to hold a cell phone or a hip flask.  Long-sleeved patterned cowboy shirts with pearl-snaps for the gentlemen, and plenty of bling accents for the ladies.  The boots were breathtaking, and the hats!  I could pay my kids’ first year of college tuition by selling off a few of those beautiful Stetson ten-gallon wonders.  These folks were dressed for a parade, and as they moseyed past my camp, they even smiled and waved.  I waved back:  I knew I’d see them all back in camp really soon.

Sure enough, not much more than an hour went by, and the parade came through the other way, the horses still perky and beautiful, with their manes and tails un-mussed by strenuous work, and the riders looking a little wilted in their beautiful gear.

Did I mention that temps were in the high 90’s that weekend?  Oh, yeah.

The cowboys were obviously as astonished and amused at the attire chosen by the endurance riders as we were by the chaps and chinks.  Endurance riders are famous in equestrian circles for our collective lack of fashion sense, and surrounded by the beauty of the embossed-leather crowd, our signature dress-from-the-top-of-the-laundry-pile style was more motley-looking than usual. 

The afternoon before an event, most distance riders saddle up and take a horse out for a quick spin—ten miles or so, covered at a nice walk or easy trot so as to loosen up the muscles, tighten up the brain cells, and not tire out anything that might be needful during the next day’s competition.  We don’t dress in our finest gear for a shakedown ride.  We choose riding tights that are still useable but are a bit threadbare, t-shirts that are souvenirs from other events, and any other needful accessories that are clean but aren’t necessarily color-coordinated.  We strap on our helmets, ride for a couple of hours, and come back to camp.  The horses aren’t exhausted, but they have definitely broken a sweat—and so have the riders.  If the trails are dusty, as mountain trails often are,  folks come back with an interesting skin coating, since perspiration + dust = mud. 

Compared to the cowboys?  We looked like hobos on horseback.  

The cowboys could accept the t-shirts.  They could ignore the helmets.   But it was obvious that most of them just couldn’t get used to the idea of riding tights.  Some of them made appreciative sounds when a shapely endurance lady in tights trotted by, but they were gobsmacked at the appearance of men in tights.  (I do know several endurance riders who can sing all the verses to the title song from the film Robin Hood : Men in Tights, and they will sing them all if you ask nicely).

Lew Hollander was the fellow who broke the ice between the cowboys and the endurance riders.  At thet time, Lew was in his early 70’s, and had been winning Ironman competitions for more than a decade.  Nobody can look at or talk to Lew and think, “this guy is a sissy,” even if he decided to show up in camp wearing a tutu.  He is also a heckuva nice guy.  (Lew is now in his early 80’s, and still winning Ironman competitions against fellows significantly younger than himself).  Lew struck up a conversation about horses (of course) with one of the cowboys, and pretty soon there were friendly conversations about horses between the two factions happening all over camp.  It was a beautiful thing to watch.  I even saw some of the cowboys wander into Henry Griffin’s mobile endurance tack shop to finger (and purchase) some of the gear he had for sale.

The next morning, just as the sun was rising, the endurance riders pulled on their newer, shinier tights, their newer, more color-coordinated t-shirts and their faithful helmets, and headed out on the trail to enjoy miles and miles of beauty.  When we returned to camp, the cowboys were there, dressed in their fancy leather, clapping and cheering for us as we crossed the finish line.

I guess the moral of the story is that horse people are horse people, it’s just that endurance riders are less wrapped up in the equestrian fashion industry.  Beginning endurance riders want to know what they should wear, hoping for some recommendations of styles and brands.  In a theme that I think is becoming familiar to readers, my advice is, as much as possible, to use what you already have.  It’s okay to ride distance in jeans, if that’s comfortable for you--some people wear pantyhose underneath their jeans to minimize the chaffing, so try that if you are self-conscious about wearing lycra on your bum. 

If you are, or have ever been involved with sports like walking, running, cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, road biking, or other strenuous but low-impact sports, much of your gear for those sports will cross over readily into endurance riding.  My riding boots are the same boots I used for snow shoeing because they are comfortable, sturdy, and waterproof.  The raingear requirements for Volkswalking and riding a 25-mile distance ride are pretty much identical.  And no matter what, you’re going to need sunscreen, so make sure that your clothing includes a pocket where you can stash a tube of it.

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f you are more interested in comfort than in the current styles in Paris (and more importantly for ladies like me who are of a certain age: if you have no full-length mirror in camp), tights or breeches are a good choice because a good pair of tights will minimize clothing rubs and burns that are commonly experienced with riding clothes.  There are many good styles and brands of tights available, and they even come in colors that will match your tack if that kind of thing is important to you.  Tights are also available with knee and crotch padding, which may be worth the extra cost for you.

Boots or sneakers, as mentioned above, should be comfortable and sturdy, and the same goes for socks—use good-quality socks that won’t bunch up or wrinkle inside the shoe.  Raingear should be lightweight and allow you to move when you wear it…and ideally, will fit loosely enough that you can put warmer layers under your waterproof layers if you are riding in a location (like the mountains) where the weather can dramatically during the course of a day.

“Foundation” garments need special attention.  Ladies: the bra you wear to the grocery store may not be adequate for hours of posting the trot.  Gentlemen: supportive undergarments will make trotting down the trail for hours on end much more enjoyable.  Stores that supply equipment to runners and bicyclists are your best bet when shopping for supportive underclothes.  When trying on support clothes in the store, don’t be afraid to jump up-and-down in front of a mirror to test them.  It looks silly in the store, but this simple exercise will help you select appropriate clothes that will keep your jiggle-y body parts stable.  Minimize rubbing and chafing from your foundation garments by using products available in the same running and biking stores, especially Anti-Monkey-Butt Powder, Body Glide, or even baby powder.  If you do get a chafed body part and still have a few miles to go, Desitin or a similar product will ease the discomfort.

Last of all, I want to encourage each of you to wear a helmet every time you get on your horse.  Emergency room statistics nationwide show conclusively that the most serious, life-changing injuries that happen to equestrians are head-wounds.  If you’ve never spent time with a brain-injured person and experienced their frustration with an inability to express him- or herself properly, I recommend that you watch the short documentary film Every Ride, Every Time produced by the Washington State University Extension and the Washington State 4-H Foundation.  You can watch bits and pieces of the video on You Tube (beginning HERE), or you can order the video or DVD HERE  for only $15 including shipping.  Why not buy a copy, watch it, and then pass it along to your local 4-H group?

AERC rules do not require the use of a helmet, except by junior riders.  However, as I tell my junior riders, it only takes a single bee-sting to turn the best broke, gentle horse into a bucking bronco.  Given the hours and hours that you will spend training and competing on your horse in the sport of endurance, you will have plenty of opportunities to encounter that single bee…and I hope that when you do, your helmet is strapped on tightly.