A good place to get basic riding gear please!

[icedcoffees]

I just started taking lessons back in June and I love it.

At the moment I'm borrowing a hat from the riding school and just wearing wellies as I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy riding and didn't want to spend money on stuff that wouldn't get used.

Anyway I'm needing some boots and a hat if anyone can recommend a good place to buy them please? Not overly expensive but I don't want to be cheap either - thanks!

I'm in Cumbria if that's any help!

Decathlon

Decathlon is good for clothes and boots- but not for hats. They do sell British Standard ones but also a whole load of other ones which won’t be acceptable for riding at a riding school- they also don’t offer advice or fitting. So it’s much better to go to a proper tack shop for the hat.

Not Decathlon for a hat, it must be properly fitted by a trained fitter & to correct safety standard. Basic skull cap will be about £80-100ish.

Thanks!

I have plenty of suitable clothes as I work outdoors and with animals anyway - I might look at Decathlon for boots but it looks like I'll need to find a proper tack shop for a hat.

I'm happy to pay £100-200 that's no issue.

Lucky you - enjoy riding it’s wonderful isn’t it
I had to stop because of RA but I was 58,by then. Rising in Cumbria - bliss

If you have a feed merchant near you, try them. Ours stocks some basics (boots, hats, whips etc along with a small range of tack). Not a lot of choice but the prices are much lower than any of the tack shops near us.

@lotsofdogshere

Lucky you - enjoy riding it’s wonderful isn’t it I had to stop because of RA but I was 58,by then. Rising in Cumbria - bliss

It's amazing!

My riding school is right on the edge of the Lake District so they offer beach rides and treks up into fells too!

If I were you I'd ask on my local horsy Facebook group for the best local hat stockist/fitter and take it from there. You also need to find out if you have a round or oval head as some makes are a completely different shape. My Charles Owen fits perfectly and I can wear it all day, but the same size champion gives me a killer headache and a big red forehead stripe in minutes despite a so called professional saying it was fine. Definately wander round the shop wearing it for a good 10/20 minutes to make sure it's comfortable, not just the right size.

That's good advice, thank you! I know where there are a couple of stockists and I'm near one on Saturday so I might have a nosy :)

My instructor did say to try a hat on and make sure it fit because the size that fits me at the riding school won't necessarily work in another brand or style.

That sounds like a plan. Also check out local horsey FB groups if you can. One of the shops near my old yard has a reputation for dropping hats and selling them anyway... Discovered that purely by accident after someone asked if anyone knew of a local shop selling the new diamonte covered hats that were very popular at the time and had sold out everywhere. Someone suggested a shop and everyone piled on saying no don't go there and had first hand stories of hats being thrown onto shelves, dropped by customers and staff and occasions where children were left playing with the hats while parents went round the rest of the store... I don't go there anymore.

Decathlon Fouganza 100 jodphurs are fab and cheap as chips (12.99) too, with a phone pocket on the thigh.

@DotBall

Decathlon Fouganza 100 jodphurs are fab and cheap as chips (12.99) too, with a phone pocket on the thigh.

Thank you!

I'm off shopping tomorrow to a place my instructor recommended for a hat - then it'll be Decathlon for shoes and jodhpurs!