STYLE AND BEAUTY

[MitchyInge]

luckily mud goes with everything, what are you wearing under your layer of horse poo, stray bits of hay and horse/dog hair?

[MitchyInge]

that's a really good idea pixel!

ours is probably beyond help already though

[Pixel]

The boot of my car isn't too bad as I've got an old duvet cover folded up in the bottom and I can shake it out now and again. It's surprising how much hair etc comes off your clean(ish)-looking numnah when you put your tack in the boot. The duvet has a dual use because if we are getting short of hay and I have to get an emergency bale from the farm then I can put it inside the duvet cover and keep the car clean.
I always change out of my wellies as I don't think it's safe to drive in them so they go in a big carrier bag in the car boot too.

Also I no longer have to drive down muddy farm tracks every day so all in all my car looks fairly decent nowadays.

My mum once saw a car she quite liked on a garage forecourt and stopped to ask how much they would give her for her old one in part-exchange. The garage owner glanced inside at the layer of mud and hair and said "oh, you have horses!"

[SparklyAlice]

No thanks, my car is fine, just filthy and full of rubbish!

[MitchyInge]

do you want to buy mine Alice?

it's not very practical - can barely fit a saddle on the back seat with the roof down and does not cope with bumpy farm tracks very well at all and can't tow with it but might make a nice Christmas present?

do desperately need to sell it

[SparklyAlice]

My car looks like a skip on wheels

[MitchyInge]

@ fleece lining! I want those winter breeches, don't think I can afford them this side of Christmas though - the fleece headband might just be manageable

I lose gloves way too frequently to ever have a decent pair

I try not to use my car when I go to the yard, not now it is all fixed and shiny again - the land rover thrives on the mud and muck and animal hair, it's never going to look good

[skihorse]

I love my Roekl gloves - yes, they're 5 times the price of the cheapie ones but if you look after them they'll last.

When I was a kid I lived in Harry Hall jods and they seemed to last forever, probably mass produced by slaves in China these days though.

I now get my breeches made by a lady in Hamburg who does the most incredible stuff - alas, if you're more a "Katie Price" shocking pink hipster kind of a gal then they're not for you!

Never mind the clothes, we've got washing machines & grumpy partners for that - anyone got any tips for stopping your car smell like a muck-heap/look like a tack-room?

[SparklyAlice]

Pixel i haven't looked at myself in the mirror in them! God no! But the pictures of me doing dressage in them looked good

[Pixel]

Sparklyalice, that means the Tesco jods only looked funny on me.

[SparklyAlice]

Hi Mitchy

I will have to disagree with Pixel on the Tesco value jods. Bloody comfortable, and i actually wore them for dressage today and they looked smart. Only problem is i don't think they will last very long.

I have one of those fleece alice band/ear warmer things that i could now not live without, also stops me getting shit in my hair

Invest in a really decent pair of waterproofs (so worth it) I have a pair from Ornello Prosperi (sp?)and then you can wear a comfy pair of leggings underneath and no one will ever know

To stop my hands looking grotty after being at the yard (you know how all the dirt gets into the dry cracks in your hands and doesn't come off) i use latex gloves, with woolly ones on top when cold. Good to ride in too as good grip.

[DressageNut]

Ooh, sorry, Mitchy, haven't logged on for a couple of days...! The winter breeches are the Pikeur Lugana soft shells from www.panache-equestrian.co.uk. Yes they are pricey but I have had my eye on a pair since last winter and have just managed to earn some extra dosh, so decided to go for it. Pikeurs are also well made and last for ages in my experience so have managed to convince myself that it is a worthwhile investment.

For the "stylish and appropriate" challenge I also got some Roeckl (sp) winter gloves with Goretex...full marks, very impressive...nice and soft, not bulky, so ideal for riding but warm (tested today out hacking in a cold east wind).

[MitchyInge]

dressagenut, any chance of link to these winter breeches?

well this is our challenge - how to be stylish and appropriately dressed

[skihorse]

mummydoc haha of course not.

I am liking "rural grunge" very much!

The trouble with the horsey lady from WNTW was that she also had a dazzling array of slightly too small shoulder-padded 80s suits... but yes, they completely failed to dress her in something appropriate for going to the stables.

[mummydoc]

skihorse - hope yoou weren't upset about Princess di comment ( you do realise she isn't really dead but living on a tropical island with elvis, john denver and curt cobain)

[DressageNut]

I have ordered a pair of special "winter breeches" which apparently are warm, windproof and water resistant. Hacking's OK in a long riding coat but I always find schooling the problem and am fed up with getting cold, wet legs! Will report on how good they are when they arrive (humph...wish they would hurry up...)

[MitchyInge]

maybe it will be easiest to just wait for skanky clothes to come back into fashion, a sort of rural grunge scene?

[Pixel]

I vaguely remember seeing a 'what not to wear' where they gave a make-over to a horsey woman, and had her tottering down to the field in high-heeled boots instead of her usual wellies.

[Pixel]

And It's not 'backward', it's 'retro'.

Much more stylish.

[Pixel]

I think the only way to look good is to have staff. If someone else has done the poo-picking and grooming and you just turn up and climb on the ready-tacked horse, you too can have pristine white jods and shiny boots like someone off the telly.

[MitchyInge]

Now my horse's pony club ban has been overturned I could check out what they wear around here?

Do not feel much further forward in my personal grooming/style and beauty project yet though.

[skihorse]

As this is "style and beauty" and mummydoc has already hinted in that area - does anyone remember when Susannah from "Trinny &" was Susannah Constantine and hung out with Lady Di in the aforementioned velvet alice bands and turned up shirt collar?

[skihorse]

mummydoc

[mummydoc]

i live in a very backward county, we still wear our velvet alice bands to pony club ( not sure some of the gals realise Princess Di is dead )

[skihorse]

That's too 70s/80s for me. I remember begging my mum for one and when I got it I hated it.

[MitchyInge]

oh I've still got a green one of those somewhere! last time I wore it someone said I looked like Princess Anne weeps