With such a multitude of equestrian products available to riders today, it can often be quite confusing as to what certain commonly seen riding clothing is used for. A common question we are asked is what the difference is between chaps and gaiters is.
Chaps are the most commonly seen form of riding leg wear other than jodhpurs, and come in two types; full chaps and half chaps. Full chaps are usually either made from suede or a waterproof material, and similar to riding trousers cover the whole leg. Full chaps have zips extending down the outside of both legs to enable the rider to get them on and off easily, and stop at the top of the leg at the back leaving the posterior free for added ‘feel’ in the saddle. The waist is adjustable usually at the front and back to provide an ideal fit. Half chaps are the far more popular option of the two, and only covers the portion of the leg below the knee to the ankle. The zip fastening on half chaps is again on the outside of the calf, and there is usually an elasticated panel just behind the zip to allow the half chap to conform to the riders leg and give a close fit (which is essential to the success of the chaps- a loose chap will spin or slip down resulting in a rubbed or sore leg). Half chaps are usually made from suede, faux suede or neoprene which all provide protection and a comfortable fit but do not look as smart as smooth leather which is why half chaps are used for general everyday. Gaiters are similar in design to the half chaps, but are made from smooth leather and have the zip fastening down the back of the leg which allows a much neater fit.
Gaiters are primarily used for competition to give the impression of a long leather riding boot (when used with an appropriate short jodhpur boot) but can be used for everyday riding if desired. Gaiters generally cost more to buy and look worn more quickly due to the materials they are made from (and the position of the zip makes them slightly more tricky to get on and off too!) so we usually recommend half chaps for everyday riding and gaiters kept for competition use. One good pair of jodhpur boots is often enough for everyday and best use, as the gaiters cover most of them and as long as the toe is not scuffed the overall appearance will be neat.
Often a common question especially from new riders, is which is better; long riding boots or short riding boots and half chaps? In an ideal world, a pair of long leather riding boots made from boxed leather with a flexible ankle are ideal to ride in, but the price and functionality (having to change into them everythime you ride and out again after) is normally prohibitive! The problem with long rubber riding boots, is although they often look and fit the calf as well as some leather boots the flexibility in the ankle is missing which can be a great hinderence especially for new riders struggling to attain the correct leg position. Riding instructors tend to prefer young children to wear jodhpur boots so they can see the position of the childs leg more easily (it is easy to draw your heel up inside a long rubber riding boot and yet from the outside it looks as if your heels are still level thus giving a false impression!) and teaches them the feel for the correct leg position more easily. Usually the best solution is a pair of robust jodhpur boots, or even a good quality yard boot that is safe to ride in coupled with half chaps. This gives the riders calf protection from the stirrup leathers, but allows far more flexibility in the ankle which helps with achieving a natural leg position more easily. Suede half chaps also help the rider to grip with the calf more effectively with I always find a help, particularly on more lively horses! With a yard boot, it is simple to just put the chaps on before riding and remove them after, without the need to replace your footwear.
There are a multitude of handy gadgets available to the modern horse owner, but choosing a few good mucking out tools wisely often saves money and time in the long run. As with everything, it is always cheaper in the long run to buy the best you can afford, and this is especially important with stable equipment that is going to get regular, hard work. For the stable, there are different forks designed to work best on different types of bedding, such as the fynalite shavings fork, which logically works best on a shavings or aubiose bed. The fynalite forks are very tough and have sprung steel heads which resist being bent out of shape (I haven’t managed to break one yet and one of ours is 10 years old!) and don’t wear particularly even when used on concrete floors. Cheaper shavings forks we tend to find last on average 1-2 winters before being virtually unusable, so being only 2 - 21/2 times the price, the fynalite forks really are a very good investment!
The straw forks for long fibre beds are also very tough, with lightweight handles and 4 hardened prongs for ease of use. Shorter adults often find the children’s funky fork an ideal tool with its shorter handle and lighter weight, but all the quality of the full length version. For the field, no horse owner should be without an equine manure scoop, also known as a horsey poop a scoop! This consists of a large ½ bucket on a metal handle, with a separate metal rake. These are now available in a wide range of bright colours as well as the standard black, and come in two heights, standard and tall manure scoop (for taller riders). If you are fed up from an aching back whilst ‘poo picking’ your field, invest in an equine manure scoop and you will never look back!
There are a number of horse toys available for horses to play with in the stable and field, and some of these can be especially useful if your horse has to be confined for long periods for reasons of illness or injury, such as a tendon strain or laminitis.
The most ideal toy is the Snak-a-Ball, which is a hard plastic ball designed to be used with pony nuts of similar, and encourages the natural foraging behaviour of your horse. You may have even seen some slightly more unusual animals using them in zoos as they are very tough and very useful for other animals such as zebras, monkeys, anteaters and other more exotic species to use! The pony nuts are put in at one end and the stable toy has to be rolled and manipulated by the horse in order to get them to drop out of the other end. This is an ideal way to encourage trickle feeding and prevent bolting of the food which can lead to choking, which can be a problem especially with greedy ponies.
Other useful toys include the tongue twister, a sturdy plastic ball that swivels and is attached to a wall and can be filled with 2 little Likits (Likits are described in a previous post). When the horse tries to bite the treat, the ball swivells away and the horse has to work to get hold of the tasty reward. Stable toys for horses help to enrich the equine environment and ensure the horse remains mentally relaxed which also aids a quick recovery.
There are a number of stable toys for horses on the market, but as well as being fun for your horse to play with, they also provide some important enrichment to your horses environment. It is often unavoidable to have to confine our horses for a number of reasons such as stabling at night during the winter, but this is essentially a very unnatural and sometimes unnerving position for a prey animal such as a horse to be in, so it often helps to provide some form of entertainment for them to distract them and make them feel at ease.
The most popular stable toy is probably the Boredom Breaker, a simple but effective toy consisting of a smooth plastic ball suspended from a rope with a pair of plastic plates designed to take a "Likit", a hard, sweet tasting horse treat available in a number of flavours.
Little likits can be inserted either side of the ball itself which provides further amusement, as the horse wants to bite the treats but has to work hard to get even a few licks. This helps to pass the time, and most horses enjoy the challenge of trying to seize the tasty reward, but make sure you place the toy away from a wall or most horses are clever enough to quickly learn they can trap the toy against the wall and get a good bite of the treat!
These stable toys can also be useful for horses that weave or kick the door. In this case it is usually ideal to place the toy in the doorway so that the horse encounters it when he looks out of the door which will often then distract him from the intention to perform a vice.
Many hundreds of years ago, horse bits were made from metal alloys which often included nickel or copper. Over the years, stainless steel was discovered and bit production was moved over to this much cheaper and stronger material which seemed to offer the ideal solution.
Nickel is know not to be the ideal material to have in bits as it can be prone to snapping without warning, and causes allergies in some horses in the form of small pimples around the lips and mouth.
Copper however, although soft can be very useful when mixed with other metals to give a much more palatable taste.
Stainless steel is very strong and can be formed into almost any conceivable shape, but to a horse is essentially a very ‘dead’ metal. There is no taste to it and is very difficult to mark which indicates its hardness. This tends to have the effect of drying the horse’s mouth and often causes a tense or rigid jaw in response to the very inert metal in their mouths. If you were to put a stainless steel fork in your own mouth and suck on it for a few minutes, you will see how it is very difficult to keep the saliva flowing when there is no taste stimulus.
Copper and sweet iron are commonly seen in horse bit production today, and with the modern thinking, there is good reason to think that almost every horse would prefer to be bitted in a bit made from one of these metals that is able to oxidise and has a ‘taste’. It is also said that these metals when used in conjunction with each other produce a minute (and harmless!) electrical charge that also helps to stimulate saliva production in the horse mouth, which helps to prevent cracked or split lips and a sore or hard mouth.
Modern bits such as Sprenger and Myler utilise these metals in their bit designs, and with the anatomical design of the mouthpieces tend to offer the horse the most pleasant bitting experience possible.
With such a multitude of equestrian products available to riders today, it can often be quite confusing as to what certain commonly seen riding clothing is used for. A common question we are asked is what the difference is between chaps and gaiters is.
