Horse riding for your child needn’t break the bank. By a little savvy shopping, you can find essentials that look the part while being wearable at other times.

If your child wants is fascinated by horses, and wants to learn to ride, this is great for exercise of course. Cost is usually the first thing we think of when our kids have a new hobby, and horse riding is one of those past times that you know won’t be cheap. However, there are ways to keep these costs down.

Safety First!

The most important area to concentrate on is safety. A properly fitted riding hat is an absolute essential. While many stables and riding schools may lend riding hats and helmets, or let you hire them, it’s advisable to buy a hat that you can fit snugly to your child’s head, that won’t be continually adjusted to other head sizes. This will be your most important purchase. I know I’ve already said it, but it bears repeating.

You might also choose to buy body protection too. This can cause greater costs, and you can probably get away with hiring and borrowing this protection as there is more of a one-size-fits-all situation. This means that, as long as a body protector is fitted properly, it should be okay if it has been worn by someone else.

The Right Clothes

I’ve already mentioned that there’s a way of buying clothes for horse riding without getting caught out with too much expense. Buying clothes for kids can get expensive, because they grow out of them so quickly. The last thing you need is to pay out for clothes to worn exclusively for horse riding.

Fortunately, there’s a wide enough choice of attire from horse riding stores that make it easy to buy apt horse riding gear that can be worn elsewhere. Any casual wear will do, and while your child might want to wear the ‘proper’ gear such as jodhpurs, a pair of jeans will be fine, as long as their not baggy and can be worn comfortably. It’s also important that any trousers of jeans mustn’t interfere with the ‘communication’ of the feet to the horse, so not to hang over the boots by any great degree.

If your child does become a show jumper, however, there might be a need to spend a little bit more…

One of the wonderful things about the world of equestrianism is the tailoring. That might sound a bit shallow, but think about it. What other sport allows you to where a finely cut jacket and cool boots? Admittedly, this might sound a little shallow, but there’s a lot to be said for the classic styles that make up traditional clothing for horse riding.

The classic show jacket certainly doesn’t look out of place in modern fashion, particularly in women’s wear. In the last few years, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of the military style. Multiple buttons in regimented rows and additions such as epaulettes. This gave the industry a real shot in the arm when people were looking for something smart without conforming to the same suits and blazers.

It’s interesting how history repeats. As fashion is reflection the styles from equestrianism, it’s evolved from the military style. This is true of the origins of hunt and show riding clothing too. Equestrianism has always been an integral part of many country’s land forces. This is particularly true of Great Britain, with regiments such as the Guards. It was, naturally, officers who had become skilled at horsemanship who began to use their skills for entertainment. Over time, this became show jumping and horse eventing.

Naturally, the cut of the uniforms evolved into simpler, elegant styles. This became the uniform for these events. The process was probably a lot less simplified, but it’s interesting to see how this area of sportswear is dovetailing with recognised, smart casual fashion. Throughout this year, the equestrian influence can even be found in high street stores, but there’s nothing like buying the authentic equestrian brand clothing.

Three years ago, I decided to something completely different as a Christmas present for my boyfriend, and set on doing a scrapbook of memories of our years together.

I quickly regretted this decision, as it took me a hell of a lot longer to do than I thought it would – so much so, that I actually had to delay the present until the Christmas after that!

I had never done scrap-booking before, so this was completely new to me. I quickly learned of brands like K & Co, and Papermania who create scrapbooks and scrap-booking paper, but I did need other bits and pieces like string and ribbon to make it extra special. There was a shop called Pack Lane Wool in Basingstoke that I found some great craft products in.

I bought ribbon to create little borders around photographs and yarn to bring pages to life with other little features. Pack Lane Wool also have a website, which is brilliant as I could look around the products before driving the 10 miles from where I lived to Basingstoke. They have a page on their website about Intelligent Retail, which provide their till system they use for the website as well. This turned out to be pretty useful, as I could see that certain products were in stock before I headed down to the shop to buy them!

Believe it or not, creating the scrapbook was incredibly hard work, although perhaps that was down to my complete lack of experience. I spent a long time simply looking for the right papers and little tools I needed like a basic paper trimmer, and special scrapbook glue. I also had to be sneaky and take old tickets from my boyfriend’s photo albums to use in the book, as well hunt through my own stuff to find ideal things to include.

When I look back on the hours and hours I put into that, I really wonder why I did. My boyfriend never looks at it, and it’s a very girly thing anyway – I used a monochromatic colour theme, but somehow it still looks like a gift that a girl would be given. Oh well, it’s a lesson learned I suppose!