Product Review: Gaiters

So as I mentioned on Christmas, I was lucky enough to get a pair of gaiters. My reasons for wanting either these or half chaps was quite simply due to my jodhpurs riding up and also one instructor had recommended I get long boots to help with my leg position. Gaiters felt like  a happy medium.

My parents invested in a pair from Ride Away for me, and I have to say I really like them. The leather is synthetic (i.e. not actually leather), and it isn't a suede-like texture at all so it doesn't rub the horse. They are so easy to care for as they are wipe clean, and it only took a couple of Pony Club sessions before I was able to quite easily able to put them on in a moving car.

At first I was little unsure about whether they were too small, as I hadn't measured my leg very accurately, but they seem to be okay now. No doubt they have already started to mould to my leg shape in some way like a back protector, but also because my heel stays down (I'll explain this in a second). I would definitely make sure you measure accurately though, and I will bear it in mind for the future because I would have felt awful and impatient if I needed to send them back to exchange them for a bigger size.

Right, so the heel thing. When I first starting to wear them I found that the zip was constantly riding up. This was a bit irritating, especially when it was half undone by the end of the lesson, usually after jumping. I didn't really know what to think because I couldn't be certain that it was the product or if I was wearing them incorrectly in some way. Rather than worry about it I just made sure to push the zip back down whenever I had stopped moving in a lesson. Then I had a flatwork lesson and it suddenly all became clear.

My heels are notoriously bad. They constantly creep upwards, and I realised that this was causing the zip to unfasten. The back of my jodhpur boot causes enough stress for it to start riding up. When I had the flatwork lesson they still rode up, but I was more aware of my feet and eventually put two and two together. I recently had a lesson in which my heels were surprisingly well behaved, and the zip hardly moved at all.

Given that it was my fault that the zip doesn't stay still, I don't think I could honestly blame the product. It's my heels that are causing the issue, and that's just something I'll have to work on seen as heels are meant to be down anyway. Can't exactly criticise a product given that I'm the one that's doing something wrong! But they are very comfortable, and they don't slip downwards at all. My reason for wanting them is because I was getting fed up of my jodhpurs riding up and exposing my socks. Since wearing the gaiters, my ankles haven't gotten cold once and I don't end up with horse hair in my boots either.

I would definitely recommend this product because it's giving me more motivation that usual to keep my heels down, and having them on encourages me to ride with stirrups that aren't too short.

Do you wear gaiters/half chaps when you go riding? If so, what do you think of them?

Until next time.