We live in an era where travelling to civilised or even not so civilised parts of the world is relatively easy. This ease of travel has seen an increase in worldwide riding holidays from those wishing to experience the joy of beach riding, sedate or perhaps not so sedate trail riding or for those with an inner cowboy/cowgirl wanting to experience the thrill of ranching. But, how do you pack for the riding holiday of your dreams? After all, no one wants to lug around a huge suitcase crammed full of riding gear! As the holiday suggests, you will probably be logging many hours in the saddle and no one wants their holiday ruined by those cursed saddle sores or chafed areas! So, in order to avoid the misery of a sore rear, comfortable padded...

Ah, the great British Weather…..summertime in the UK is one fraught with wardrobe decisions due to our ever changing weather patterns. We wake up and look out of the window and either sigh heavily at the prospect of a cool grey day or smile widely as the day appears to want to bring forth one of sun and blissful heat. Indeed, when we are lucky enough to experience those balmy summer days so eloquently mentioned in British poetry and prose our wardrobes seem to be horribly under prepared. Thankfully, equestrian apparel for the summer season has seen a shift over the last few years towards fashionable and cooling technical clothing driven by innovative designers and the consumer. Designers such as Equetech MD Liz Hayman believe that...

Let's be honest, comfort when riding features quite highly in most peoples opinion. We spend as much time as possible with our horses so when it comes to leg wear, we are always looking for a garment that is not only comfortable and attractive but allows for freedom of movement both in and out of the saddle. With the advent of technical fabrics, leg wear for riders has evolved. Yes, we still love the classically styled breech or jodhpur but we are also discovering the many virtues of the riding tight. With many of us loving the relaxed feel and freedom of movement the humble legging affords us, it was perhaps no surprise, innovative designers like Equetech's MD and Head Designer Liz Hayman, brought us a robust equestrian variant...

If you aren't lucky enough to have a groom/friend/long suffering partner or parent to help you get yourself and your horse ready for an event, you will probably spend more time making sure your horse looks fabulous leaving little time for yourself. Having arrived at the event, tacked up and added the finishing touches to your horse, time has in all probability run away with you, unless you are one of life's highly organised people. So, you throw on your hopefully clean competition clothes and hastily tie your hair in a ponytail and add a hair net. You will then cram your hat on and hope that your hair is neatly confined in your hairnet and stays confined for the duration required. Sadly, hair does seem to have a life of its own, cer...

Equetech's newest sponsored rider, Helen Newbold, has had a phenomenal few weeks with her top three horses. The show ring rider, panel judge and producer has had wins across the board with Marley the cheeky New Forest pony, Emporers Jade a beautiful ex racehorse and Allithorne the fairytale small hunter. Marley picked up his Royal International ticket at Staffordshire County Show, and both Emporers Jade and Allithorne have gained their HOYS tickets in the SEIB R2R and Small Hunter classes respectively. Helen's motto is "Teamwork Makes the Dream Work" and with husband Jason very much at the forefront of this incredible husband and wife team, this truly is a fitting motto, obviously being kitted out in the Equetech Hambleden...

There's an increasing move towards the use of sports psychology amongst the equestrian fraternity. Interestingly, this performance enhancing medium isn't only used by those professional riders at the top of their game that strive to remain at the top but the popularity amongst amateur and leisure riders is also on the increase, why? Horse ownership/riding is more popular now than ever before. In the UK we are very lucky at the amount of grass roots and lower level events which are open to amateur riders. This of course is a good thing as there are more opportunities to succeed, however, as horses are quite literally a great leveller there are also more opportunities to bomb out! We also spend more time on social media hearing abo...

Ruffles, Lace and Pinks, as seen on the runways of the major fashion shows across the world, are on-trend for Spring/Summer 2017. Here at Equetech we've put together a shirt collection based on this season's "Must Have" trending fashions. The Equetech Frilly Show Shirt brings a romantic feel to this beautiful crisp white shirt. An ideal crossover piece, this shirt looks equally stunning when worn in the show ring or outside of the equestrian environment. Team with your favourite jeans and a tweed waistcoat for a classic look, wear to the office to soften a sharply tailored suit, enjoy an elegant yet edgy image when worn with a pair of killer heels and skinny jeans or simply create a classic and sophisticated look for in...

There remains a strong gender bias, with females representing 74% of the riding population, so it's no wonder a majority of equestrian clothing brands target the female population with stylish male apparel being under-represented. As one of the UK's leading equestrian brands, Equetech strives to redress the balance. Managing Director and Head Designer, Liz Hayman has designed a range of not only practical and hard wearing casual riding wear, but a range that also delivers on smart competition and hunting wear for the all too forgotten about male rider. The Men's competition jacket range consists of the shower proof finish tweed riding jacket with the bespoke dressage coat and the custom Stirling riding jacket created with cus...

It's common place to believe that to enhance our equestrian wardrobe we have spend lots of money. Well, thankfully this doesn't have to be so. All we really need to do is make minor adjustments to our existing wardrobe by adding on-trend accessories. A statement belt can make all the difference not only to your competition outfit but to your training and non-riding outfits. For a classic look whilst competing, choose a belt that tones or matches with the main block colour of your jacket and one with an interesting buckle design. If competition rules allow and you have a penchant for standing out from the crowd, pick out the colour of the piping/lining/collar/pocket flaps of your jacket and add a belt in that colour. For a Tweed j...

It was a weekend of excess leg hair removal for Reggie, not Reggie's owner and Equetech MD Liz, washing and tidying of the giant 3 year olds magnificent gingerness and just general pre show day sprucing ‐ I'm sure we spend more time beautifying our horses than ourselves! His royal gingerness went from a slightly scruffy, "why can't I be a huge field ornament," to a resplendent vision befitting his incredible breeding which can be traced back to the 1600s. So, show day dawns with an early wake up call for Reggie who has a bemused yet disgruntled "I'm not a morning person" and "what is all the fuss about" look written all over his face. He decides he won't be the most compliant 3 year old t...

This season is all about accessories and crossover pieces. With varying temperatures, sunshine and showers (even snow!) it's difficult to decide what to wear. Scarves are a sophisticated year round wardrobe staple, ideal at keeping the winter chill away from the neck and the ultimate stylish accessory teamed with a lighter spring/summer outfit. New to the Equetech Spring/Summer collection are two not to be missed simply stunning scarves. The Equetech Infinity Scarf is a delicate pink featuring an all over printed pheasants design in metallic rose gold foil and the Equetech Bridles Infinity Scarf features the exclusive Equetech bridles design in stylish blues and stone tones. Also new to the Equetech collection is the exquisite yet cl...

Marlow Deluxe Tweed Riding Jacket Easter is only a few weeks away which means the show season will soon be in full swing. About now many of us will be dusting off our Spring/Summer competition attire and deciding it's time to update our tweed riding jackets to the new on-trend tweed, style and cut for the upcoming season. New for Spring/Summer 2017 is the exclusive Equetech Marlow Deluxe Tweed Riding Jacket, a beautiful, 100% pure new wool, brown herringbone tweed with a striking navy and canary overcheck. In keeping with current equestrian fashion trends, the Marlow Deluxe Tweed Riding Jacket is slightly shorter in length than previous styles and also comes with practical concealed zip flap pockets. With our iconic jacquard linin...