Club Foyer>The Riding Mac>Riding for Pleasure>Riding macs: the MAIN object

Memo from Amanda

Riding macs: the MAIN object

We were interested in a lot of the articles, photos etc. on Lorraine’s website - particularly the references to the “top button”! We have two points to make:-

1. One should never lose sight of the fact that the MAIN object of wearing any form of waterproof is to keep dry!

Provided one has a mackintosh made of impermeable material this is not difficult as long as one sticks to certain rules.

The only places where one can get wet are round the neck and in the gap between the bottom of the mack and the top of one’s gum boots or riding boots. Take the neck first. Obviously the immediate necessity is to make sure that the waterproof is not too big and fits well round the neck. One sise smaller than normal can often be an advantage if one is not wearing a jacket underneath. This will ensure that when the top button is fastened the whole thing feels tight. Next the collar must be high and stiff so that it stands up and does not flop. It should come to just below the ears. Next it must have a good fastening on it to ensure that when it is done up it makes a effective seal round the chin and mouth as well as under the ears and at the back of the neck. This will prevent the worst happening - nothing is more uncomfortable than water dripping down one’s neck either front or back. Removable storm tabs are useless. They must be sewn on to one side of the collar and fasten across to the other. The usual thing is for there to be one button onto which they can be fastened. That is also useless as it will always be too loose and leave a gap which the rain wil find at once. Two buttons are better but by far the best arrangement is to have a small strap on one side and a buckle on the other. Then the collar can be pulled as tight as is necessary!

Turning to the bottom end of things, a lot depends on whether you are walking or riding. Moss Bros. used to make a mackintosh that instead of the standard leg straps had a sort of pocket into which you could insert your knees, then pulling a layer of mackintosh fabric inside the knee which buckled behind it back onto the main skirt of the mack. Both walking and riding this totally prevented water getting on the inside of your knees and thighs - ideal. For some reason nobody ever copied this and today, of course, it is no longer an available feature. Length is vital and when standing up the mackintosh should always cover the top of whatever boots one is wearing with the belt done up! If walking, a button at knee level to keep both sides of the mack together is good. If riding the two vital areas in addition to the inside of the knees are your bottom and your crutch! Provided the saddle flap at the back is long enough and the skirts of the riding mack full enough, your backside should never get wet. Modern manufacturers skimp on the skirt to save money!

The crutch is more difficult. By far the best way to keep dry there is to wear a hunting apron (always made of the same material as riding mackintoshes) under the mack itself. These aprons fasten round the knees and waist and cover the pommel of the saddle in one piece. Dressed like this it is possible to keep 100% dry out riding in really heavy rain for hours. That deals with the physical side of keeping dry.

If you are someone who is in the least turned on by rubber or rubberised mackintoshes, you will find he following interesting:-

Imagine that you have planned a long cross-country ride to meet a friend: you wake up to find the clouds low, a drizzle in the air but very little wind. You listen to the forecast and discover the rain is going to get heavier as the day goes on and will last all day. Already you feel excited. After breakfast you get a call from the person you are meeting asking if you want to cancel: you are horrified, suggest she is a wimp and when she says that her riding mack leaks you tell her to wear two. She laughs and says she’ll think about it and see you later.

You go to the stables, groom your horse and tack it up. By now the rain is pattering more strongly on the roof. You replace your gum boots with rubber riding boots and take your mackintosh hunting apron off its peg. The buckles jingle attractively. You fasten the apron firmly round your waist and do up the straps as tightly as possible round your thighs just above the knee. The smell of the material is now getting to you. Next you take your heavy white riding mack of the hook and pull it on. You do up all the buttons including the top one and turn up the collar but do not fasten it. You bend down and put your knees into the pockets,. buckling the straps on the tightest hole behind your knees. You pull the belt tight. You now have a feeling of considerable restriction as well as protection from the rubber cloth.

You look at the bucket holding your riding whips and choose a long dressage whip so that you can, if necessary, flick your horse on its quarters rather than on the skirt of your mackintosh. You walk round to the stable and take the horse to the mounting block. The rain is now falling solidly. Quickly, before the saddle gets too wet, you mount, a bit awkwardly in view of the four straps round your legs and settle into the saddle. You now fasten the collar pulling the strap very tight round your mouth and finally tighten the belt an almost impossible two extra holes. You are now feeling very excited and you set off up the hill into increasingly heavy rain, encouraging your horse now and again with a flick from your whip.

After two hours riding during which you have felt massively excited, you arrive at the pub where you meet your friend who is indeed wearing two mackintoshes. Over her rather old white riding mack she wears an SBR mackintosh. The collar reaches up to the top of her ears and fastens over her nose.

You both take off your waterproofs and leave your horses in the stables while you have lunch. Your mack is soaked but still dry inside, hers shows a few patches of wet where the huge SBR mack, not cut as a riding mackintosh, has failed to do its duty.

After lunch you have to get back into your wet riding mack and now you look forward to getting home. Wet mackintoshes are no fun to put on.

Remember that you do not get the pleasure of section 2 unless you keep to the rules in section 1.

Amanda

Thanks Amanda, invaluable practical guidance here, though your first principle is rather amazing! Why would anyone use a mackintosh in order to keep dry? If that is your main object, surely the sensible thing would be to climb in the LandRover and get to the pub that way!

You are joking, of course. Wet is great. Only to get properly wet you have to pretend to want above all to stay dry.

Yes, I see that.

 

Please, please, write again!

Best wishes

Lorraine

"I seriously disagree with what Lorraine writes. My comments about the important thing being to keep dry were utterly down to earth. She does not take into account the fact that in the '50's and '60's and even early '70's very few people had horse trailers and Landrovers or horseboxes. As a resullt riders of all ages hacked long distances to get to meets, events, shows, gymkhanas and Pony Club rallies etc. Often they started early in the morning and mght not be home until evening. They might then stand around most of the day in the rain with no vehicle into which to escape from the wet. In doubtful weather they needed to be dry on arrival at whatever event they were attending to avoid a long damp day. Sometimes it was hard to judge the weather and many people tied their mackintoshes onto their saddles so that they had them with them if the rain came in. It really was from the necessity to keep dry that a good riding mac became such an essential part of any rider's equipment.

Contrary to Lorraine's comments getting wet is no fun! It is the keeping dry that is fun!"

I think the above was written by the older lady because the mood then changes somewhat:

"However, that is not to say that some of us who get a sensual pleasure from wearing a mackintosh (in my case particularly a riding mac) do not look forward with longing to a good wet day when some equestrian event is planned. But today it is all a bit different. We put our waterproof into the Landrover and only have to wear it actually at the event or when out hunting etc. etc. The necessity of keeping dry has to some extent gone. The enjoyment of going for a long ride in heavy rain properly dressed, however, remains for those lucky few of us who still have a real riding mackintosh".

Thanks Imogen for passing this on. Nice to hear more from Amanda.

I may be the odd one out here, but I do have to say that, for me, wet is sometimes, and in some places, nice.

L

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