I have never really cared whether I'm in full seats or knee patch breeches. I've shown in full seats but schooled in knee patch for years and I just never noticed a difference.
That is, until recently.
Riding Warehouse had some of those Ovation Aqua-X full seat breeches on clearance that several bloggers have raved about, and they had the cutest cross hatch silicone pattern on them, so I figured I'd give them a try. I'm running woefully low on Irideon tights these days anyway.
At first, I didn't notice much of a difference between full seat and knee patch in the saddle, except that in the fullseats I got hopelessly stuck to my leather truck seats.
I had ridden in those breeches for the entire Mary clinic, and I didn't realize until I wore my insulated winter knee patch tights to my lesson a couple weeks ago just how much I've been relying on the silicone to keep me stuck to the correct place in my jump saddle, which I do have to fight the slightest bit to keep my leg in a good Dressage position.
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| Wearing them for Mary |
Between being sore, and wearing what felt like frictionless pants, I almost didn't have a prayer of keeping my leg in the right place. Yes, that would be less of an issue in a proper Dressage saddle, but this is where I am right now. I promptly went home and bought a pair of silicone full seat winter breeches, because for the first time in my life, I'm a convert.
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| Same breeches, but in black |
Beyond that, what do I think of these? For starters, they seem to run big. I'm normally a 22 or 24 in breches, but the smallest these come in is 26 and that fits me great. (For comparison, I'm a 22 in Ariat and SmartPak, 24 in Equine Couture and Cavallo, child's XL in Irideon tights and a 30 in the (old?) Gho Dho sizing).
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| Size 26 |
The length is hopeless on a short person, but not so off that they're unwearable. They go all the way down to my ankles, and the calves are pretty baggy, but neither one of those things is a problem in the saddle. They gap just a bit on me at the waist, but I have a fairly extreme hip/waist ratio so that's not surprising. I never wear them without a belt.
I do think the fabric tends to stain easily, but I've been pretty vigilant about my ScotchGuarding and so far, so good. The real star though is how cool you stay in these breeches while riding in the heat. They did such a good job, I replaced my 10-year-old-but-still-look-great TuffRider show breeches with them, which are great breeches but the furthest thing from "cool", and with how many times I showed this year above the 90 degree mark, it seemed like a worthwhile (still on clearance!) investment.
Bottom line: A great option if you ride in hot weather! Pay attention to sizing.
What: Ovation Aqua-X Full Seat Silicone Grip Breeches
Price: $82.88 on clearance at RW (I paid $75 with my US Rider discount)
Sizes: 26-34
Colors: Black, White
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