( SHOW REPORT )
Concours d’elegance at Island Riding Centre, Isle of Wight
Sunday 28th April 2019
hen I was asked to judge a concours d’elegance class at the Island Riding Centre on the Isle of Wight I was somewhat ap- prehensive as I had never judged a class in my life and I was aware that at the end of the day I would be popular with only one per- son and that would be the person who I picked to be the winner, the one that I deemed to be the best turned out in one of the amazing costumes that would have been painstakingly put together for this class.
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I have a fascination with period riding costume at the best of times and get enormous pleasure seeing horses and riders taking a trip back in time, looking as if they have just stepped out of the pages of a fairytale book. I took up side saddle, which I adored, for some years with the vain hope that I would one day wear a riding habit, my equestrian fashionista side surfaced with a vengeance and much time was spent reading about period riding costume and the characters who wore them, one notably was Lady Seymour Worsley, a daring lady rider and subject of the best recorded 18th century divorce cases, her portrait wearing her incredible military red riding habit is one of the most famous of equestrian attire and much copied by many including by myself!
The class is open to everyone and it gives people a chance to put together a fantastic period costume and take part, the beauty is that the class can be ridden astride which encourages more people to dress up and give it a go. I can honestly say that at every Concours class I have watched each and every rider has looked just beautiful so how on earth was I to choose a winner? The Judging of a Concours d’elegance class is to pick a horse and rider that creates the best overall picture that leaves a lasting impres- sion on the Judge. It is a class that is judged at walk and trot only and is based purely on the judges personal perception of elegance, it is definitely not a fancy dress class and less is considered more, all flesh must be covered and hair must be tidy and costumes should in theory be periodically as correct as possible. There are some in- credibly talented seamstress’s who can make up a Concours costume but I have seen some equally beautiful outfits made up from charity shop finds and some work on a home sewing machine. Now back to my judging of the class, I only had three entrants to choose from so in theory this should have been an easy task, it came down in the end to a hem that had slipped as I could have picked any of the riders as a winner, I’m a people pleaser, me, if I had to make
rosettes for everyone they would all be red!
Report Written by Jo Monck Photos by K Cant Photography
70
JULY/AUGUST 2019
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