What to Wear to Your First Horse Riding Lesson in the UK

For a first riding lesson you need three things: a riding hat that meets a current standard, a boot with a small heel and a smooth sole, and close-fitting trousers with no thick inside seam. Everything else can wait until you know you will keep riding. A child's boots and riding tights from us come to £51.90, and most riding schools lend a hat for the first few lessons.

This guide is written by the people who make Gaia jodhpur boots and Aiya riding tights, so it is fair to ask whether it is just a way of selling you boots. Read it with that in mind. Where something is a matter of safety, we point you to the British Horse Society and the Pony Club, not to ourselves. Where something is a matter of comfort or cost, we say what it is and what it costs, and you decide.

The short version

• Hat. Essential. Borrow the school's for the first lessons; when you buy, have it fitted and check the standard. We do not sell hats.
• Boots. A short boot with a small heel and a sole that is not deeply treaded. Our Gaia jodhpur boots are £26.95 for children and £29.95 for adults.
• Trousers. Jodhpurs, riding tights or plain stretchy leggings. Our Aiya children's riding tights are £24.95. Adults can ride in leggings for the first few lessons.
• Top. Whatever you own that is close-fitting and warm enough. Layers are better than one thick coat.
• Can wait. Long boots, gloves, a body protector, a whip, your own hat. Ask the school which of these it wants you to have, and when.

What you need before the first lesson

A riding hat

A hat is essential. Nothing else on this list matters as much, and nothing we sell replaces one. Two things make the decision easy for a beginner.

First, most riding schools lend hats for the first lessons, so ask when you book. Borrowing is the sensible choice until you know you will carry on, because a hat has to be fitted to your head and a badly fitting hat does less than it should.

Second, when you do buy, the British Horse Society keeps a published list of the standards it accepts, and riding schools, the Pony Club and competitions all work from lists like it. Rather than repeat the list from memory, here is what the BHS 2026 hat guide says, quoted from the document itself. Hats must meet all of the requirements of one of these rows:

Hat standards accepted at BHS activities, from the BHS EAG Hat Guidelines 2026

Standard and date	Quality assurance mark it must carry
PAS 015 (2011)	BSI Kitemark or Inspec IC mark
VG1 01.040 (2014-12)	BSI Kitemark or Inspec IC mark
ASTM F1163 (2015 or 2023)	SEI mark
SNELL (E2016 or 2021 onwards)	Official SNELL label and number
AS/NZS 3838 (2006 onwards)	SAI Global mark
BS EN 1384:2023	BSI Kitemark or Inspec IC mark

Source: BHS EAG Hat Guidelines 2026 (PDF), linked from the BHS page on hats and helmets, which was last reviewed on 2 January 2026. The Pony Club follows the same standards; its own rule is in the Pony Club Hat Rule 2025 (PDF). Standards lists change, so check the current year's document rather than this table, and ask your riding school what it expects.

Three pieces of BHS advice worth repeating in their words: have a new hat fitted by a certified hat fitter at a reputable tack shop; do not buy second-hand, because damage cannot be seen with the naked eye; and replace your hat after a fall, especially if it touched the ground.

A boot with a heel

The boot is the one thing on this list where we can help directly, so here is the reasoning rather than a sales line.

Your foot sits in a stirrup, a metal loop. If the sole is smooth-bottomed and the boot has no heel, the foot can slide forward through the loop; if the sole has a deep, grippy tread, it can wedge in it. Neither is what you want if you come off. A riding boot answers both problems the same way: a defined step at the heel so the foot cannot pass through, and a sole with some grip but no deep lugs. That is why riding schools ask for a boot with a heel, and why most will not let you ride in trainers, wellies or walking boots.

For a first lesson the boot to buy is a jodhpur boot: the short, ankle-height boot that pulls on. It is what most riding schools expect at lessons, it costs a fraction of a long boot, and if riding does not stick you have lost the least.

Ours are the Gaia jodhpur boots. The children's boot is £26.95 in child UK 10 to UK 3 (EU 28 to 35, and there is no EU 29 or EU 36 in the range). The adult boot is £29.95 in UK 4 to UK 8, which is EU 37, 38, 39, 41 and 42: UK 6 is EU 39 and UK 7 is EU 41, and there is no EU 40. Both have a vegan synthetic leather upper that wipes clean after a muddy lesson, an elasticated panel on each side so they pull on and off in seconds, a padded ankle and insole, and a rubber sole with a low block heel. They are water-resistant up to the elasticated ankle, not waterproof, which is fine for a lesson in an arena and not fine for standing in a flooded field. There is also a Gaia Zipped adult boot with a YKK front zip, for anyone who finds pull-on boots a struggle; its price is on its page.

If you already own a plain, flat-soled ankle boot with a small heel, ask the school whether it will do for a taster session. Many will say yes for one lesson. Buy the proper boot before the second.

How to get the size right, including the no-EU-40 ladder, is on our size guide. If the size is wrong, every product has 90-day easy returns, on top of your statutory rights.

Trousers you can sit in

You will spend the lesson sitting on a saddle and moving with it. Anything with a thick inside seam, a raised zip or a stiff waistband makes itself known within twenty minutes and again the next morning. Jeans are the usual first-lesson mistake for exactly that reason.

Three things work. Jodhpurs, the traditional riding trouser. Riding tights, which are leggings cut for the saddle, usually with silicone on the seat or knees for grip. Or, for the first few lessons, a plain pair of stretchy leggings or tracksuit bottoms without a thick seam, which most schools are happy with for beginners.

For children we make Aiya riding tights: £24.95 for the plain black or navy pair, £29.95 for the Unicorn and Rock N Roll prints. They are a four-way stretch knit (76% nylon, 24% elastane), with a silicone grip across the whole seat and down the inside of each leg to the knee, a 5 cm covered waistband, a drop-in phone pocket on each side, and smooth internal seams. They are sized by waist, 20 to 28 inches, which covers roughly ages 3 to 12; measure the waist rather than going by age. The grip helps a child who is learning to sit to the trot stay in the middle of the saddle. It is a help, not a safety device.

We do not make adult riding tights or jodhpurs yet. For adults, plain leggings for the first lessons, then a pair of jodhpurs or riding tights from any tack shop once you know you are staying.

A top, and layers

Nothing special. A close-fitting top so nothing flaps or catches, and layers rather than one thick coat so you can take something off when you warm up, which you will. Avoid anything with a hood that could catch, and anything with dangling cords. In winter, a thin pair of gloves stops the reins rubbing cold fingers; in summer, nothing extra.

Hair, jewellery and the small things

Long hair tied back so it does not get under the hat. No dangling earrings, necklaces or bracelets, and no rings that could catch on a rein. Take your phone out of your back pocket before you get on; a child's Aiya tights have a side pocket for exactly this reason. Leave the whip, the spurs and the fancy kit at the shop; a first lesson does not need them and a good instructor will tell you if and when it does.

What can wait

A riding school sees new riders every week and knows what they turn up in. Nobody expects you to arrive fully kitted, and buying everything at once is the most common way to spend money on things that end up in a cupboard. In rough order of when people actually need them:

• Your own hat. Borrow for the first lessons. Buy, fitted, once you know you are continuing, and check the standard against the current BHS list above.
• Long boots. Not for a first lesson. Long boots come in when you are schooling regularly, hacking out, or going to Pony Club and lower-level shows. Ours are the Athena tall boots, and the question of when to move up gets its own guide: jodhpur boots or long boots, and when to move up.
• Body protector. Some schools require one for children, some for jumping, some not at all. Ask the school. We do not sell them and this guide does not advise on them.
• Gloves. Useful, inexpensive, and the first extra most people buy. Not needed for lesson one unless it is cold.
• Half chaps. Worn over jodhpur boots to protect the calf. Sensible once you are riding weekly. Not needed on day one.
• Everything else. A whip, a schooling top, a show jacket. If a school or a branch wants them, it will say so.

Second-hand kit: what is fine and what is not

Riding is an expensive hobby to start and a lot of first kit is passed on between families, so it is worth being clear about which items that works for.

Boots, tights, jodhpurs, gloves and half chaps are all fine second-hand if they fit and the soles and seams are sound. A jodhpur boot that has done a season of lessons on someone else's child is still a jodhpur boot with a heel. Check that the heel has not worn flat and that the sole is not coming away at the toe, and wipe the inside out before it goes on a new foot.

A hat is the exception, and it is the BHS, not us, that says so. Its advice is that hats should not be bought second-hand, because damage to the shell cannot be seen from the outside, and that a hat should be replaced after a fall, especially one where the hat touched the ground. A hat with an unknown history is a hat you cannot trust. The same goes for a body protector, whose foam takes a set from an impact you may never hear about.

If it is raining

Most first lessons happen in an indoor school or a surfaced outdoor arena, so the weather matters less than you would think. Wear the same kit and add a waterproof jacket that is close-fitting enough not to flap, and leave the hood down or tucked away, because a hood over a riding hat catches the wind and blocks the view behind you.

Gaia boots are water-resistant up to the elasticated ankle, which is enough for the walk from the car park and a lesson on a wet surface. They are not a boot for standing in a flooded gateway; that job belongs to the Hera, and no beginner needs one for lesson one. If the yard is deep in mud, a pair of wellies for the walk in and your riding boots in a bag is the sensible answer, because most schools will not let you ride in wellies and the reasons are in the boot section above.

What a child needs

The same three things as an adult, with two differences.

First, children's kit gets outgrown, so the argument for keeping the first purchase small is stronger. Gaia children's jodhpur boots are £26.95, Aiya riding tights are £24.95, and a hat comes from the school's shelf until you are sure. That is £51.90 for boots and tights, and because that is over £50 UK delivery is free.

Second, the hat matters even more, because a child's head is still growing and a hat that fitted last year may not fit this year. The BHS advice about fitting and about replacing after a fall applies twice over. Ask the school to check a borrowed hat's fit at every lesson, and when you buy, go to a fitter.

If your child is heading for Pony Club, the boots and tights above are ordinary riding kit and are fine to wear to a rally. Each Pony Club branch sets its own kit list, so check yours before you buy. The Pony Club's hat rule is linked in the hat section above.

What it costs

Prices include VAT and were checked on 18 September 2026. We list only what we make; a hat, a body protector and half chaps come from a tack shop, and a hat should be fitted there.

First-lesson kit from Englander Equestrian

Item	Child	Adult	Needed for lesson one?
Riding hat	Borrow from the school, then buy fitted	Borrow from the school, then buy fitted	Yes, essential. Not sold by us.
Gaia children's jodhpur boots / Gaia adults jodhpur boots	£26.95	£29.95	Yes, or a plain heeled ankle boot the school accepts for one taster
Aiya riding tights (Plain)	£24.95	Not made yet; plain leggings	Yes, or plain stretchy leggings
Aiya Unicorn or Rock N Roll riding tights	£29.95	Not made	Only if a print is the difference between a happy child and a reluctant one
Long boots (Athena)	Later	Later	No
Gloves, half chaps, body protector	Tack shop	Tack shop	No, unless the school says so

So the from-us total for a child is £51.90 (boots and plain tights), and for an adult £29.95 (boots, with leggings you already own). UK delivery is free on orders over £50. Every product has 90-day easy returns, and the range is also sold on justhorseriders.co.uk.

Before you go

• Ring or email the school and ask three questions: do you lend hats, what footwear do you accept, and is there anything else you want a beginner to bring.
• Try the boots on at home on a hard floor, with the socks you will ride in. Walk about. A boot that pinches standing up will hurt in a stirrup.
• Arrive early enough to have the borrowed hat fitted properly. A hat that moves when you shake your head is not fitted.
• Eat something and take water. Nerves and a horse are tiring.

Who wrote this

Englander Equestrian is the own brand of Just Horse Riders, a family-run Lancashire retailer that has sold riding kit since 2010. We sold other makers' riding boots for over a decade and watched the prices climb, and we started making our own so that the cost of a pair of boots is not the reason someone stops riding. We still stock the brands we are compared with. Where this guide points to safety rules, it points to the British Horse Society and the Pony Club, because that is where those rules are written and kept up to date.

Related

• Gaia jodhpur boots, the boot for a first lesson
• Aiya children's riding tights
• Size guide, including the no-EU-40 ladder
• Compare every Englander Equestrian boot
• Guide: Which riding boots should a beginner buy

All prices include VAT. Prices checked 18 September 2026.