RIDING UNDER-BODICE, HUNTING-TIES, COLLARS, CUFFS AND TIES.
A garment which I have thought out, and which I believe will fill a want, is a riding under-bodice with long sleeves and wristbands, to which cuffs can be attached, and also a stud at the throat for the attachment of a hunting-tie or collar. This bodice is in stockinet, and fits closely, without, as in the case of ordinary shirts, any superfluous material marring the outline of the figure (Figs. [65] and [66]). Ladies generally have so much difficulty in fastening cuffs, that they will doubtless welcome a close-fitting garment of this description, and it will do away with the tiresome habit-shirts and dickeys which have an irritating trick of following one’s neck about, instead of remaining in a fixed position. Besides, collars which cannot be kept firmly in place generally necessitate the use of pins, which should never be employed with any article of riding attire.
A hunting-tie or stock, which is a combination of collar and tie, the collar part being either starched or soft, according to choice, is the warmest and most becoming kind of neck arrangement for hunting. It is not easy to put on neatly, and it would be well for a novice when purchasing these ties to get the shopman to initiate her into their mysteries, and to take one home correctly tied, to be kept as a copy until its somewhat intricate manipulation has been mastered. My husband’s directions for the arrangement of a hunting-tie are as follows:—“The centre of the stock is placed on the front of the neck, the ends are passed in opposite directions round the back of the neck, brought in front, tied in a reef knot, crossed in front of this knot, and finally secured, as a rule, by means of a pin or brooch of the safety or horse-shoe or fox pattern. A gold safety pin is often used. A brooch pin is naturally safer than an ordinary pin. Nowadays, hunting ties are nearly always made of white cotton material” (Riding and Hunting).
If a collar is preferred to a hunting-tie, it should not be too high, for nothing is more uncomfortable in riding than a collar which compels its wearer to preserve a stiff neck and runs into her whenever she tries to turn her head. The best kind of cuffs are those which have button holes for links or solitaires in the centre, as they allow room for thick gloves to be passed under them. The necktie to be worn is a matter of choice, but white and black ties are always becoming, the former for preference, as they brighten up a dark habit. It is always well to abjure startling colours; for the dress, saddlery and gear of a horsewoman should be characterised by simplicity and neatness. On this point I can offer no sounder advice than that given to Laertes by his father, who said:
“Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;”
and also the woman.