Rust Riding Breeches Review:
George H. Morris v. Ovation Showdown

Rust is the new buff. Well, not exactly, but when I planned on fox hunting in Virginia for an extended horse girl’s weekend recently, I found out Old Dominion Hounds allowed rust riding breeches as a formal color. Always striving to look vintage, I scoured the Internet for rust riding breeches and came up with two options that would work: the George H. Morris breeches and Ovation breeches. The following is my honest opinion on two readily-available-for-purchase rust riding breeches.

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Ovation Rust Riding Breeches

The Ovation breeches arrived in the mail first, and when I tried them on, I literally lol’ed at how high the waistband was on me. I felt a little like Steve Urkel. The color was great and my overall impression was they were a traditional, conservative breech with nice lines and medium depth pockets.

Also, I noted the breeches had the elastic “sock bottom” for a smooth, comfy fit under boots. I liked how vintagey they seemed, but felt “meh” about them otherwise. So I did what any on-the-fence shopper would do: immediately took a selfie and texted my friend/fox hunting travel companion. She LOVED them. I decided to keep them as a viable option.

George H. Morris Breeches

Next, the George Morris breeches arrived (ordered from Amazon–click here to see the rust breeches). I had read on a forum somewhere to order them one size up so I did.  I immediately LOVED the white piping on the pockets, but I was a bit dismayed when I saw the silicone knee patches. I have a pair of super cute USG breeches with the silicone knee patches and I honestly feel like you can hear the “squeak” of me riding from across the arena. I’m not convinced the silicone patches are for me, period. Although the rust color is classic, I felt the overall look I was going for was too modern with the knee patches.

I tried these rust breeches on and they were definitely lower waisted than the Ovations, but they also had that gap in back. They fit my bum just fine, but the waistline had too much room in the small of my back. I obviously would wear a belt riding, but I didn’t like the gap and the extra material around my crotch. If I had ordered my normal size in these breeches, to eliminate the lower back gap, I’m confident they would have been too tight in the butt.

The Winner Is. . .

I chose the Ovation breeches to keep for good and rode in them two days for fox hunting in Virginia and I felt like I fit right in. Also, I visited several tack shops around Middleburg, one of the being Tri County Feeds–they had a whole section filled with fox hunting attire and Ovations were on display.

Interestingly, I did notice the wife of the Master of Foxhounds wore the George Morris breeches and they looked cute on her. And my fox hunting “partner in crime” conducted the same rust breeches experiment I did and decided to keep her George Morris breeches. She ordered a men’s size and liked how they were higher waisted–in her view, eliminating the low-waisted breeches muffin top.

So which rust breeches should you choose? Ultimately it’s dependent on what you feel fits you best. And the only way to know that is probably to conduct the same rust riding breeches showdown like I did. Happy shopping and tally ho!

Question: Do you have rust breeches? If so, what kind and what do you like about them? Go ahead and share in the comments section. 

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