Why Do Jockeys Wear White Pants? (Revealed!)
I love horse racing as an adult and have always had an interest in it.
I remember betting a dollar on races for fun with my father when I was very young, usually picking a horse based on which name I liked or which jockey had the most extravagant and eye catching colors.
I think I’m a bit savvier now in my older age, but the jockey uniforms do intrigue me.
One thing my friend asked me recently was about their pants—why are they always white?
I wasn’t actually sure, so I decided to look into it.
So, why do jockeys wear white pants?
Jockeys are required to wear the horse owner’s silks. They will typically be white with a pattern, and this is so that the horse can be easily identified during the race. The breeches are always white as to strongly contrast the vibrant colors of the jacket and helmet. White pants will be kept on between races; jackets may change.
The jockeys’ silks are absolutely essential to distinguish them during a race.
Further, jockeys will often change jackets between races as they move between different horses; naturally, it’s much more convenient to change if you only need to change your jacket.
Do jockeys have to wear white trousers?
Horse racing is such an old tradition that you can understand why there’s so much pageantry involved.
Especially when you think back to the kinds of tourney events held in medieval Europe, that were all about grand banners, flags, colors and showmanship.
Horse racing as we know it today really began developing in the 18th Century, and so the traditions were heavily influenced by this kind of pomposity.
Today, then, the reason jockeys are required to wear white trousers is still in the vein of these old traditions.
Jockeys wear famously gaudy and ostentatious colors and patterns on their jackets and helmets, so that they can be easily identified during the race.
It’s not quite like something like football, where you just need two kits to distinguish the teams. Horse racing is incredibly fast and hectic, so it’s much harder to keep up.
The white trousers create a strong contrast, so there isn’t just a complete mess of colors.
Jockeys all wear the linens of whoever owns the horse they’re riding.
The important thing to remember is that jockeys typically don’t ride horses they own; they are riding it on behalf of the owner.
For that reason, one jockey may ride several horses over the course of a day’s worth of races.
If jockeys had to wear the specific pant linens of the owner of the horse, getting changed would take twice as long. If it’s just their jackets and hats, they can just change them over easily.
Why do jockeys wear silk?
So, that’s why the pants are always white—but why silk?
It might be strange to think of such a delicate and indeed expensive material as the choice for such a messy and potentially dirty event as horse racing. I wouldn’t want to be the one doing the laundry for all that white silk covered in mud.
Silk’s flexibility and airiness made it the perfect choice for the uniform.
However, in actual fact, in the modern day, most jockeys don’t wear silk; they wear Lycra.
It has all the same airiness and flexibility but with much better durability.
The uniform kept the name, though, so they’re still referred to as silks.
A jockey’s pants, specifically, are called breeches.
This is another slightly archaic term for pants, in particular breeches are usually made from a lightweight fabric like silk.
So, jockeys really don’t wear silk anymore, but their uniforms are often still referred to in this way.
But what other protective gear do jockeys wear besides their silks?
What protective gear do jockeys wear?
A lot can go wrong in a horse race, so good protective gear is essential.
The most obvious piece of protective gear that jockeys wear is their helmet.
Jockeys’ helmets typically carry the color of the owner of the horse too, though they can also be black.
Though there isn’t particularly far to fall from a horse and it would usually be on to reasonably soft ground of the track, getting hit in the head by a horse behind you is a very real possibility, and the helmet is mainly a defence against this.
They also wear goggles during the race.
A lot of mud and grass gets churned up and thrown around during a race, and it can easily get into a jockey’s eyes while they’re racing.
This would be a big problem.
Also, you should remember how fast horses are running in these races; usually around 40mph. travelling 40mph in the open air can really be hard on your eyes if you don’t have any protection. It’s the same basic reason pilots in old open air planes would wear goggles.
Other than that, they typically wear long boots to prevent chafing, gloves if the weather is bad, vests under their silks to provide padding against rib breakage, and a skivvy under everything else.
A skivvy is a piece of mesh clothing that can be either very lightweight or much heavier.
White pants might be the worst option for anyone who has to do the laundry after a muddy race, but for everyone else they make total sense.
The white strongly contrasts the other colors which identify the horse and rider, and make it much easier for the riders to change into new colors between races.
If every outfit had matching pants, it would make the process take a lot longer.