For most riders, high vis is an essential piece of kit for hacking, but with so many options on the market it can sometimes be tricky to know which is best. We asked #Hack1000Miles challengers which colour they opted for and why, and we received a great response.
Hundreds of riders responded to the Your Horse poll and yellow came out as the most popular colour high vis, with 29% of riders choosing this option. It was preferred in winter rather than summer, which could be due to the prevalence of bright yellow rape seed fields during the warmer months making it less striking.
Orange high vis closely followed at 27% and then pink at 23%. A less popular choice was red high vis, with just 1% of riders favouring this colour. However, Equisafety recently shared the benefits of wearing red to make you and your horse more visible on the roads, so it could become more popular over time as the market offers more items in this colour.
Several riders said they opted for mixing colours (15%) or changing the colour depending on the season (1%).
“I deliberately wear multiple colours as I know the visibility is variable depending on the background/light,” said one respondent. “I tend to favor my orange tabard just because it’s the coolest, often have a yellow exercise sheet, pink ears, and my hat is multiple colours.”
Another added: “I wear a mix of pink and yellow as I know yellow doesn’t show up well in the dappled sunlight under trees.”
Many take the view of the more high vis the better, and they had seen motorists passing with more care thanks to their appearance.
“Me and my boy are covered in pink and orange: boots, sheet, neck strap, ears, noseband cover, hat band and waistcoat.,” one rider said. “I find yellow clashes with the amount of hedges and green space where I ride. I always get cars stop and say they can see me from miles and how impressed they are by my high vis.”
Lead image: Copyright Your Horse Library/Charlie Gooders Photography
