Since when does everyone ride?

Wikimedia commons "labeled for reuse"

As a rider myself, I can immediately recognise anyone who is is wearing riding clothes. However, recently, I've seen more and more people tromping around in riding pants and shoes. Apparently, this is the new style craze. To me, and I imagine other riders, this wearing of riding equipment away from the stable just looks a little odd. Riding shoes, never look shiny, black, and clean for long. Mine look a little more like this (left picture):

Leather therapy "labeled for reuse"

So when I see hundreds of people traipsing around in their shiny black riding boots, I can't help wondering, what the heck are you doing? Those, shoes have been developed to muck out stables, to stick in stirrups, and the shape is such, that if you fall you aren't dragged around the paddock still attached to the horse. But it doesn't stop there: oh no.

For a couple months now, I've been seeing people in riding pants. I can tell they aren't going to the stable, because on their arm is slung a Louis Vuitton bag, and their jackets are from Armani. So when I see riding pants paired with that, I can't help snickering a little. My riding pants, smell like the inside of a horse's stable, they have brown spots all over, there a bits of hay clinging to the fabric, and in the summer it is covered in fur. The padded knee and calf parts of the pants, are there so that you can protect your leg from the constant pressure that needs to be applied to the horse's belly. Why on earth would you need a padded knee and calf to go to the city? Although, I can see why people may like the look of it, as a rider I simply find it amusing.

Go on non-riders, continue wearing the equipment of our sport. We won't stop you, we'll just have a laugh now and again.