Feel free to move this thread if it's in the wrong place - I just wanted to get opinions from gundog types! Having been the owner of a springer for just over a year and also a seasoned beater and dabbled in the odd working trail.....and being female....I am in despair when it comes to finding reasonably priced, hard-wearing, warm and well-fitting outdoor trousers! I know, I know - if that's all I am worried about, I must either be utterly blind to all the faults and failings of my dogs .... or have perfect dogs mrgreen: ) but seriously, where can I buy women's outdoor trousers that are not cut just like a man's, but with a slightly higher waste? I have tried on pair after pair....and being a pear-shape, I end up with a gaping gap at the back; or fitting on the hips but massive on the waist; or the waist is just too low and everything is fine til I try to sit down and make my eyes water! I'm beating 2 days a week over hills and rough ground, so I need something that comes high enough to tuck my shirt in (without resembling Simon Cowell) because it gets nippy in the hills. I would like something that does not make me look like a topiary version of a croctcheted loo roll holder At a trial, as yet, nobody has suggested the handlers hid behind me during the down-stay, but seriously, some of the offerings I have tried on would make that a distinct possibility! Where - oh where - can I find some hard-wearing, spaniel-pants?!!!!!
LOL, I have no idea cos my idea of spaniel pants is when mine have been ditch diving and jump all over me covering me with mud, frog spawn, probably fox poo (I deduced this from the smell) and various other unmentionables! I am sure someone will suggest something sensible.
Yes - those are Spaniel Pants! Sadly, they seem to have a short lifespan for me. I can't keep a pair alive more than 12 months and then I have to drag myself into town and go through the trauma that is clothes-shopping! I need some resiliant but vaguely flattering pants that will stand up to spaniels! PS - you forgot pondweed
My current lot are from Bass Pro Shops in the US, similar to OutdoorWorld and GoOutdoors here, I think they are by North Face or something similar? They have lasted two working cockers and a collie thus far!
Mine are just non padded ski trousers..... still keep me warm and dry in -15 with all the snow, even when I just have tights underneath! And I get cold very easily. I got mine from TKMaxx, they were only £9.99. There some lovely outdoor khaki green trousers in Blacks outdoor store, but the £50 price tag put me off.
I just wear jeans or joggers. But then I haven't been out on a proper days work yet I'm sure I'll change my mind..
I've got mole skin breeks for shoot days, mine are quite loose around my legs but it means I can fit my thermals underneath and still be comfy! They are really high waisted as well. I've had them for nearly 4 years and I've got one small hole (getting hung from a barbed wire fence isnt a good idea!) and the velcro on the knee bits are worn away, but they are still going strong, I'm hoping they last me the forth coming season on both the grouse and pheasants! I got them from a gun shop in Scotland when I lived up there. There are moleskin trousers on Black Gundog. I'm tempted to get some!!
How about ski wear or jodpuhr type trousers?? Alternatively - a pair of regular warm pants with waterproof overalls and gaiters?
I have moleskins - very warm in winter and quite thick to cope with brambles. I also just wear a pair of combatty type trousers from Asda. Helen
Jeans and a pair of wax treggings over the top, the best i had for beating was some wax overtrousers from mole valley farmers didn't matter what i wore underneath then, and most of the time it was just leggings
so it's not just me?! I ordered a pair of moleskins from Black Gundog and had to send them back because they were massively big at the waist. That's part of the problem - finding women's trousers that actually fit; are hard wearing and don't break the bank! Previously I too have got away with jeans or thinner walker-type trousers with long johns underneath and leggins over the top. I did get some tweed breeks from Alan Paine at Crufts and they fit perfectly! It said Size 14 on the label and that is precisely what they were and then fit on both waist and hips! I was gobsmacked The man on the stall said they were cut using what he described as 'proper English ladies' sizing' - which I guess means a 14 is something like 39 hips, 29 waist? I just wish there was some consistency in sizing and people realised not all of us are either beanpoles or beer-bellies....some of us do go in and out a bit
Moleskins and/or overtrousers. I prefer mine roomy TBH it makes toilet breaks easier (if you are a woman) (SLB you would freeze if you spent a day beating in only jeans or joggers!)
Moleskins would be my 1st choice if only I could find a pair that fit! I had some lovely ones about 20 years ago.... I will keep looking. I like roomy - just not draughty or gappy - brrrrrrrr
Moleskins plus waterproof and thornproof treggings for me. The treggings are more comfortable to wear than over trousers but still keep you warm and dry in all the right places without giving you that 'cooked in a bag' feeling.
