Girl’s ratcatchers are the proper attire for horse shows and informal Fox Hunting.  It is a man tailored shirt with a collar that stands up.  Over that collar sits a removable collar that buttons or Velcros closed at the back of the neck.  The collar is either monogrammed or you wear a pin at the front of the throat.  The supposed history of the name involves rat catchers in London hundreds of years ago.  These men bound their necks for protection from the vicious rats they were hunting.  The neck wrap was pinned in place. How this shirt made its way into the equestrian community is a mystery!  Years ago, when I was small, ratcatcher collars tied in a square knot at your throat.  These shirts were made by Equestrian brand and sold by Miller’s of New York.  Mostly in muted plaids and solids, we wore these shirts proudly with our rust jodhpurs and our green coats with velvet collars.

Currently we wear beautiful show shirt fabrics like CoolMax, fine super cottons and blends. The ratcatchers are available in numerous colors, stripes solids and plaids.   We offer girl’s ratcatcher sizes from 2 to a size 20.

When fitting ratcatchers correctly, riders must check to be sure the shoulder seams hit at or slightly below the outside of your shoulder.  The sleeves are designed to be 2”- 4” too long so that when they are buttoned and you straighten out your arms in front of you, the back will not pull.  The cuff of the Ratcatcher should be snug at your wrist.  The cuff should not slide down over your hand.  If the cuff is too big, move the buttons over to tighten up the fit.  The tail of the riding shirt should also be long enough to tuck into your breeches.  Match or color coordinate your shirt to your show jacket.