Shadbelly
Encyclopedia
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
Members, dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
riders, eventers
Eventing
Eventing is an equestrian event comprising dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This event has its roots in a comprehensive cavalry test requiring mastery of several types of riding...
(in the dressage phase of the higher levels), and occasionally by other hunt seat
Hunt seat
Hunt seat is terminology used in the United States and Canada to refer to a style of forward seat riding commonly found at American horse shows. Along with Dressage, it is one of the two classic forms of English riding. The Hunt seat is based on the tradition of fox hunting...
riders. Shadbellies are also standard attire for the Show hack
Show hack
The show hack is a type of ridden show horse, exhibited to a standard first established in England.Affiliated showing and breeding of the show hacks in the United Kingdom is overseen by the British Show Horse Association....
classes at certain breed shows in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The coat is considered an element of very formal riding attire, and its use is therefore reserved for the most formal forms of equestrianism
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
.
When used in the classic hunt, they should not be worn by youth riders, despite the current trend and availability.
The shadbelly coat is part of a formal wear
Formal wear
Formal wear and formal dress are the general terms for clothing suitable for formal social events, such as a wedding, formal garden party or dinner, débutante cotillion, dance, or race...
category known as the tailcoat
Tailcoat
A tailcoat is a coat with the front of the skirt cut away, so as to leave only the rear section of the skirt, known as the tails. The historical reason coats were cut this way was to make it easier for the wearer to ride a horse, but over the years tailcoats of varying types have evolved into forms...
. The male version of the shadbelly is sometimes called a "weaselbelly." The single word "Shadbelly" was also once spelled "shad belly", and the coat is also sometimes referred to as a "swallowtail." Essentially the space between the original two-word spellings has been removed, but not their meaning.
The design is historically linked to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where Beau Brummel popularized the style for daywear during the Regency period. By the 1860s the formal tailcoat
Tailcoat
A tailcoat is a coat with the front of the skirt cut away, so as to leave only the rear section of the skirt, known as the tails. The historical reason coats were cut this way was to make it easier for the wearer to ride a horse, but over the years tailcoats of varying types have evolved into forms...
was used almost exclusively for formal evening wear. Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Royalty
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
wore the coat for formal occasions and portraits as well as for riding horseback. The Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
and Quakers wore the shadbelly to church functions.
Though the word tuxedo
Tuxedo
A tuxedo is a type of semi-formal dress for men.Tuxedo may also refer to:-Places:Canada* Tuxedo, Winnipeg, Manitoba, a city neighborhood** Tuxedo , a provincial electoral district in Manitoba...
is used in American English to include the shadbelly or swallowtail coat, in British English, the word "tuxedo" refers only to the dinner jacket. Today, "swallowtail" and "shadbelly" are used interchangeably for fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
in the United States, but "shadbelly" is the primary term used in various horse show disciplines.
A shadbelly is usually black in color, although navy is becoming popular, and deep green is also occasionally seen in some nations. It has tails, double buttons, and either is worn over a vest of canary yellow (a "waistcoat" in the UK), or, particularly when worn in hot weather, has false yellow points peeking out under the cut away front, to simulate the look of a vest. Generally a white shirt with a ratcatcher collar and tied stock tie (a type of simple cravat
Cravat
The cravat is a neckband, the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie and bow tie, originating from 17th-century Croatia.From the end of the 16th century, the term band applied to any long-strip neckcloth that was not a ruff...
) is standard. As a general rule, a shadbelly should be worn with a top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
, white breeches
Breeches
Breeches are an item of clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles...
and black riding boots, which complete the formal look. Ideally white gloves should also be worn for a fully correct turnout, though many riders will wear black gloves to make their hands appear quieter.
The earliest use of the concept of a "shadbelly" coat goes back to biblical times when Chaldean
Chaldean Christians
Chaldean Christians are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, most of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church from the Church of the East, which was already Catholic, but most wanted to stray away from the Catholic Church, causing the split in the 17th and 18th...
priests wore coats representing the body of a fish.