Is it true that male cowboys sometimes wear nylon pantyhose underneath their jeans in order to prevent chaffing?
I was under the impression that the soreness that accompanies horseback riding was due to the interaction between the rider and the saddle rather than from the friction of denim rubbing against the skin. Is wearing pantyhose while horseback riding advisable?
Thanks.
Don’t know about cowboys but I do know many soldiers do/used to wear them for our marches.
Er them not our 
Wow, none that I’ve ever known. You get used to the friction, although it’s best if the slightly bulkier seam on your pants is on the outside of the leg (see Wranglers.)
How would male cowboys wearing pantyhose hope to prevent chaffing? I would think it would expose them to TONS of chaffing, if detected by other cowboys.
If you meant to suggest that it might prevent “chafing”, however, for all I know you could be right.
Don’t know about cowboys, but lots of hunters wear them here in the South to help prevent chigger bites.
embarassing. i have done this, and it works.
Scuba divers used to wear them to aid in getting into tight wetsuits. I wouldn’t know anymore, I have a drysuit now.
This is the best news I have heard all day. Now every time I see a coyboy I will smile and think of Jack Palance in pantyhose.
Seems like biker shorts would work as well without the embarassment. Hotter in the summer, though.
Your impression is wrong. Nearly all horse-riding relating clothing comes from incorrectly fitting clothes – and speciically when wearing jeans, having bulky seams all down the side of your leg that contacts the saddle.
I ride English in snug-fitting breeches, and have never chafed, ever. My SO reports the same when riding English in breeches, so I do not believe this is a M/F distinction.
Wearing panyhose while riding is not particularly advisable, but wearing stretchy, snug fitting pants with minimal seams – if your discipline allows – is (and chaps if it does not)
Nearly all horse-riding related chafing.
I’m not sure if I phrased that well. There’s no reason not to wear pantyhose if you think it will help, but buying pants that are more suitable for riding will probably help more, and be less sweaty in hot weather.
My creds:
I grew up on a Wyoming ranch and know more cowboys - professional working cowboys, ranchers, rodeo riders - than I can count. My family still ranches full time. My father recently won a local ranch rodeo all around cowboy as a great grandfather. I’m a pathetic desk jockey now, but there was a time in my life when I spent more time on a horse than in a car.
I have never seen a cowboy ride with pantyhose on. Never. Not saying it doesn’t happen, but I’ve never seen it.
When I was in Boy Scouts, one of our scout leaders, a sergeant in the National Guard, told us that wearing nylong stockings under your boot socks helps to prevent blisters, since they don’t rub on your feet as much as the socks would.
Tried this a few years later when I went to Philmont, and was the only member of my group not to get blisters of some sort. 