Chaps

Chaps (ˈʃæps or ˈtʃæps) are sturdy coverings for the legs consisting of leggings and a belt. They are buckled on over trousers with the chaps' integrated belt, but unlike trousers, they have no seat (the term "assless chaps" is a tautology) and are not joined at the crotch. They are designed to provide protection for the legs and are usually made of leather or a leather-like material. Their name is a shortened version of the Spanish word chaparajos. Chaparajos were named after the chaparral (thick, thorny, low brush), from which they were designed to protect the legs while riding on horseback. Like much of western American horse culture, the origin of chaparajos was in the south of Spain, from which it then passed on to the part of New Spain that later became Mexico, and has been assimilated into cowboy culture of the American West. They are a protective garment to be used when riding a horse through brushy terrain. In the modern world, they are worn for both practical work purposes and for exhibition or show use. Chaps have also been adopted for use on motorcycles, particularly by cruiser-style motorcycle riders. Chaps derive from "zahones", used in southern Spain by hunters and vaqueros to protect the trousers from scratches produced by brushing with plants or branches. They were most likely adopted in Spanish America along with the cowboy culture, and from there they passed into the American Wild West. The earliest form of protective leather garment used by mounted riders who herded cattle in Spain and Mexico were called armas, meaning "weapons". They were essentially two large pieces of cowhide that were used as a protective apron of sorts. They attached to the horn of the rider's stock saddle, and were spread across both the horse's chest and the rider's legs. From this early and rather cumbersome design came modifications that placed the garment entirely on the rider, and then style variations adapted as vaqueros, and later cowboys, moved north from Mexico into the Pacific coast and northern Rockies regions of what today are the United States and Canada.