Nobody is riding anything. That is the joke.
The trick is entirely in the silhouette. A stuffed torso lies along the spine, two gloved arms reach forward, and from three metres away the animal is carrying a passenger it cannot see and does not know about.
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Size: S, neck 23 to 31cm
Why you'll love it
There is no leg to thread and nothing goes over the head. The figure lies along the spine and the two straps close underneath, so the whole thing is on in about five seconds and off in two. That matters more than tailoring on a costume nobody wears for long.
Most of this category is sold as S/M/L with nothing behind the letters. This one publishes neck and chest in centimetres for all four sizes, so you can measure the animal and know before it arrives rather than after.
Because the weight sits along the back rather than hanging off the neck, the small size genuinely fits a cat, 23 to 31cm at the neck. Most rider costumes start at a spaniel and go up.
Good fit if
Look elsewhere if
A conventional costume asks an animal to accept fabric around the ribs, under the belly and often around each leg. Every one of those contact points is somewhere a dog or a cat has opinions, and the leg openings in particular are where most costume arguments start. A rider avoids all of it. The weight sits along the spine, which is the least sensitive line on the body and the place a hand naturally rests, and two straps close underneath.
In practice that means five seconds to put on and two to remove. It also means a much better chance the animal simply walks off wearing it rather than freezing in the crouch that tells you a costume has gone too far. That is not a promise, and plenty of cats will still object, but the odds are better here than with anything else in this range.
Most of this category is sold as small, medium and large with nothing behind the words. This one gives neck and chest in centimetres for all four sizes, so the guessing is optional. Measure the chest at its widest point just behind the front legs, and the neck where a collar sits. The chest figure is the one that decides the fit; the neck strap has more give than the chest strap does.
The small is a genuine cat size at 23 to 31 centimetres in the neck, which is unusual. Note the overlap between sizes is deliberate and slightly odd at the top: the large runs to a 56cm chest and the extra large starts at 50cm, so a 53cm chest can take either. Pick the large if the animal is short backed and the extra large if it is long.
Polyester felt, with the head and the arms stuffed to hold their shape and the face printed flat rather than moulded. The supplier calls the face a realistic horror mask; it is a print on felt, and at arm's length it looks like a print on felt. From across a room, which is where the costume is meant to be seen, it works.
Fastening is hook and loop at both straps, which is the right choice for something taken on and off repeatedly and the wrong choice for longevity, because hook and loop fills with fur and loses grip over a few seasons. Pick the fur out of the hooks with a fingernail before you put it away and it will come back next October still holding.
In the box
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The details
| Size | Neck | Chest | Height |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | 23 to 31cm | 38 to 45cm | 18cm |
| M | 25 to 33cm | 40 to 47cm | 18cm |
| L | 35 to 45cm | 48 to 56cm | 21cm |
| XL | 50 to 60cm | 50 to 62cm | 21cm |
Chest is the measurement that decides the fit. Where the large and the extra large overlap, choose by back length rather than by chest alone.
Spot clean with a damp cloth and let it dry flat. The head and arms are stuffed, so a wash leaves damp filling inside for days and mats the felt into a texture it does not recover from. Store it with the hood uncrushed. A stuffed head that spends eleven months under a box comes out a different shape.
Loved by real pet parents
There is no leg to thread and nothing goes over the head, which on a dog that hates being dressed is everything. The figure lies along his spine, the neck strap closes, the chest strap closes and we are done. He walked straight off to his bed in it, which has never happened with a costume before.
I read that the small starts at 23cm on the neck and assumed that was optimistic, but it fitted our cat properly with the strap on its middle setting. Because the weight sits along her back rather than hanging off her neck, she carried it around quite happily. It is the only rider costume I have found that is not built for a spaniel and upwards.
The illusion works from the side and people did laugh. From the front the stuffed hood tips forward over his shoulders within a minute or two of him moving, and you lose the effect until you sit it back up. The straps themselves hold fine. It is a photograph costume rather than an evening costume in this house.
Having neck and chest published in centimetres for all four sizes meant I could measure her at 41cm neck and 52cm chest and know the large was right before ordering rather than finding out afterwards. It was. Nothing else in this category tells you anything beyond a letter, so this was a pleasant change.
The costume itself is excellent and the empty gloved hands are a good detail, much better than something clutching a plastic prop. On our barrel chested staffie the chest strap closes on its very last setting at 46cm, so anyone near the top of a size range should go up. He does not seem to mind wearing it at all.
I assumed the face would be a printed panel and it is actually stitched, which is why it still looks right after a month in the costume box. The whole thing is about a hundred and thirty grams so he barely registers it on his back. Two straps, no fuss, and the neighbours all asked where it came from.
Worth knowing before you buy that the stuffed head means there is no washing it. Ours picked up mud on the first outing and sponging the felt only got it most of the way back. The design is great and it goes on in seconds, I just keep it for dry evenings now.
The bit I did not expect to value was how fast it comes off. Two straps, both underneath, and she is free. She wore it for the first half of the evening and when she started shaking I had it off before she got worked up. That is worth more than perfect tailoring on something like this.
The torso and hood hold their shape well and sit nicely along the back. The arms are softer than the rest and tend to dangle straight down rather than sticking out, so from the front it is less convincing than the pictures suggest. Bending them outwards before a photograph helps. He is perfectly comfortable in it either way.
Good questions
No. Both gloves are empty, in every frame the supplier publishes. We turned down three otherwise usable costumes in this category because they shipped with a foam knife, so this is something we check rather than assume.
Between 103 and 140 grams depending on size, spread along the back rather than hung from the collar. That is roughly the weight of a small apple. It is still a costume, so watch the first minute and take it off if the animal crouches or freezes rather than walking normally.
Spot clean only. The head and arms are stuffed, and a wash mats the felt and leaves the stuffing damp inside for days. Sponge it, let it dry flat, and store it without anything on top of the hood.
Because the photographs show a hooded figure with a white stitched mouth skull face, and that is not a goblin. The supplier's colour name is a machine translation of a Chinese phrase meaning riding outfit. We named it from the pictures. No licensed character is involved. The face is generic horror rather than anyone's design.
Not really. It sits behind and above the shoulder line, outside the forward field of view, which is part of why it is tolerated better than a hat. What a cat will notice is the weight shifting as it turns, so expect a few seconds of adjustment before it settles.
Last reviewed 13 September 2026