Hi I'm new to english riding and I wanted to know how to tell what size my breeches should be. The closest tack shop to me is in a diffrent city which is four hours away so I'm very limited to breeches so I have to order off the internet. My height is 5'1 and my waist is 30 inches even.Thanks!

You'll need to try some on. I'm 5'4" and my waist is 28" and a W28 breech is baggy on the leg. A W26 is usually what I buy,  to get a slimmer leg. Your problem will be length. A regular fits me fine, but I'm three inches taller than you. I never shop for short breeches so I don't know if they are made. I would advise calling one of the on-line tack shops and talk to someone there. They'll be much more knowledgeable then us on the forum.

 Yes, a regular 30 will definitely be too  long for you, but many breeches come in short/regular/tall, so you can keep an eye out for that.  They do generally go by waist size.  I might try calling SmartPak (just go to www.smartpakequine.com), telling them you are new to English riding and that you're not sure what to do about breeches -- they are really phenomenal about service and can offer great advice and I'd wager if you ask nicely, they'd send you a few different ones to try and you might not even have to pay to ship them back.  They're pretty cool like that.

 If you order off the internet, most sites have an information page which shows you how to measure and where to get the best fit.

Having said that, breeches vary so much by brand, it's probably better to try them on to find a pair that really fits well.

Seems like a tricky situation.