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Any protection worn would have to be strong yet light. Reiver horses were strong, with great stamina, but when your life might depend on the ability to put yourself out of harms way of the enemy any superfluous weight carried could prove disastrous.

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This shows the full plate armour available to the rider in the 16th Century. Only the richest Reiver would have been able to afford this - unless of course he had “acquired” it along the way. Even then it would have been better to have sold it on since the extra protection afforded  would not have  outweighed the penalty of the extra weight being carried . Reiver Lords might have a set for show, but would not have worn it for      

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This rider is wearing a piece of armour called an “Allmayne Collar”, which is light yet gives him added protection to his shoulders, an area open to a slashing attack from another rider.

In addition he is wearing a padded
doublet called a “Pourpoint”.

This original pourpoint c.1610 is in the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh