Fashion for Color Breeds
Q: Wendy, I ride a loud colored paint – How do you choose an outfit for a horse of a different color that compliments instead of clashes with his flashiness?
A: That’s a great question! It’s one we are often asked, and there’s not an abundance of advice online about it – fashion for color breeds. An experienced show clothing consultant can easily help you with more than one option, but don’t be surprised if she asks to see a photo of your horse! As with any horse, it helps to know the undertones of the base coat color, and to see how much white is visible.
Work with Coat Color
Although jewel tones are typically recommended fashion for color breeds especially for loudly-colored horses (and this advice is solid – colors such as blue, green, turquoise, teal, etc. are complementary to most any horse), don’t be afraid to utilize the base color of your horse to find complementary clothing. For example, one of our recent customers had a very loud frame overo horse, so most of the mare’s sorrel color existed only on the legs, back, and face, and tail. Instead of focusing on the large amount of white on her sides, we worked with the customer to choose rust and copper-embellished clothing that drew attention to the beautiful, coppery sorrel tones of the horse. It resulted in drawing the coppery color of the horse to the eye, particularly for showmanship! Utilizing the horse’s coat color is a powerful method of color coordination.
Using Jewel Tones
As mentioned above, jewel tones like sapphire blue and emerald green are excellent choices for horses with coat patterns. Just as you would for any horse, you’ll want to consider the coat base color and the amount of white, in addition to choosing a color that you like and feel good wearing. Remember that adding color doesn’t have to mean head to toe; embellishments with color on a neutral base is always a good idea.
One of our favorite methods for determining if a color or garment complements a horse is by draping – either a large swatch of the color or the garment itself – on the horse and viewing them together at the distance a judge would see it.
What About the White?
Often customers are concerned pairing white clothing or accents with a loud horse. White is used extensively in show clothing because it’s not only a neutral base, but it’s noticeable and bright in a good way in the show pen, and the rider isn’t going to be in black from head to toe like many of her competitors. White can work for you even if your horse has an abundance of white – it just depends on where the white is, and how much you decide to use. It’s definitely not a big no-no, so don’t rule it out until you try it. Drape it with something clean between the garment and your horse, try it on while you’re in the saddle, or hold a photo of the garment you like on top of a photo of your horse. You might be surprised that the white on your horse actually is enhanced by the white in your garment, and you can catch the judge’s eye in a positive manner. We’ve seen it paired very successfully many, many times.
Making it Easy
Draping a garment you like on your horse, or trying it on by your horse is easy with Show Me Again’s Try It Before You Buy policy! Our Try Before You Buy policy enables you to order with a credit card on authorization only, by phone or online, and you have 7 days to decide. If you need to return, your final cost is shipping only, and we include a return shipping label.
We also make your search for the right color simple by offering a state-of-the-art website that allows you to search by color, and of course, budget, size, designer, and more. Shop the finest selection of pre-owned and brand new designer horse show clothing and find the right color for your horse, risk-free at showmeagain.com.
