So, what is your favorite tack/accessory accent color on a given horse color? Here are mine...
Black - bold primary colors, red or royal blue depending on the hue of the horse
Bay - hunter green
Gray - lavender or soft blue tends to look nice, or black is always acceptable
Buckskin - black or a dark green
Palomino - not too sure on this one, probably cream
Chestnut - black
With paints and appies, I have a hard time deciding, it really depends on the horse's base color. Nothing patterened though, too busy already!
There is this neato color wheel that has all the horse colors and all the accent colors. You use it to determine which color would best compliment your horse. There is also an interactive application that allows you to try different colors on different horse colors.
So, what's your preference?
Black - bold primary colors, red or royal blue depending on the hue of the horse
Bay - hunter green
Gray - lavender or soft blue tends to look nice, or black is always acceptable
Buckskin - black or a dark green
Palomino - not too sure on this one, probably cream
Chestnut - black
With paints and appies, I have a hard time deciding, it really depends on the horse's base color. Nothing patterened though, too busy already!
There is this neato color wheel that has all the horse colors and all the accent colors. You use it to determine which color would best compliment your horse. There is also an interactive application that allows you to try different colors on different horse colors.
So, what's your preference?
the color wheel is from Hobby Horse Clothing Co.
ReplyDeletePalomino--black or dark hunter green both look superb on a paly. I know--I have one.
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I have two buckskins. On one, in the winter, dark reds and earth tones are fantastic. But her summer coat is a deep rich red, almost as red as some sorrels -- that's when she goes best in colours with a hint of blue (teal, green, or dark dark purple). Or of course, black and white.
ReplyDeleteThe other is a sooty buckskin -- her summer coat is almost muddy slate, and her winter coat nearly black. Year-round she looks great in dark oil and baby blue (or baby pink, but the rider's male, so we don't go there.)
My big red sorrel, very red (being related to the red buckskin) looks awesome in beige, yellow, or green. Things that play up the incredible redness of his coat.
I had such a hard time fitting colours to the hoofkids, I actually made my own interactive horse dress-up tool, which I got talked into putting up on a website by some friends who wanted to use it. There wasn't the Hobby Horse one then, just the colour wheel, and I wanted more realistic colours than the UltimateHorseSite one. It's at http://www.snafflez.com if you wanted to try.
Hunter green or nawy looks really good on palominos. Cream just makes it weird. Brown leather items with hunter green or black leather with nawy.
ReplyDeleteI used to ride some palominos from different shades and it was always challens to find the best colors. Also red and green together looks nice on some of them.
Black horses goes with almoust any colors. I like blue and withe the most. Black horse with big white markings and then add some royal blue- get the colors of Estonian flag ;)
Chestnut depends of the shade. Red makes eyes hurting. Nawy and hunter green are the best.
I love purple or turquoise on my black mare and sky blue on my Haflinger.
ReplyDeleteI have a seal bay gelding, and basically everything that isn't leather is a nice royal blue. I also work with a little sorrel mare that looks just adorable in her purple halter.
ReplyDeletei have 2 red sorrels and a brown mare. brown meaning black body with brown points. i love light baby colors on my little brown mare, she really stands out in light blue or pink. i would like about any shade of green on my red mares. i think a red chesnut is about the hardest horse to find a color to look good on them (my least fav color and i end up with 2 of them)but i think green and blue go well.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny that you said hunter green for bays. That's what I've selected as my horse's color, and he's a brown and white pinto. Not quite a bay's color brown, a little lighter than that, but close. Green is nowhere near my favorite color, but I knew from the first time I saw him with his new green halter on that it was "his" color. ;o)
ReplyDeleteOh, I have to add that I used to board with a girl that had a hot pink halter for her dark bay mare. Now I usually detest pink, especially on horses, but I have to admit that it was this horse's color -- for just a halter, at any rate. Luckily, the girl had enough sense that the halter was the only pink thing the horse wore. It would have killed the effect if everything for her was pink.
ReplyDeleteI think my red roan varnish appaloosa gelding looks awesome in purple. He's manly enough to carry it off too!
ReplyDeleteMy little red roan varnish mare, who is actually white with reddish brown legs and ears and tail (and summer freckles on her shoulders!) looks very pretty in baby blue. She looks good in pink... but only when my daughter or I ride her. My son will not ride with a pink saddle blanket! He's okay with blue though.
My red horse looked good in anything, as far as I was concerned. I just think chestnuts can set off any colour and look good.
My gray horse looks good in just about everything, but he looks especially amazing in his current black and mint green combo.
ReplyDeleteMy old palomino looked amazing in turquoise and white. I also had a bay that looked great in a scarlet/deep red black combo.
A friend of mine had a brand new turouise rope halter that made her medium dappled grey arab mare look sunning. =)
ReplyDeleteI really like the look of royal blue on the black pony at the barn I work at. He looks great in it, a little bright to grab your attention, but a nice easy color.
One of our little chestnut pinto shetland geldings is great at pulling off hot pink and purple outfits. =P He makes a great little unicorn for kid's parties.
My dark chestnut looks great in teal...I had a pair of teal chaps back in the day that looked fantastic on him. I don't show him much anymore but when I do I wear this teal and purple plaid shirt that looks great on him with a matching purple saddle blanket. He also looks great in royal blue. A friend of mine has a chestnut App gelding and while he looks good in anything, they looked awesome at Nationals a few years ago when she wore a white equitation suit with fuschia sunbursts on the yoke and shoulders.
ReplyDeleteWhen we show our Percherons we tie up in a dark teal and silver, our show cart is dark teal, and our show wagon is white with teal and silver, and silver running gear. Hook 4 mares dressed up in their sparkly mane rolls and the big patent and chrome harness....oh man that looks awesome! There was a farm that hooked grey geldings, tied up in purple and grey with a purple wagon. Looked awesome. Best looking wagon out right now is metallic burgundy with gold pinstripes and lettering, pulled by black mares wearing the prettiest harness in the industry.
I think that if you have a lot of different horses to show and can only afford one outfit, you can't go wrong with green - in whatever shade looks good on you. Teal looks good on most colors, too.
ReplyDeleteGray, black & blue roan horses look awesome in blacks, blues, purples & other cool shades.
Bays, chestnuts, brown horses look awesome in warmer shades. Back in the early 80s I had some rust breeches (ew) that exactly matched my mare, and I thought they made my legs look quieter. ; ) Until I dyed my hair red, I looked like a chemo patient in yellow.... but I think that in the right place at the right time, yellow could be awesome.
I'm picturing in my head a little girl with a yellow hat & chaps, and a white & yellow shirt/jacket with DAISIES on a chestnut or sorrel QH.
I remember when the super bright morning coats came into style for saddleseat, and a very pale blonde friend had an incredible fuschia raw silk number that looked SUPERFANTASTIC on gray Arabs.
I remember at the Rolex once, I saw Bruce Davidson in an all-brown dressage ensemble: boots, top hat, cinnamon coat, cream shirt & breeches.... it was awesome beyond compare in 1992, when everyone else wore black and had black dressage saddles.
(I was at an open show today and overheard a QH lady call her breeches Huntseat Pants.)
I agree with basically everything you said. I really do love green on some horses but it seems like sometimes it's overused.
ReplyDeleteI've got a Bay Roan mare that has a drastic change from summer to winter and she always looks good in bright purple. In the winter, she looks almost solid bay and then in the summer, she gets a orangish tint.
Our pali's look sharp in maroon. Dark colors to offset the light. Black, navy, maroon, hunter and dark purple. Jewel tones too- emerald, royal blue, red...
ReplyDeleteThe dark brown TB mare- teal & purple.
Chestnuts- black, hunter, emerald green, red, royal blue.
Blacks- jewel tones, red, blue, purple, green, something that stands out.
Bays- Dark muted colors- navy, maroon, hunter or jewel tones for some contrast-emerald, royal blue, red, purple...
A leather halter is always classicon any color horse.
Thanks for those horse color/tack color websites! Those will really be helpful!
ReplyDeleteMy husband's TWH gelding is a coppery chestnut with mixed mane and tail. He uses mostly brown and hunter green on him. His tack is a dark pecan color, almost chestnut. When I ride him, I use purple and sage green, and I have black tack. I plan to show him, and I have black tack and will do green and gold for his browband and ribbons in his mane. My suit is brown with a gold vest and I have a gold and green tie.
Used to have a black and white mare with blue eyes that I used royal blue on. It was gorgeous. I even found a royal blue halter with black and white braiding on it. (At Desert Saddlery, CNJ.)
I hate to say this, but I loved red, white and blue on a palomino mare I used to have. I had an American flag patterned halter and nylon bridle that matched, and I used a red blanket with white and blue stripes on it. Nothing elaborate--just simple. I always think of palomino as the "All-American" color. I then got a black gelding named Manhattan, and I used the American tack on him as well. I figured he was named after a very American city, so the U.S.A. pattern worked for him!
Had a blue roan gelding that I used navy and denim blue colors on. He looked awesome in those colors.
Black - Any color, really. I really like jewel tones on black horses the best. I have a friend who uses royal purple and teal on her black horse--gorgeous! My pony is black and I am using red, black and royal blue. I love it.
Bay - Navy, hunter green, maroon.
Gray - I love pastel colors on grays. Purple and royal blue are also pretty. I have a friend who has a medium pink for her gray mare--it's just gorgeous.
Buckskin - My sister-in-law uses black and tan on her buckskin mare. I think navy is my favorite color for a buckskin, but maroon and hunter green work well too.
Palomino - I like purple and pink on palominos. If I owned one again, I'd probably do black and tan.
Chestnut - I love the new citrus colors on chestnuts, such as lime, orange, electric blue, plum, and yellow. As far as traditional colors, I like green, hunter green, blue, and navy. The only colors I don't like on chestnut are maroon and red.
I use a lime green saddle blanket and halter on my black QH! It looks fab!
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