HELP WITH CHOOSING YOUR BROWBAND!

We know that choosing your browbands colours can be very difficult as there are so many colours and options available! It is very much a matter of personal choice, and the colour combinations are only limited by your imagination! We hope that the information below will be of some help! Please also see our colour chart to help with your choice.

WHAT YOUR HORSE OR PONY SHOULD WEAR.

Show ponies, hacks and riding horses should all wear a coloured browband in the ring, and they must be shown plaited.

Show Hunters, Native breeds and Cobs do not wear a coloured browband in the show ring, they should be shown in plain leather browbands. Hunters, both ponies and horses, must be plaited. Native breeds are generally showb unplaited, according to each individual breed society rules. Cobs are generally shown with hogged manes.

Coloured horses and ponies are a little different, depending upon what type of horse or pony he is being shown as. Coloured show ponies and riding horses require a coloured browband. Cobs, hunters and traditionals do not.

CHOOSING YOUR COLOURS

When choosing your browband colours, it is generally a good idea to try and match some colours that are in your outfit, either in your riding clothes or in-hand outfit. Maybe pick the colours in your tie, and go from there.

Equally important is to try to choose a colour that best suits your horse or pony:

The amount of white in your browband should depend on how much white your horse/pony has on his/her face. If there are no white markings, using white or cream in your browband can really brighten up the pattern and your horse. We often use a bridal white, which being very slightly off-white, doesn't make your horse/pony's white markings look off-colour/dirty. Also a browband in all gold/white or all cream/white can look stunning and generally matches any outfit. If your horse/pony has a lot of white, then generally a band with no white will look better.

Metallics are also great for adding that extra sparkle needed to catch the judge's eye. We have a range of gold and silver satin ribbons, and also sparkly gold and silver mix ribbons.

Bays are fairly easy as many colours will suit them. Darker bays look great with a bright primary colour in the band.

Blacks look fantastic with a bright colour on the browband - royal blue with silver/gold, and even another primary colour is a winner. Other colours could be scarlet/gold/white, greens, hot pinks.

Light greys look great in traditional colours of red/navy/gold or red/white/navy.

Darker greys need something a little brighter to lift the coat, good primary colours, similar to those for blacks, are always a winner.

Chestnuts are quite flexible, depending on their shade. Good colours are blues, darker greens, creams, golds. Liver chestnuts can get away with brighter colours, or a good combination would be navy/cream/gold or smiliar.

Duns suit more muted colours like burgundy, deeper shades of red, navy blue, royal blue, bottle green, cream, and of course all can be dressed up with metallic ribbon and crystal options.

Palominos look good in navy, cream, gold, bottle green, burgundy, or for the brightere colours, pinks/lilac/silver or any pastel colours also look great

Roans look better in subtler colours like navy, bottle green or black. One of the bright colours that can look good on roans is royal blue. The colours should be kept subtle for chestnut roans, while grey roans can look good in colours for greys.

Coloureds benefit from simple colours and designs, nothing too detailed or busy. Traditional colours like blue (navy/royal), red and gold, and white if it suits, looks fab.

CHOOSING A DESIGN

Our standard 3/4" width browband will show off most designs and colours beautifully. We match the ribbon widths used to the browband widths for the best look. For more impact and fuller pattern effect, the 1" is sometimes preferred. We can also make narrower 1/2" bands which look stunning on small fine ponies and youngstock.

Show ponies and hacks are well suited to dainty designs in either 5/8" or 3/4" widths. Diamond weave, basic or combinations sharkstooth designs are all suitable with as much detail as you like.

Riding ponies can wear just about any design, in usually 3/4" widths. Styles can be as fancy as you wish.

Riding horses can generally wear either 5/8", 3/4" or bold 1" width bands. Styles can again be as fancy as you wish, but nothing too over the top. A very popular choice for riding horses is the supreme range.

For coloured horses shown as riding horses or coloured ponies shown as show ponies, the colours and design scheme should be kept relatively simple. A sharkstooth design with matallic overbinding looks great!

Our rosettes and flags are medium size and very eyecatching - we suit them to the size and design of the browband, and add the right centre for the best look. Flag style can be standard (straight) or angled, with either swallowtail, pointed, or angled detail