I think shortly after I decided that Presto’s XC color was going to be black, some kind of switch flipped in me when it came to colors for the other phases. I’ve always had fairly sedate coats… navy, dark gray, hunter green, brown, black. Granted, that’s all that was available for a long time. As soon as USEF released the DQ’s to don whatever colors their little Type A hearts desired, it really became game-on with the clothing companies. Jumper riders have become bolder too… that burgundy Motionlite that caused so much drama in the h/j world must have been the gateway drug.

Either way, the past couple years we’ve seen a really massive increase in the variety of colors available when it comes to show coats. Nowadays I think you could find just about anything you can imagine, and I gotta be honest: I’m here for it. I loved wearing my light blue Laguso coat (that I got as a birthday present last year) all winter for the shows, and got multiple compliments on it from judges. For as wild and crazy as eventers can be with their XC colors, I gotta say I think we’re the last discipline to really hop on board the fun colored coat trend in the other two phases… it’s still almost exclusively navy or black. Yawn. I’m not here to blend in, have y’all seen my helmet? It’s both glossy AND glittery. I’ve got a standout horse (IMO anyway… granted maybe sometimes for the wrong reason…), gimme a standout outfit.

The new wave of fun and colorful coats kind of coincided perfectly with my need to sell all my old coats that no longer fit and get a couple new ones. I sold four coats this year!

And I feel like a fun coat in two phases helps balance my more boring XC look maybe? I mean, my black is all VERY SPARKLY but it’s still black.

And then I saw a purple coat in a seconds sale with one left in my size and picked it up stupid cheap. It’s a little warmer purple than I’d prefer given the option, but it’s still really pretty. Like I was surprised by how much I actually love it. Those purple-wearing ladies are generally rabid about their color of choice (y’all know who you are) and I’ve never been the biggest purple lover, but this thing… it’s stunning y’all. I LOVE it.

And then while I was working in the tack shop in the spring I saw a couple European brands had come out with teal this season. I have never been a huge teal fan either (my personal favorite colors are all very dark) but they had a deep tone that I thought was pretty and would look good with my horse. I looked online overseas a few times but either didn’t find my size or didn’t find a deal good enough to warrant purchase, at least until a couple months ago.

I found it in a UK shop that literally JUST opened and was running a really good sale, and they only had one in my size. I put it in my cart but didn’t buy it because my one little iota of common sense prevailed, and then the owner of the shop TEXTED ME a few hours later to ask if I needed help with anything or had questions. And well, a conversation was had and it ended in me now having a teal coat. With that, I’m cutting myself off. Well, I need a shadbelly, but… I’m cut off from regular coats. Not sad about the options I have now tho.

Which gets me to the subject of coordinating browbands. This all ties together, I promise. Stay with me.

Back in the spring when we first started talking about making a 1* the goal for this year, I started looking at shadbellies. High off the fumes of delight from my light blue coat, though, I didn’t just want a regular navy or black one. But I also wasn’t in the right tax bracket to be buying a $1200+ custom one in whatever color I wanted. What a dilemma.

And then, thanks to recommendation of a fb group, I found a custom coat maker (well she mostly makes gowns) in South Africa with really REALLY reasonable prices, and her coats looked quite nice. When I reached out she did warn me that her dresses and gowns take priority, especially during wedding season, so it could take a while to get the coat. Considering the price I thought that was fine, and we started the process of designing a custom shad. And because I’m who I am as a person, I didn’t just write something up and send her a few pictures, I made a whole-ass INSPO BOARD. Luckily she thought it was great instead of crazy. Or she just privately thought it was crazy and didn’t say so. Either way.

I debated really hard between blue and dark purple… I knew I wanted one of those two. Something more fun than just black or navy, but not too too crazy. The maker already has a lightweight stretchy fabric in blue, so that one won.

We started the process months ago and we’ve gotten as far as measurements, but we haven’t made it to the muslin samples yet, so… it’s still a ways off. Hopefully I don’t get ripped off. We’ll see.

Anyway, that inspo board really sent me spiraling. I’ve been wanting a plaited browband from Dark Jewel for a long time and that was finally the push I needed… surely there had to be something special to go with the shad, right?

We ended up doing a few shades of blue, silver, and black, and I love how it turned out. Amelia even did me one better and got the browband made with black glitter padding. Which led to a conversation about how I’d been trying to find a particular noseband that I had envisioned. My poor abused Devoucoux bridle was literally on it’s last stitch, complete with a saggy droopy noseband that looked like shit and drove me crazy. I’d reached out to a couple bridle companies about having a noseband made but either they were super expensive (like $250-400 for just a noseband) or they didn’t respond at all. Dark Jewel was able to get her browband maker onboard with my vision for a MASSIVELY smaller amount of money and while it was an experiment for them, I love how it came out. It’s a crank with no flash, black glitter padding and grey glitter piping. I think it looks BOMB with the browband.

I must just have a thing going right now for the blue/black/silver combo because I also just realized that’s what I wore for the schooling show last weekend too.

Anyway, we’re not done yet, hang on.

Shortly after I ordered that plaited browband, Presto went on his summer vacation. I DIY spiraled (as one does) and made a browband. Did I need to know I could make a browband for under $30? Prolly not. That seems dangerous info to have. Anyway, the rhinestones were supposed to be a purple/teal shift type situation, but they ended up mostly teal. Which works now since I have the teal coat. I think it’ll look really good actually.

And then last month I was looking for new sheepskin-lined open fronts for Presto (the scar on his leg from the Stable View Trailer Leaping Incident sits DIRECTLY on the edge of an open front, which is a problem for any open front boot that isn’t fluffy. THANKS PRESTO.) I saw some on sale and was literally clicking “add to cart” on the black pair when I saw that they came in a purple that looked awfully close to the purple of my coat. And then I also noticed that there was a matching browband from the same company for like $30. Who am I to argue with fate, man?

So now, somehow, the queen of black and navy and the biggest hater of Matchy Matchy is looking awfully colorful and matchy all the sudden… for me anyway. It’s taken a whole year to accrue all of this, and I’ve definitely cut myself off now, but wow… much color. So matchy. You’ll never get me to show in anything but a white saddle pad, though. Back off, PS of Sweden.