Choosing the perfect browband for your horse.
In a large group of show horses, it’s sometimes hard to stand out in the crowd.
Standing all together in a line-up, of course the first thing that the judge sees is all of the horse’s heads from front on, so, choosing a browband that works for your horse might just help attract attention to your horse.
But there are so many choices and options, satin or velvet, bling or no bling or lots of bling, what width, what pattern, what colours.
How to choose?
Here’s four tips that might help you find the perfect design for your horse.
1. Choose a width and size that suit your horse.
A lot of show horses are out there competing in browbands that are far too small for them and it ruins the overall look. So make sure your browband is big enough that it sits under the base of the ear and does not touch that muscle at the base of the ear in any way. It’s essential for the comfort of your horse, but it also makes the ear look ‘crowded’
There are multiple widths of browbands available, and your choice should be taking the space between the base of the ear and the top of the horse’s eye. Some horses have ‘less space’ there and others have a lot of space, so take that into consideration when choosing a width of band.
2. To bling or not to bling?
The more blingy your horse is, the less bling you probably need on your browband. There is a lot of personal preference here but try a few options and see what suits. Horses with a lot of white on their face tend to suit having less bling than horses with minimal face markings.
That said, if you have a super pretty horse with a lovely head, load as much bling on it as it can carry. If the head isn’t the real feature of the horse, maybe pull back on the bling. It’s all about highlighting the good parts and standing out in the crowd.
3. What colour do I choose?
This can depend on the level of competition you are at, the official level often don’t stray far from a combination of traditional colours, red, white, and blue, either all of them or just one or two. Colours come and go with fashion of course, but when choosing a colour combination, pick something that will stand out against the colour of your horse and that you can coordinate your own outfit with.
When choosing colours, less is often more. Purple, lime green, gold and orange might look nice on paper but there’s too many contrasting colours in there to make any kind of an impact from a distance. Remember your colours are being seen more from a distance anyway, so choose colours that are close to each other and create a bold look overall.
4. What pattern works the best?
There are so many patterns to choose from when designing a browband. Just as when deciding on how much bling to use, consider what your horse’s head looks like and what might suit. A plainer head might suit a small, tight, intricate pattern to offset the ‘plain-ness’. A really pretty head could pull off an almost mono design in a large uncomplicated design.
Also look at how much space you have for your band. Something with a small pattern on a horse with a narrow space where the browband goes might compliment the space, but a large pattern might highlight how little space there is to put a browband.
Choosing a browband can be a lot of fun, and you can come up with your own creation or have a browband maker create something just for you. Whatever you choose, take your time to really think about how it is going to look on your horse’s head!
Happy Showing!
Choosing the Perfect Browband
