I wanted to create a hunt coat thread that could be used as a resource. So which hunt coat colors match horse coat colors the best?
My last chestnut was very light colored. When body clipped, he was almost peach. He looked best in my light taupe coat or my light to medium gray coat. He looked awful awful in navy.
What about others??
Well, it sounds like I have more of a red chestnut than yours (kind of like this http://www.whitehorseproductions.com/images/TBcolor/horsechesnut.jpg but a tad deeper of a red) and I use a light gray coat on him with a deep pink w/ white stripes show shirt. I used to use a navy with light blue pinstripe coat, but I outgrew it and moved onto the light gray.
I personally think gray coats look classy and elegant but that’s just me. I do eventing and don’t see too many gray coats so I like that it’s unique and also universal (it looks good with any colored horse).
I tend to stay away from black coats but thats only because we use them for dressage and I think it looks weird to jump in a coat that is used for something else. Olive coats are nice too.
Both of my horses are buckskins, and I absolutely love the way a black or navy coat looks with them. Plus, I can get by with wearing almost any color of shirt that way, because black and navy are neutrals. I’ve found that with buckskins and palominos, they usually tend to look good with almost any color, though.
My horse is a blood bay (very coppery brown coat) Grey I think looks good with him and Navy looks the best. I don’t think my Hunter Green coat suits him, in comparision but it doesn’t look bad.
My horse is bright blood bay and I hate navy on him. I have a dark charcoal grey, almost black that looks really sharp on him. I think he would look really sharp with a black coat too.
ETA: Favorite shirts with the Grey coat are light blue or white.
My filly is a rose grey, and turning 3 today (:):):)) I haven’t actually shown her yet, but am rebuilding my wardrobe. Have purchased a lovely new charcoal grey RJ classic coat on Ebay, and have dove grey Ariat Pro & rust TS breeches. And I have 3 shirts to choose from so far: a yellow tone on tone plaid Pale Horse, a dark french blue Van Teal, and a cream and lavender plaid RJ. :yes:
I have a dark bay. I have a light taupe coat that I wear with tan breeches and pink shirt or rust breeches and green shirt.
I don’t like to wear my rust breeches in the summer - her coat gets faded from the pasture and I don’t think it looks nice when my breeches match her coat! The taupe coat, however, flatters her whether she is in her faded summer stage or her dark winter stage.
paints (most) – rust!! sounds like it would be too loud, but if your paint is 50/50 in his color or has more white than chestnut (for bays it doesnt matter what the proportion is, i think). pair with a tan jacket + cornflower blue shirt. avoid navy or any darker colored jackets because it will be too much color going on.
ignore the eq, but you get the idea of what it looks like
dark bay – pretty much anything will go, but i prefer a lighter/medium color coat because then you dont just blend in with your horse. I don’t like browns on bays. Tans are nice. olive coats. Lighter navy, french blues are really pretty, a nice charcoal grey.
light bay – navy looks nice, black, almost any color really. olive might look weird depending on the exact shade. same with brown, but i just don’t like brown coats very much at all, i think.
white grey – anything except light blues/greys so you dont blend in. try to stick with darker greys, black, charcoal, navy, french blue.
dark grey – very light coats look nice, as well as very dark ones, but i think french blue looks the best because it has enough color that it stands out
black – navy, french blue, lighter colors, not black or dark navy
palomino - grey, charcoal, navy, perhaps brown. avoid french blue (too much color clashing) and black as well as olive
chestnut - olive! depending on the shade, navy either looks great or looks atrocious (like a peachy-ish chestnut), black is alright but doesnt look all that great.
I would love to see pictures of some of these horses since, in all of my years of showing, I honestly can’t think of one horse that did not look good with a rider wearing a navy coat.
My dark brown coat always looked best with my liver chestnut horse. I love that coat!
This thread makes me laugh because I’ve been reamed out on here for voicing my opinions about colours and fashion. 
I agree with most of superpony’s ideas, except that I do NOT like the light brown jacket with the rust, I would go with the dark navy, for the exact reason you DON’T like it, it stands out more. The light jacket makes it all a bit bland. If you rocked a DARK navy with those rusts, it would be wicked. I’ve seen your pics before and I have a similarly coloured pony and I have always thought that, but never had a reason to say it.
Black/Dark bay - Possibly the most versatile colour, almost anything can work. French blue, teal blue, and grey-blue being the best. Medium-dark browns being the worst because they won’t have enough contrast. Black is always classy, but can also blend if the bay is very dark. Dark bay can be stunning, but also blend (or even bland), a bold contrasting jacket will help you stand out especially in hacks.
Medium-light bay - Classic navy and black are lovely. Green, especially darker olives and darker emerald (more rare) look amazing, but are less common. Dark brown, dark grey, can work, but I don’t love it. I rarely like light browns, taupes, and light greys… the warm tones of the shade of bay look best with warm tones in brown/grey, anything too cool clashes, especially with bright shirts!
Dark chestnut - Another versatile colour… almost identical to dark bay, but excluding black except for equitation. Black on chestnut can be very STARK, but is nice for classics and eq. Chestnut also looks amazing in most shades of green. Warm black cherry/purple looks very nice, but is rare.
Medium-Light chestnut - Here’s my opinion people don’t like… I despise light greys, browns, and taupes on these lighter and brighter chestnuts. Especially the cooler tones. Some blend in and some really look like (I’m really sorry, but I can’t help how I feel…) someone vomited all over the horse… I prefer navy and basically all shades of blue, including French blue (blue and orange are complimentary colours), most shades of green, and dark rich browns. Warm black cherry/purple looks very nice, but is rare. I prefer black only for eq and classics.
Grey - Grey looks amazing in blues and complimentary shades of grey. It’s hard to describe how to know if the grey is right, but like superpony said, you don’t want to be all one colour. So lighter or darker than your horse’s shade, preferably with a brighter shirt. Teals are rare but look AMAZING on grey. I have a purple jacket (cool shade) that would look FANTASTIC on a grey! Greens work, but best if they are cool. Cool colours over warm. No browns or taupes… eek. Black is classic and matching, but a little boring maybe?
Dun/Buckskin - Wicked in black. Might not be so original, but looks stunning. Navy and darker blues also work well. These are loud colours that garner a lot of attention on their own. Don’t try to make yourself stand out. Just compliment.
Pintos - Follow ideals for the non-white colour on the pinto and remember “less is more”. Again, your critter is already loud, let their colour stand out and shine, not yours.
As for shirts, I think it’s a bit of a personal thing. Some people have a skin tone that would carry a light brown jacket and peach shirt, but I would look like death. If your jacket is a very similar shade to your horse - grey jacket on grey horse, light brown jacket on chestnut, black or dark navy jacket on dark bay horse - choose a brighter or (if you dare) bolder shirt colour to add contrast and brighten your tone. White works with everything. It’s still ok to wear patterned shirts.
And here’s my biggest pet peeve…
If you are going to go out and get one of those tan-brown GPAs or brown/brown GR8s, please, PLEASE make sure the shades of brown you’re wearing it with are in the same family!! Especially if you’re riding a chestnut. When you have 87 different shades of brown going on, it can be really overwhelming. The brown GPA can be particularly difficult to colour-match. This is only my opinion, but I feel strongly about it.
Gotta to say I agree (with most of the others as well).
I think grey and taupes/tans look HORRID on chestnuts. HORRID. This means my favorite coat (in my profile picture) will probably not be worn again. 
I guess I should use it as an excuse to by a French Blue coat.
It’s tough going from a dark bay, where there was no bad color, to a light chestnut.
I have a really pretty charcoal-grey Grand Prix coat that I think looks great on everything! Except perhaps a dappled grey, although I have yet to try it haha!
I keep it simple and wear tan breeches and a white shirt, with my black Hampton. I’d like to get one of the grey Hamptons one of these days.
Not to hijack, but any tips on wearing lighter hunt coats without them blending in with your breeches and making you look like one big beige blob?
I’ve literally never thought about matching a coat color to the horse…:lol:
My last horse was grey and both my dark grey and navy jacket looked fine on him
My current horse is a very dark bay in the winter and a lighter bay in the summer. Although last summer the line where his fly sheet stopped was very obvious because of the lighter sun bleached neck so this year I went with a sheet with attached neck so he’ll probably stay a bit darker.
Anyway I have my eye on a black coat with burgundy suede collar. I hope that will look good on him…do you think the dark bay but not black color will clash with a black coat?
I think green would definitely look nice
@superpony123 Any suggestions for olive coats? Would love to see some real-life options!
@FatCatFarm love your style!
Love you horse. 
Thank you Ladies! :yes:
Well my (imaginary) chart goes like this:
Grey Hunt Coat: dappled greys and greys and chestnut-these are tricky it depends on the shades
Navy Hunt Coat: any coat color-but I’d rather put a bay, black, or brown in a different color
Blue Hunt Coat: greys, bays, bright chestnut, black, brown
Brown Hunt Coat: some bays, some greys, chestnuts
Burgundy Hunt Coat: bay, grey, chestnut, brown, black
Black Hunt Coat: Any color horse it is most basic color-doesn’t go great with chestnut
Hunter Green Hunt Coat: Goes amazing with any color
I think blue and green are safe with any color horse because they are cool tones, but brown can be tricky because it is a warm tone. Somehow burgundy gets away with matching every coat though, except for the less common colors
I just included the most common colors I could elaborate more on palomino, buckskin, grulla, roan, pinto etcetera though…
I have a chestnut and I love the look of my hunter green hunt coat on him as well as my brown one. my black one looks alright as well.
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