I’m wanting to make some browbands just for a bit of fun but obviously they may come to some use in the future. What colours would be good to go for? I haven’t done any showing but I know it can be very strict if it’s not “traditional” but some places like smaller shows don’t mind something a little different
Well, what discipline are you going for?
Dressage riders like their swarovski crystals, gems, filigrees, and pearls. A little bit of bling with class is popular, but I also see people buying browbands I’d consider garish – and I am not someone who is traditional by any means.
Eventers have “colors” for XC and they like to matchy-match just as much as the dressage peeps. With eventers I see a lot more variation in bling browbands.
Hunter-jumpers do not use show bling browbands at all, to my knowledge.
A good idea of where to start is Delfina’s how-to guide on making the browbands – and, if you want to see what kind of “bling” sells, check out People On Horses.
http://www.peopleonhorses.com/dressage/browbands/
They are ‘pricey’ (I actually think they are very fairly priced for their quality, but some of them are north of $150 which people seem to balk at), but the best quality out there, IMHO. Not encouraging you to copy them, but a good place to start to see what kind of patterns look good.
I have made several now for friends. I don’t sell them, it’s more of a creative outlet for me. If I did, factoring in cost + labor/time, I think I’d need to sell them for +$100 to make it worth my while. I buy the Delfina empty channel browbands, which are ~$30 each after tax/shipping – then I usually buy beads/gemstones/crystals from Fire Mountain Gems & Beads. I’ve been really happy with their quality and customer service, and so far their dimensions on-site have always been accurate. Usually I’ll string about $30+ worth of crystals/beads, but I also am picky and tend to like the more expensive beads and settings.
So, already working with $60 worth of product, a little more when you factor in the tools you need - glue, black nylon thread, steel thread for the string, etc… and then it usually takes me about an hour or more to sew in the string, secure it with black nylon thread, and super-glue where needed.
It’s a very fun project! I’d like to do some more soon… but it takes time and work.
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Like Beowulf said, what discipline are you aiming for?
I ride and have shown extensively in dressage. I have shown in Swarovski crystals (larger crystals and tiny ones in patterns) and a browband by People on Horses which composed of black crystals, and red and other dark stones. Pretty stunning to me! I was Regional champion at third and Reserve Champion at fourth with this browband - judges don’t care. MAN I wish that browband fit my current horse. I was at indoor Brabant a few years ago and Edward Gal had the most blingy and obnoxious browband you can imagine (Sorry EG fans). It obviously did not factor into his scoring.
What colors? Something you like and goes well with your horse’s color! Good for your for making your own browband!
Beowulf, thanks for the detail in making your own browbands. I feel inspired…
Thanks for the responses. For now I’m only going to be doing in hand showing and probably some ridden classes. I don’t know a lot about showing so I’m not certain if the classes have proper names. I have a grey Welshy so most colours would suit him I think 
