NOT royal blue. Definitely navy or hunter green.
[QUOTE=red mares;8677993]
The funny thing about reds on chestnuts - probably 75% of saddlebreds are chestnuts and 95% of those are shown in red browbands and look fine.[/QUOTE]
Yeah but red day coats are generally a no-go. A little is OK. I like my chestnuts in navy blue or dark green with tan trim.
De-lurking, as I have a bright copper penny chestnut mare with chrome - she looks good in dark brown tack. Black is also good, but I prefer the rich dark brown (and have a brown dressage saddle for this reason).
For pads/wraps etc., I like chocolate brown, navy, and hunter green. White looks sharp but is impossible for me to keep clean, so white pads for shows only.
It sounds crazy, but depending on the shade of chestnut, a bright yellow can actually look striking - it makes their color look very rich. I have a blood bay who pulls it off fabulously.
On a daily basis, I would use conservative colors with shades of cream in them (taupe or sage green will look nice) or hunter green, always a classic.
My horse is a bright copper chestnut Araloosa with a snowflake blanket, some roaning, a blaze and hind socks. I LOVED my brown dressage saddle (Smith-Worthington), but as he developed, it no longer fitted and couldn’t be adjusted so I had to get a new saddle. My new saddle is also brown, but it’s so dark, it looks black. Both actually look good on him, but I’m bummed because now I can’t use my brown bridle (I sold it). Sigh. I think browns really look nice on chestnuts. FWIW, while I stick to white, black or brown (ultrasuede) for shows, my everyday pads are a variety of colors, and I’ve found PURPLE (of all things!) looks really nice on a chestnut.
I have a very orange chestnut, and I really like dark havana or a chocolate brown on him for tack/boots/pads, but I use a lot of black just because of the simplicity and ready availability. Barn color things (shipping wraps, show sheets, buckets, etc) are burgundy.
As far as rider wear, I love green for us (I have red hair, so it works for us both!).
A bajillion years ago (ok, so like 15 or so), I had a Crosby bridle similar to Dewey’s for my chestnut which I loved on him.
I used primarily navy on him since everyone seems to go with hunter for chestnuts. Sage green looked awesome on him too! I also stuck with some more “natural” colors like chocolate, tan, white, etc on him.
Now that he’s ancient (and my younger guy is bright bay so hello jewel tones!), he gets all kinds of stuff lol. I’ve sort of transitioned to a lot of purple but on him, I keep it to a minimum. He has a white pad with purple trim and my Ogilvy has purple trim as well. My bay gets solid purple, but that’s neither here nor there 
My chestnut goes in turquoise/teal and it looks absolutely fabulous on him, I also ride in a “chestnut” western saddle and I love that he almost matches his saddle. I’ve gotten so many complements.
This will sound awful, but on my chestnut mare who was of a medium copper shade I used to use orange polos and a white pad piped with orange. It really looked pretty good. Really.
Almost all shades of green looked nice on her too. And my tack was medium brown, not too dark.
I promise not to post any pictures of my redheaded girls in their purple or pink attire. Those are mainly for schooling work. I like a dark teal or chocolate brown pads on my girls. I like darker colored tack on a chestnut.
On my chestnut who is also very bright I like medium brown coloured leather, dark enough to stand out but not so dark that it appears black from a distance. For colors I like hunter green, burgundy, and navy.
Think…redhead. Two rules. Be bold. Be classy.
Aubergine and lime.
Chestnut covers such a large range of shades it depends on which shade of chestnut yours is. Red, copper, brown, blonde, chocolate, and so on. I have seen a brown tone bright chestnut looking good in rusty orange. I have seen a red chestnut make his maroon polos look almost purple (yuck). Some shades suit black tack, while others look better in brown.
Some is personal taste. I dislike chestnuts in bridles that are almost the same shade as they are, so my red horses have all had black or dark brown tack.
I had a dressage show getup that was cream pad and stock tie with gold piping for both, and cream breeches. The cream was really a pale yellow. Looked great on my bright chestnut guy!
I agree on almost any shade of green or blue working for the chestnuts (though I prefer sage, olive and sky to richer tones) and especially with contrast piping in gold.
