What to do with horse show ribbons?

[Gwyneth]

What does everyone do with their horse show ribbons? (especially neck sashes?)

As a kid I would keep every ribbon my horse and I won and plaster them all over my bedroom walls. Now, I just keep the first place ribbons and the championships/ highpoints.

But what do I do with them!? They tend to get faded and dusty and gross in the barn, but if I keep putting them on my walls, every wall will be covered with them at some point…
I’ve had a few made into pillow cases, which turned out very well. But I only need so many ribbon pillows…

So, what does everyone here do with their ribbons? Any good ways to display them, or keep them as memories?

[2DogsFarm]

Try searching this BB.
I recall an old thread on this subject where posters had some good ideas.
Displayed in glass jars was one.
In a glass topped coffee table.
Some made quilts (larger version of your pillows).
Mine sit in a shopping bag in the basement
The few I’ve won since moving to my farm are displayed hung beneath a mirror in my kitchen/dining room:

[modifiedequitation]

I’ve seen some people use shadow boxes and just throw all their ribbons in. Surprisingly, it looks good. Here’s an article I found on The Plaid Horse that might be useful.

Real Ribbon Displays to Get Inspiration for Showcasing Ribbons in Your Home -...

[clanter]

We have stuff that goes back into the late 1960s when my wife showed saddlebreds., she won several silver trophies that we still have setting around.

Youngest daughter is great displayer of awards she has won over the years, starting with her first class ever back east winning a lead line class that awarded a silver challenge trophy which had to be returned after one year but I took it to a local trophy company to have a replica made which she still has… since then she has just added stuff.

We had one mare who was very very good but had the misfortune to also having two other very good competitors she won a LOT of Red ribbons which she knew were not first, she brightened up after I told her Red Ribbons are First Place in Canada

[IronwoodFarm]

I’m at the age where less is more and getting rid of stuff makes me happy. I take photos of the ribbons and then they can be tossed. I also rarely pick up ribbons at shows. I just donate them back to the shows.

[Djones]

I have a bowl of them in my study, and another in my home office. The rest are just sitting in a bag somewhere. Like another said, I no longer accept them at shows, I just want my scores (dressage).

[furlong47]

You’ve received good ideas for displaying them. If you have some of them that you don’t want anymore, groups/organizations like therapeutic riding will sometimes take donations of extra used ribbons. They either have the center ribbon replaced or just use them as they are. You can recycle and also bring joy to somebody who is still thrilled by receiving any ribbon.

[GoodTimes]

I have a hanger with three coolers that I won, the most special ribbons hang with those. The rest go in big glass jars that sit on top of the bookcase. I only keep the champion ribbons, year end awards, and the ones from classics and derbies. So there aren’t as many, but they tend to be larger.

[Pennywell_Bay]

I generally do not take ribbons. Even my trainer- in WEC Ocala we collected the for the banner but gave them back (they don’t have a year on them).

[masConfetti]

I bought some scrapbooks that were meant to have their covers decorated and glued ribbons on the front and back covers (the strips that mentioned the show name and or year). In the actual books I added pictures and some of my more sentimental ribbons and wrote down the stories behind them.

I also used them to cover frames for some of my favorite photos (also works for pieces of halters, if your horse is prone to breaking every single halter you buy them).

Sewed them together to make belts.

Though I don’t show anymore I still have some ribbons left so I’ll be glad to hear more ideas as well.

[Ajierene]

I like the frame idea in that article. I don’t like separating the ribbon from the top and the top has horse, class, and date on the back of each so I do want to organize my older ones in a specific way.

The older ones are currently still in a box. I used to have string strung near my ceiling in my room growing up with ribbons on it. I have a shorter string now along the wall above the couch in my living room. Those are only from my current horse but every ribbon she won is there. On an adjacent wall are several framed pictures. I took 5X7 pictures and put them in a frame with a backing and a title at the bottom - horse and year/s ridden/pictures taken. Any ribbons from that horse are under the pictures, except the center frame, which is all my current horse.

My plan was to put some shelves up in my spare room with my trophies on them and hang the ribbons from them but there are still a lot and now I’m eying that frame idea.

[Spudsmyguy]

I donated a box full of ribbons to a 4-H club that was having a fun show and wanted to be able to give fancy ribbons. They didn’t care that they had the name of the show on them or the class, it was for fun. I was glad someone was able to use them, they were just sitting in the closet.

[modifiedequitation]

Local barns with pony camps would work for this idea too!

[lintesia]

I too only keep the blues, the ones that go around the neck, and any other sort of “championship” ribbon. I use them to decorate the dressing room of my horse trailer. The only downside, is people peeking in think I’m hugely successful, when it only looks that way because the lesser ribbons are not part of the picture.

[eightpondfarm]

If i had a lot of ribbons i would use them to decorate the walls in my soon-to-be tack room.
Or i’d festoon a christmas tree for the barn every year.
But, i don’t show…so

[Paint_Party]

@eightpondfarm

i’d festoon a christmas tree for the barn every year.

I don’t even know what happened to the ribbon quilt I had made years ago. Or the wall hanging I made myself. I think they either weren’t really practical (the quilt was stiff) or became clutter (lack of wall space).

But I love the Christmas tree festooning! In fact, if I had it to do all over again, that’s what I’d make: some kind of ribbon chain made from strips of the ribbon tails, looped and linked together. Usually the lettering is embossed in gold, so that would add some holiday flair.