Tack Review: Blingy Browbands!

I'm just warning you ahead of time, prepare for a photo overload. As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the ways in which I'm a bit of an atypical "dressage queen" is that I absolutely love everything with bling (thank God that's in style-ish at the moment). I have a blingy saddle pad, blingy whips, but my absolute favorite accessory (until I can afford a blingy helmet) is my blingy browbands.

Top one is a KL Select Pearl/Crystal.

My collection started off in a reasonable way. A friend bought me a lovely Pink (brand) browband with sky blue padding and stones. However, the openings on the side are too narrow for most of my bridle straps, so it was relegated to one of my show halters for fun shows. Then DH got me a custom V-shaped browband from Horsetackular. That was around the time I decided I wanted my farm colors to be black and teal, so he did an alternating teal and crystal design.

Custom HorseTackular browband.

Next I started scouring tack swap sites. I picked up several more -- a straight one with white crystals, a U-shaped double looped one with teal, and my personal favorite, this curved pearl and crystal one from KL Select. I also bought a curved 3 row diamond one from Sterling Steed Enterprises.

Pink brand on the left, no-name aqua double row, Sterling Steed, and then a pink bridle -- don't ask.

And even though they're not technically blingy, I also really enjoy the variety of ribbon browbands that I get to use on my special Spanish presentation halters for the girls -- perks of owning a unique breed!

 

 

But hands down, my favorite browbands are from Equiture. I got my first Equiture browband as a birthday gift from DH in 2013 (it only took 6 months of leaving them open in his web browser with sizes and colors handily noted on a post-it, haha). In 2015, a dear friend bought me 2 more as a birthday gift. I am eyeballing about 4 more, but I haven't been able to bring myself to pull the trigger yet -- I always seem to find other things to spend that $80 or $90 on. But every time Equiture runs a flash sale or a giveaway, you can bet I'm all over their page! When I first discovered the company, they did pretty much exclusively browbands -- now they've branched out and do a lot more tack, including fly veils and stock pins that you can customize to match your browband *swoon* If we ever make it to a recognized show, I might reward myself with a set! For instance, this one floats my boat... Full size in black, Fairy Godmother!

 

#RestingMareFace

Equiture Browbands
Price: 3.5/5 stars (As much as I adore bling, the megabling ones are more than $90 now, plus shipping from the UK -- ouch!)
Quality/Durability: 4.5/5 (The older one is felt backed, and the new ones are leather backed -- I much prefer the leather ones. I only put them on for shows and photoshoots, because they're pretty hard to clean if they get dirty. And they snag on stuff (cleaning rags, Ruby's forelock, etc)
Color Options: 6/5 (If you can imagine it, Equiture can make it!)

At any given time, half are on bridles, half are in my tack trunk.

Next on the agenda for whenever he has some free time, I told DH I want one of these to display them in my tack shed! :)