It’s time to vote for the winner in EN’s Show Us Your Colors Contest, presented by World Equestrian Brands! We asked readers to tell us how they chose their cross country colors. Now it’s your turn to read through the stories and vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom of the post.
The winner will take home an Equetech Custom Cross Country Shirt, can be customized in a seemingly endless array of colors and patterns. Click here to learn more about the shirts and order one for yourself. Voting closes at 8 p.m. EST on Thursday, March 9. Go Eventing!
Pink, pink and more pink! Photo courtesy of Chloe Abbajay.
Chloe Abbajay: “My cross country colors are hot pink and black. They started out as neon green and hot pink, and my horse was known as the ‘watermelon’ with the color combo, but after moving to an event barn and maturing a bit, we’ve become classy with hot pink and black. (I still use my faded green crop as a reminder of my “watermelon” days though!) My gelding and I will be galloping in hot pink and black for years to come, and I’d love a custom shirt to match!
Sophia Kager and Ruby Slippers in their toned-down Dorothy look. Photo by Stephanie Kager.
Sophia Kager: “When I was 7, Ruby Slippers (barn name Dorothy) joined our family and we started eventing together. We wore a sparkly red helmet cover, red bell boots, shiny red crop, white and blue gingham saddle pad, and a light blue jumping vest. As we moved from Elementary to Beginner Novice, my jazzed up cross country outfit became more subtle without losing the original influences. These days, you will see us in white and light blue as my Ruby Slippers flies around the cross country course.”
A sea of purple! Photo by I{mpack}t Studios.
Megan Kiessling: “Everything I own for my horse — and I mean everything — is purple. I was known as a kid as ‘purple Megan.’ My crowning horse achievement so far has been getting purple rubber reins. My hair is even purple. Recently a clinician noted that my helmet cover actually ‘wasn’t bright enough’ to match my hair. If I can’t get an item in purple I get it in white or black. Because, you know, I don’t want to detract from the purple. I really challenge you to find someone more committed to any color than I am to purple. I dare you.”
Nadia Novik rocking purple. Photo by Greg Lindstrom.
Nadia Novik: “I’ve loved purple since I was a child. I’d never evented as a child, but that didn’t keep me from wearing everything purple in every aspect of my life, including every equine activity. When I began competing in eventing in my 30s, I thought about whether purple should make a comeback. Or should I pick a more demure color; navy or dark green, something that would help people take me more seriously.
“But, when I think of purple, I think of all those amazing childhood memories. Galloping ponies across fields without a care in the world, jumping logs in the woods and riding in any temperature because you couldn’t keep me off a horse. The color purple has made me happy since childhood. Clearly it had to be my cross country color, and I’ll be having too much fun to care if anyone takes me seriously.”
You can’t miss this neon green! Photo by Brittany Bates Photography.
Ange Plaisted: “I chose my cross country colours because of my family’s apparent inability to identity their own relative/wife. My first time out I was riding my dark bay gelding with just a simple red saddlecloth and a black t-shirt. It seems that so was everyone else. My husband filmed the wrong rider during cross country. My Show Dad couldn’t even spot me, citing the need for binoculars.
“I realised I had to take action so that my poor pony would not be lost in a sea of bays. And voila! No chance of my family missing any of my ‘amazing’ feats of horsemanship when we are lit up like a Christmas tree. Show Dad bought the t-shirt I’m wearing in this photo. It’s big enough for two of me. I would love to have a specially made Equetech custom cross country shirt that fits! And, of course, be as stylish as my green fairy gelding!”
Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar in purple and gold. Photo by Kamal Souccar.
Indra Rapinchuk-Souccar: “I chose my cross country colors when I began eventing at 12 years old. I loved purple, and my family had a joke that when you could choose silver or gold, why pick silver when I could pick gold? They were the colors of royalty and success, not what I imagined myself as, but perhaps what I dreamed of achieving. Purple and gold now signify my relationship with my horse that started it all, my best friend that I would eventually lose while proudly sporting our purple and gold. These colors now represent the strength and passion that my little horse gave me through the sport.”
Shark bonnet! Photo by Kathleen Bryan.
Mary Kate Valentine: “When I first got Fletcher off the track three years ago he was recently gelded, angry and very body sore. He would try to bite and kick and earned the nickname Sharkface. After that everything became shark related. His pen was called the shark tank. His grain was called chum. Thus my cross country colors were born … grey, white and red like a shark mouth. Please notice the shark bonnet!”
