When I was super sad and down on top of on a 100% spending freeze, I was oh so excited to win Sprinkler Bandit’s blog contest for a custom beaded browband from Dark Jewel Designs.  Beaded browbands aren’t super popular in the hunter/jumper rings, and I’d figured I would get two “fun” bead strings and one pretty conservative one.

Let me say that when I got the browband and beads in the mail the quality far exceeded my expectations!  Pictures alone don’t show how nice these are, but I’ll do my best with some I took of Simon modeling two of his strands at the barn this weekend.

The first color choice I did were my barn colors, which I figured would become my primary schooling browband.  I ordered a full size brown browband, and it is definitely more of a chocolate than a havana as far as coloring goes.  I opted to put it on my show bridle for two reasons – 1) I’m showing in the jumpers now and I want to show off my pretty sparkly brow bands and 2) the color matched a lot more closely than my schooling bridle.

Sizing wise, I probably could have gone with a cob (my fault, Dark Jewel Designs gave measurements I just went with his standard bridle size when I’m now thinking he’s more of a small full than a standard one).  I love the thickness of the browband, and I love the padding.  The leather is soft and pretty good quality in my opinion.

It is a tad big on him, but I think it’s still doable… especially with a bonnet.  My advice would be to size down if your horse is inbetween sizes like my guy seems to be.  Amelia also told me this, but I guess I am a bad listener 🙂

As far as switching out bead strands, they’re super easy.  There’s a chicago screw on each side of the browband and it’s totally adjustable with your fingers – no screw driver required.  I switched back and forth several times today, and so long as your bridle isn’t on the horse at the time… it’s really, really easy.

Overall, I can’t be more positive about my experience with Dark Jewel Designs.  Amelia is a pleasure to work with, and super creative.  I was able to say “I like these colors!” and then she gave me so many options to choose from.  If you like a lot of creative options, you’ll be thrilled working with her on a custom browband.

This new browband is sure to be a part of my showing turnout from now on.  If you’ve been waffling about beaded browbands or not, or want something new and reasonably priced to show off your creature… check out Dark Jewel Designs.

Want your own custom browband?  Dark Jewel Designs is running a current promo on her etsy shop for 15% off coupon using the code XMASSHOP14.  Happy shopping!

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