Shiny Things

You may recall that I was recently gifted a lovely custom bonnet courtesy of Cathryn and If The Bonnet Fits.

That nice new bonnet really emphasized the lack of a pretty browband on Bridget's dressage bridle. So, obviously I HAD to go shopping :)

I looked for an embarrassingly long time because: 1. I am not particularly up on what's 'in' or 'trendy'  and don't want to embarrass Bridget with something super uncool 2. I don't really know what I like, and 3. I am not a big fan of bling or jewels so I wanted something far subtler than what seems to be the norm.

Enter Bex's Browbands. Her store has a huge variety of products (matching stock pin or dog collar, anyone?), the prices seem reasonable and the reviews are amazing. I actually thought one of the ribbon browbands might be fun for a Welsh Cob, but this jumped out at me:

Photo from Bex's Browbands. This is the one that originally caught my eye, and at 35 GBP/60 Canadian dollars, seemed a fair deal.

Still, it was too sparkly, too bold for me, so I ended up custom ordering a simple browband (same price as the one above):

Just a single row of grey and black 'diamonds'.  Very understated.

And, it matches our grey and black theme!

So, it matches, and I think it's pretty! Better yet, the quality is really, really nice. The leather is nicer than my Bobby's dressage bridle and the bling is attached very solidly. No, the crystals aren't 'genuine' anything expensive, but I'm totally in the camp of  "no one will be able to tell" and also "it's for a HORSE not a princess." 

All in all, I'm very pleasantly surprised. I knew the reviews were good, but at the price point, especially for custom, I half expected low to average quality. I also appreciate the extra crystals included in the envelope. Just in case emergency repairs are required, or I do decide matching bling is necessary. Don't hold your breath on that, though :)

I also need to add that I ordered this at Christmas...and Canada Post lost it - the tracking number showed it was somewhere in the mid Atlantic for 6 weeks! It eventually magically appeared at my door without notice, but in the meantime, Bex had already very kindly offered to make me a new one. So, the customer service is just as amazing as the reviews indicate.