‘Earthy Gray’: This Season’s Hottest Hue

Style alert! Maria Wachter reports.

Dirty Joe — er, Smokey Joe. This shade looks particularly good on mules. Photo by Maria Wachter.

With the colder months upon us, we tend to go stir crazy and look for any way to numb the pain of this gloomy misery we call winter. Why not add a pop of fresh color to lift your spirits? This new trend is a way to be reminded that each horse is unique and talented no matter breed or discipline — since most horses can deck themselves out all on their own.

While any horse can pull this beautiful coat color off, this color is really intended for light horses: whites, grays, buttermilk palominos, etc. Darker-colored horses just look “washed out” trying to make this work. The lighter horses tend to have a blank canvas for all the shades of “earthy gray”: green, brown, dark brown, red, and yellow.

The pigments of each shade are derived from only 100% natural ingredients: fresh manure, mud, dried manure, clay and pesticide-free urine.

The best part about this lovely dye job…. it requires no work on your part! No hours and money spent with a groomer, no sore arms from brushing and brushing and brushing all day, no ruined outfits from trying to make your horse look clean, and no winter-hatred tears wept.

To get this look: remove your horse’s blanket and turn out to pasture after a good hard rain and/or snow storm. To really lock in the color, make sure you leave the hose on overnight accidentally to flood your corral. Voila! Now you have an earthy gray horse. Enjoy!

Go riding. Or maybe grooming.