horse country crazy

Some of your comments yesterday on Bethany Puopolo's farm made me think how lucky we are to live in Virginia!  I love the greenery, the rolling hills and most of all, the amount of horse country we have.

And I love to see equestrian inspired designs not only because we have horses and I rode and showed horses growing up, but also because it reminds me of one of my favorite places.  Middleburg, Virginia.

A 50 minute commute from DC, Middleburg is the true horsemen's country.  Driving down the roads reminds me of the English countryside in places - stone wall fences and easement land as far as the eye can see. 

And every December, the hunt comes through town, a real sight to behold.

There's just enough grit to it to make Middleburg the real deal.  It's not full of Ralph Lauren models in crisp white shirts and boots atop a beautiful bridleless horses. 

Don't get me wrong, it's definitely tweed and Barbour and all the rest.  And you will see a woman in heels and fur walking down the road.  But you also see dirty barn boots, ballcaps and jeans, breeches and of course, the best part, dogs everywhere. Just last month, some girlfriends and I took Seamus for an outting in Middleburg and had a nice lunch at the Market Salamander.

Great places to eat.  Cute shops.  And amazing real estate.

Makes me want to pay a bit more homage in my own home to my horsey roots.  I need to figure out a chic way to decorate with my horse show ribbons, like these folks did.

Tally ho!

-Bethany

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Equestrian Style

I have always loved EQUESTRIAN style; we are 'horse people' here at Powell Brower. We have a 17 year old Thoroughbred named Willie and a 7 year old Welsh pony named Thomas.

We try to incorporate our horse-love anywhere we can.  I have used our bits, and fly swatters and ribbons in my house for decorating.   Of course both of us would love the real-deal HERMES horse themed accessories, but who has that kind of money?

My daughter, Bethany's  bedroom was adorned with (hundreds of) horse show ribbons growing up, and she protested when I took them down, but here's what I plan to do with them:

{from Copy Cat Chic via Pinterest}

I went so far as to dress my powder room in equestrian style about 10 years ago, and I'm finally tiring of it.  I did a paint treatment on the walls to simulate the color and texture of saddle leather.  I'm ready to change it to navy and white stripe (like our blog header), but here's what it looks like now:

{Old hunt-scene prints from my father and a loose-ring snaffle above}

{A hunt commerative poster I had custom framed and highlighted with another bit - this time a D-ring roller snaffle}

{One of Bethany's High-Point Champion ribbons she let me decorate with}

So let this serve as the 'BEFORE' of the powder room.  It's been a good run, but can't wait to have an 'AFTER' to show you.

-Nancy