Get your horse painted on a garment, featuring HERS Equine!
Are you searching for the perfect Mother’s Day gift, Birthday, or Anniversary gift for a special equestrian lady in your life? Does she have absolutely everything and you have no idea where to look? Well, we’ve found a great gift idea… How about a getting her a one-of-a-kind garment custom painted with her favorite equine? Katie Pacheco is the artist behind HERS Equine where she creates wearable pieces of art for the horsewoman. I absolutely loved the idea of “wearing my horse” on a skirt, so I asked Katie to paint the photo of me below riding Some Kinda Wonderful at the Palm Beach Masters Derby (the horse show I did while I was 13 weeks pregnant with my twins) onto an older Ted Baker skirt I had sitting in my closet. When I spoke with Katie I told her how I had this fabulous magenta ribbed skirt that I had never worn, and I really needed an excuse to wear it. I’m thrilled to show you what she came up with…
About the process: Each piece has a slightly different process, but all of them get their start by inspiration from a beautiful horse image.
“From there it gets interesting because once I have the one (image or garment) I have to make it work with the other, in order to produce a cohesive product with that ‘wow factor’ that grabs attention.”, states Katie Pacheco. She has learned to combine two art platforms to bring them together in one product through this process.
“Once the idea is conceptualized, it is a matter of working with the fabric and paint to produce art the equestrian can appreciate.”
See the images below to see the “derby horse” skirt come to life.
And the finished product…
This is the type of skirt you could wear to a VIP in Wellington at the Winter Equestrian Festival or even the Kentucky Derby. It’s truly a conversation piece!
“The detail and proportions are exceptional with Katie’s art, and the way the paint lays on this skirt was really beautiful in a way that it allows it to keep it’s true shape. When the wind blows, you can still see the whole horse, and that I really love.”, Ashley Cagle of Equestrian Stylist.
I paired the skirt with a white lace overlay tank, a black elastic surcingle belt (that I actually wear with my breeches), a felt equestrian style hat by Christine A. Moore, and black ‘Nicole‘ pumps by Christina Lombardi.
When we spoke with Katie about her love of equine art, she explained that since we all love and work with horses all the time, we have that intimate knowledge of the conformation and expression. “As an artist, I have to really attend to the details of the painting, or the true equestrian will immediately be turned away. The most time-consuming portion of each piece for me is establishing the horse’s expression, stance, and movement to make it believable. I strive to produce a painting that embodies the presence of the horse.”, she explained. We’re loving her work, and highly recommend it as the perfect gift for the gal that “has everything”, because this is truly a one-of-a-kind piece.
I wore this outfit to the Land Rover Eventing Showcase in Wellington, Florida to watch the $100,000 event comprised of a 23-jump course on the turf designed by Captain Mark Phillips.
The Wellington Eventing Showcase was the perfect backdrop to wear this ‘new’ custom skirt, and it was definitely a ‘stand out from the crowd’ style. The best part was that I already had this skirt, and I just needed a good reason to wear it. I love that I can wear my horse and have this memory to share with the twins in the future.
I’m totally in love with this skirt even more now, and I hope to inspire you to do the same with a piece that’s just ‘sitting in your closet’ tucked away. It makes a great gift while embracing an everlasting memory for the true equestrian. You’ll surely stand out in the crowd at your next equestrian event… For more information or to order, contact Katie Pacheco at hersequine.com.
