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For those who use our Unicorn Browbands, here are some tips for completing your horse’s unicorn costume.

1. If you have a white horse
   Try to find a white bridle for a bridle-less look. Nylon bridles are inexpensive and if you cannot find a white one, paint it with acrylic craft paint, which looks neater than wrapping with ribbon. for other colors of horses, you can also buy or paint bridles to match in color.
2. For a druid or fairy look
   Use a green bridle and twine some artificial ivy or other vine and flower on it. You can also coil some vines on your reins, but make sure it does not affect your grip in case your horse gets excited at the show/parade. Fix vines in place with thread or glue to avoid shifting. If you use any wire stemmed flowers, make the the ends of the wires cannot prick your horse.
3. Add feathering
   Traditionally, unicorns have wispy beards (like goats) and feathered fetlocks. You can get some fine, white doll hair—or cut up a Santa Clause beard—and fix it to your horse’s chin and legs with theatrical glue, or other non-toxic glue. Beards can also be hung from bridles like a curb chain on the bit or under a low nose band. You can also glue the leg feathers to a pretty set of bell boots.
4. A unicorn’s tail
   Unicorns are part stag. Their tails have short hair on top and long hair starting a about partway down. You can get this look by braiding or wrapping the top of your horses tail almost to the end of the bone. Use a thin tape or bandage that matches your horses color.
5. A magical pedicure
   You can paint your horses hooves gold, silver, or iridescent white. Human nail polish will offer more delicate colors than those made for horses, though you may need to buy several bottles. You can even paint a dark triangle down the center  hoof to get a unicorn’s cloven hoof. Stand your horse on a clean hard surface to avoid getting dirt in your polish. You may even get quick-dry nail polish so he won’t mess up his pedicure before it dries.
6. Floral décor
   Twine artificial flowers into your horse’s mane and tail for a just-galloped-out-of-the-meadow look. If you use any flowers in the forelock, do not use wire stems. If you would like floral barrettes and hair-ties, we can make some for both you and your horse.
7. Add sparkle
   Make your unicorn sparkle with a thin coat of glitter. Try to get clear iridescent glitter. You may get this in the form of glitter hair-gels or non-toxic clear glitter glue. A thin coat of water based spray glitter is also safe on the body, but avoid using it near your horse’s eyes and nose. Metallic glitter can make your horse look dirty if you are not in the right light, but it may work for a dark horse. Experiment before your show day to see what works best.

Tags: horse costuming tips, unicorn

For one week starting today and ending October 25, 2009, all equestrian items at Franga Designs are discounted at 10% off.

PLUS: FREE SHIPPING on orders over $150. Use Coupon Code: HALLOWEEN2009FS at checkout.*

We have recently added an assortment of ready-made medieval horse rein barding, medieval saddle blankets with heraldic emblems and unicorn browbands, all of which will ship within 1-2 business days of your order. Here are just a few out of many new items on sale this week!

Red Fleece, Dalmatian Trim Gold Lion and Unicorn Heraldry Saddle Blanket

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Tags: coupon codes, discounts, franga designs, free shipping, halloween equestrian, horse costumes, sales

Since the beginning of Franga Designs in 2005, our custom medieval style horse barding in alternating dags of crushed Panne velvet has been one of our most popular designs with equestrian customers. These past 4 years, we have offered a moderate selection of traditional colors from which customers selected their favorite medieval combinations for custom rein caparisons, chest caparions and rump caparisons.

While there is nothing wrong with the popular combinations of Red & Black, Red & Gold, Royal Blue & Gold, Green & Gold, Midnight Blue & Silver, we now offer a larger range of colors for more imaginative and beautiful combinations to suit a wider range of taste which can include Fairy Tale, Royal (Little Prince or Princess), Renaissance, Jousting, etc .

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Tags: antique gold, black, bronze, carousel, champagne, chest barding, copper, crushed panne velvet, custom equestrian, dark burgundy, gold, heraldry, horse barding, horse costume, ivory, lavender, light blue, light pink, medieval, midnight blue, olive green, red, rein barding, royal blue, rump barding, silver, turquoise, white, yellow gold

Subscribing to Franga Designs updates on new items, sales, specials, free shipping promotions, coupon codes, and general announcements is now easier than ever. In lieu of the traditional email newsletter, we have implemented RSS feeds for various product categories and blog topics through this blog.

If you are interested in all announcements, new products (both dog clothing and equestrian costumes), sales and occasional pet care or costuming tips, simply subscribe to our full feed.

For those solely interested in updates on dog clothing and costumes, simply subscribe to our Dog Clothing Updates which will only deliver updates categorized under the Dog Clothing (including subcategories).

For equestrian customers, we have a similar Equestrian Costume Updates feed which will deliver instant updates on our equestrian costume catalog.

By subscribing to our RSS feeds, you won’t need to come to our site to check for new items; you will receive a small image preview and short description of the new item and can simply click on it for more information if you are interested.

For more information on RSS feed subscription, please visit our RSS Catalog and Sale Updates page.

Tags: Blog, coupon codes, Dog Clothes, franga designs, free shipping, sales, subscriptions