Bay is probably the most common color found in any and all breeds of horses. With this in mind, that means that most horse owners likely own a bay horse over any other color of horse. Some horse owners, like myself, like to match certain colors with our horse’s coat that don’t clash with the horse’s coat color. Because of this, I created a list of all the different colors that look AMAZING on your bay horse to make tack shopping that much easier.
The 10 best colors to put on your bay horse include: royal blue, hunter green, white, orange, navy blue, pink, maroon, turquoise, grey, and black.
Royal Blue
One of my favorite colors to put on bay horses, especially blood bay horses (bay horses with redder-toned coats). This is because the royal blue color contrasts the red-brown tones and colors in the horse’s coat. This contrast really makes the royal blue pop and stand out boldly against the horse’s coat.
What I would put on my bay horses were royal blue saddle pads and royal blue polo wraps. One of my bay horses, an Arabian named Cross Fiire, the blue really popped because his coat was so red.
Hunter Green
Hunter green is a color that goes well with the dark bay horses and the black bay horses. This is because these types of bay are a lot darker than the other shades of bay. The hunter green not only goes well on a dark backdrop, but it also contrasts with any of the red tones in their coat making the green stand out.
I like to use cooler toned colors on red toned horses because the colors contrast from each other so well and either the tack or the coat will stand out when these colors are used.
White
White is a color that really pops against a bay coat, especially a darker coat like the dark bay or the black bay coat colors. This is because white is a really bright color so putting it on a darker background makes the white look brighter and cleaner, and gives the horse a more professional appearance.
White, though I think it looks better on darker bay horses, can really look good on a lighter or redder bay horse too! I recommend pairing a white saddle pad with white boots or polo wraps to make for a matching look that radiates professionalism.
Orange
Though I usually try to stay away from mixing warm colors with red coat colors, orange actually works really well on bay horses!
The bay horse that I saw pull off this look really well was just your standard bay colored horse. The horse’s owner or rider had put an orange saddle pad and orange polo wraps on the horse. Because the colors were the same and matched each other, every aspect of the tack set worked well together.
Navy Blue
When I didn’t have a saddle pad to use when riding at my friend’s barn, I would always use one of my friend’s navy blue saddle pads on my horse. My old horse, Bronze, was a bay Arabian and the navy blue actually looked really good on him!
The reason navy blue works so well on all bay horses is because the blue balances out the red in the horse’s coat. This color is also a fairly neutral color which is another reason why I like it. It seems to go well with whatever you pair the color with on bay horses.
Pink
Though pink isn’t the most popular color of tack on the market, when it is available, bays are one of the horse coat colors that this color works with.
Pink goes well with the darker colored bay horses because the darker the horse, the more the pink color pops and stands out.
I like pink tack sets because not only do they pop on the horse, but not many people use this color on their horses making it one of the less commonly seen colors. If you show up in all pink, you will definitely stand out from all of the other horses, even if your horse’s coat color is the most common on the planet.
Maroon
Maroon reminds me of royalty just like the color purple does. Even though both bay horses and the color maroon have red tones in them, maroon is one of those colors that works well on the bay horse.
Maroon is a color, like I said that reminds me of royalty. When I see a horse, especially a bay horse, dressed from head to hoof in a maroon tack set, I can’t help but note on the horse’s beauty and how regal they look in their royal matching tack set.
I used to put maroon polo wraps and a maroon saddle pad on one of my bay Arabians. He looked so handsome and dashing in his all-maroon getup.
Turquoise
Turquoise is such a fun bright color that looks good on a lot of things. What many people don’t consider is the fact that this color looks great on horses too!
Turquoise is a blue-green based color. Because of this, the color turquoise contrasts well with the bay horse’s coat.
The best example of this color on a bay horse that I have ever seen was a bay horse that was wearing a full turquoise nylon tack set. This unusual choice of tack actually worked well and looked really good on this horse. After I saw that image of the horse n all turquoise tack I have put this color among the best colors on my list for bay horses.
Grey
Grey is a really neutral color that is quite easy to match with pretty much anything. Because this color is so easy to match things with, I think it looks great on bay horses.
On my bay Arabian, Bronze, I used grey saddle pads on him all the time. Not only did the grey of the saddle pad look good on my horse, but it also never clashed with my horse’s coat color nor what I was wearing. For this reason, I have held onto both my light grey and dark grey English saddle pads for use on the other horses I would have in the future as they looked so good on Bronze.
Black
Black is probably the easiest color to put on any horse coat color because it is one of the most neutral colors you can find or use.
I like to use black saddle pads and other black tack because:
- Black tack doesn’t look as dirty
- It is really easy to find
- Black matched whatever my horse or I was wearing
Cross Fiire, one of my Arabians, almost always was ridden in black. Because he was a blood bay horse, the redness of his coat really stuck out because of the fact that the black didn’t seem to dilute or clash with his red color at all.