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Forget Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin. The only shoes to be seen in this season come courtesy of farrier Nathan Appleton.
Nathan, who is based near Cirencester, Glos, has created a range of “designer horseshoes” for his wife, dressage rider Gemma Appleton.
The shoes – with names such as Prada, Gucci and D&G on the toe clips – evolved after Nathan made a special set for the regional championships a couple of years ago.
“All the girls on the yard were laughing,” Gemma told H&H.
“They said, ‘You’d better look at your toe clips’ – he’d stamped ‘good’ and ‘luck’ on them.”
Gemma’s top grand prix horse Showtime is now sporting D&G shoes, while her small tour horse Legamento has a set of “Pumas”.
“Nathan said he wanted the horse to fly, so he gave him a sports shoe,” she explained.
The shoes have raised a few laughs – and eyebrows – in the dressage world. “I trotted up for [British team vet] John McEwen and he said, ‘I’ve seen it all now’,” she said.
This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (15 March 2012)
