Gloucestershire farrier makes “designer horseshoes”

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)

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