Perfectly Plum | Beyond Boat Shoes

Welcome to where I chronicle what I wear that isn’t just this blog’s namesake—we are going beyond boat shoes.

My wardrobe always gets a bit brighter this time of year thanks to my love of the season. From golden yellows to deep burgundy, fall brings the wonderful autumnal colors that make my heart happy, causing me to ditch my trusty neutral tones just for a month or two. 

I’m willing to bet that every equestrian has lusted over a pair of breeches that came in the perfect color. When SmartPak released their Hadley breeches in Plum Perfect, that was me—as a fan of this breech style, I could only resist the urge to add them to my cart for so long. The color is a bit more purple than pictured on the website, but they do have “plum” in the name, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. That said, I ended up loving them!

Though you couldn’t tell once I was bundled up against the cold, I paired my Hadleys with the new chocolate belt from ACE Equestrian‘s fall collection. We already know that I love these belts, so I snagged this (and the pretty olive color) as soon as I was sent a fun sneak peek! The brown goes beautifully with the muted purple of the breeches and I was a little sad that my layers covered it up.

Speaking of layers, it is the time for them now that there is a chill in the New England air. On this particular day it was windy 40°, so I went with a long sleeve 1/4 zip top and a vest—my typical fall get up. I’m a huge fan of riding in non-equestrian branded tops and this one from Nike is my favorite. (I picked it up at Marshall’s a few years ago—it was in my first Favorites post back in 2016—but is similar to this one!) The vest is SmartPak’s new Hadley Vest in black, which I purchased when I decided that my nice The North Face vest needed to be retired from barn life, and it ended up being the perfect lightly puffy vest for a slightly chilly day.

Topping everything off was my beloved new Samshield Miss Shield, favorite Roeckl Malta Gloves in black and mocha, and Ariat Challenge Contour Field Boots over a cozy pair of wool socks.

Because Ax is clipped and it was pretty windy out, I broke out his quarter sheet for the first time this year. I’ve had this striped Rambo Competition Sheet forever—the fleece is thick, it keeps Ax warm all fall and winter long, and it still looks as new as the day I bought it. He’s also sporting an EquiFit ImpacTeq Half Pad, a white Ogilvy Baby Pad, a pair of EquiFit MultiTeq Front Boots, and his new Arc De Triomphe Imperial Figure 8 Bridle.

-TC