Area VI Adult Riders

Some jobs you remember because the gear isn't gear at all, it's a prize. Area VI Adult Riders, an equestrian club out here on the Central Coast, needed embroidered horse coolers and matching bags to hand out at their events. Win your class, and you ride home draped in something stitched, not just a ribbon on a nail.

A horse cooler is a big canvas, and that changes how you approach the embroidery. The club name and crest had to sit clean across a wide expanse of blanket without the panel bunching or the fill puckering as a horse moves under it. We chose blanks built for the barn, then matched thread colors to the club's look so the bags and the coolers read as one set.

We digitized the design and ran a stitched-out sample first, the way we do before any batch run. With prize pieces there's no second chance. The winner gets handed one, and it has to look right the moment it goes over the horse's back.

We kept the file on hand, so next season's prizes match this season's, and a rider who placed two years running ends up with a matched set instead of two near-misses.

We were grateful to stitch the horse coolers and bags for the prizes. It's the kind of work a local shop should be doing, gear for the people and the animals down the road from us. When your club is part of the Central Coast riding scene, it helps to work with an embroidery shop that's part of it too.