Decorate Your Horse with Glitter

We can curry and brush our horses all day long, but nothing adds sparkle to your horse’s coat like actual glitter. Here, the young riders of Lucky Dog Eventing in Lexington, Ky., and their ponies pitched in to demonstrate three methods of glitterfying your mount.

A Young Rider glitter stencil on a horse's hip. — Photo by Shoshana Rudski

Source the Sparkles

Before you begin, it’s time to head to the store to pick up some supplies. You don’t need much—just loose glitter, hairspray, and clear glue.

Optional items include adhesive rhinestones and glitter glue for extra dazzle.

Materials needed for this project. — **Loose glitter, hairspray, and washable glue are all you need to get started.** Photo by Shoshana Rudski

Prepare Your Base

Before you begin, give your horse a thorough grooming. The cleaner your surface, the better your results will be. Give your horse a good curry and brush and use a damp rag to remove any remaining dust.

Hairspray Method

Want a sparkly, shiny base coat and mane and tail? Hairspray is the way to go! Start by spraying a coat of hairspray all over your horse’s hindquarters, tail or mane. Then take your glitter shaker and sprinkle it all over before it dries. Finish off the look with another layer of hairspray to secure the glitter in place.

Fancy Feet

Next up are your horse’s hooves. Using a paintbrush or sponge, apply a layer of clear glue to your horse’s clean feet.

Place a piece of paper under your horse’s foot and shake on the glitter. The paper will collect any glitter that doesn’t stick to your horse’s hoof so you can reuse it elsewhere and keep it off the floor of the barn aisle or grooming stall.

Glitter on a horse's feet. — **Glittery feet make the perfect finishing touch for a parade, costume class, or just a rainy day in the barn.** Photo by Shoshana Rudski

Glitter Glue

Now that your horse has a sparkly base coat, it’s time to get creative! It might take some trial and error to figure out the best colors of glitter glue to doodle with on your horse’s coat (for example, silver might not show up well on a gray horse).

Don’t worry if the first few doodles don’t turn out as you had hoped— you can use a damp rag to wipe them off and try again.

Young girls decorating their horse with glitter. — **If you prefer freehand art, grab the glitter glue and start drawing!** Photo by Shoshana Rudski

Rhinestone It

Stick-on rhinestones add extra flair to your designs. They stick well to horses’ manes, tails, and coats. Get creative and outline your shapes and add some extra dazzle to your doodles! You can also add some to your saddle pad to complete your look.

Rhinestones in a pony's tail. — **Stick-on rhinestones are an easy way to add color. Try matching your saddle pad or complementing your horse’s coat color.** Photo by Shoshana Rudski

Glittermarx

If you want to take your glitter to the next level, look into Glittermarx boxes. The boxes come with stencils, extra-sticky glue, and lots of glitter colors. You can pick the designs and colors you want and that match your horse’s personality. The directions are simple: apply the stencil, put on the glue, dab on the glitter, and voilà—a masterpiece! Add your own twist by combining Glittermarx with a rhinestone border or glitter-and-hairspray base.

Applying a glitter stencil to a horse. — **A stencil kit comes with various shapes, glue, a dabber sponge, and several glitter colors. Stencils will give your designs super neat edges.** Photo by Shoshana Rudski

The stencil's end result: a heart design. — **Use your creativity when choosing a color and shape to match your horse’s personality.** Photo by Shoshana Rudski

What glitter creations are you most excited to try on your horse? With a parent’s permission, post photos of your masterpieces on Instagram and tag @youngridermagazine and we’ll share your results!

This article about how to decorate your horse with glitter appeared in the March/April 2024 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!