Has the bubble burst for Le Mieux new season colours?

[Barton Bounty]

So matchy matchy is tacky, unless it’s on you, in which case it’s fine because you are only matching your idea of acceptable colours?

It is this snobbish attitude about matchy matchy which I cannot stand.

I personally don’t do matchy matchy colours. It’s not for me, I am absolutely in the brown/navy/black brigade. I do have some muted colours, like Fig, Ink and Blackcurrant which I use for hacking. My taste is not for bright colours.

But does this give me the right to look down on people who do like bright colours? To say they must have no idea?
No it does not.

Good for them. I hope it brings them joy. I think it’s great that we have choice and that people can express themselves. When I was a kid, primary red or blue was as thrilling as it got.

Like Lemieux/matchy matchy or don’t, but there’s really no need to be such a snob about people who do wear it. Says more about you than about them.

I love this post!

And I also respect that everyone is different.. we should all be allowed to express what we want and if thats le mieux matchy then fine. I cant say that I have ever had a set fall apart either.
it has been insinuated on several posts that people are more interested in matchy that welfare.
I pick my sets because I like them not because I have seen an influencer promoting.
I also have a few different base layers that match and can in turn be rotated by mixing.

The weird snobbery around bright colours and Le Mieux is super bizarre! I find the pads excellent quality, can be worn and washed to death and suit my horses . Tend not to buy this seasons colours of any brand, as I go for the colours I think rather try to fit in with the latest fad of any brand. I have rather gone off them more for their business practices but their pads are still in my tack room 6+ years on, going well against the test of time!

I'll just leave these here, obviously with too much gear and knowing nothing, as these horses definitely did not get to medium and PSG with me wearing Le Mieux ...

cracking photos

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Just stunning - absolutely beautiful. I love your matchy bandages too, I had to give up on those and just do matchy boots. The poor old back and knees can't do all that bending and kneeling to put them on! Gorgeous horses you are very lucky to have them.

Ah thank you, both just hacks now so the young Beryl has big hooves to fill!

Bandages are definitely used less frequently now, boots are much easier and to be honest mine all tend not to wear anything on their legs most of the time as I don't like the risk of heating tendons up.

 

[ecb89]

You slightly misunderstood my point - I've nothing against folk who want to wear matchy matchy (although not a fan of matching equipment being used when it isn't needed). I also enjoy the smartness of matching, but I do it with colours that I can get from any brand at any time, so that nothing goes out of date or is wasted.

My alarm of 'all the gear...' goes off when I see that it's specifically a Lemieux set. Because that is warning bells for me of someone who just believes all the online influencer copycat hype... There are much nicer higher quality manufacturers of matching stuff out there.

Ahh ok. What sets my alarm of all the gear off is things like badly fitting saddles, tight flash straps, tight martingales, lunging in inappropriate gadgets because that’s what influencers do. But if a le mieux saddle pad does it for you then fair enough.

 

[DressageCob]

I went through a phase of liking matchy matchy with my old horse, although I preferred Eskadron to LeMieux. I have a couple of LeMieux rugs which I really like but these days I wouldn't buy their products because I think they are unethical. They have copied so many different companies. HorzeHoods, Crafty Ponies, Roeckl and countless smaller companies who don't have the voice to speak up.

Furthermore, I don't like their use of teenage "influencers" in their marketing campaigns. I think they are aiming their products more and more towards the kids and teenagers who are desperate to be like the skinny blond girls they see on their instagram and TikTok and to me it is just perpetuating the problem. When I was a child the equestrian community was a safe haven. We were all pony mad kids, some had their own others of us had a favourite riding school horse. There was no pressure to look a certain way, like there was browsing the magazine racks or watching TV. We just cared about the horses and our riding skills. That's not the case now and companies like LeMieux are profiting off it.

 

[ecb89]

I went through a phase of liking matchy matchy with my old horse, although I preferred Eskadron to LeMieux. I have a couple of LeMieux rugs which I really like but these days I wouldn't buy their products because I think they are unethical. They have copied so many different companies. HorzeHoods, Crafty Ponies, Roeckl and countless smaller companies who don't have the voice to speak up.

Furthermore, I don't like their use of teenage "influencers" in their marketing campaigns. I think they are aiming their products more and more towards the kids and teenagers who are desperate to be like the skinny blond girls they see on their instagram and TikTok and to me it is just perpetuating the problem. When I was a child the equestrian community was a safe haven. We were all pony mad kids, some had their own others of us had a favourite riding school horse. There was no pressure to look a certain way, like there was browsing the magazine racks or watching TV. We just cared about the horses and our riding skills. That's not the case now and companies like LeMieux are profiting off it.

The new release appears to be 3 adult women and they recently advertised their Freya breeches with models from size 8 to 18

 

[sbloom]

it has been insinuated on several posts that people are more interested in matchy that welfare.

Despite my very first post being a littler reactionary and probably over dramatic, I've said quite clearly that SOME people are more interested in matchy, to the extent that they'll talk themselves into ignoring their trusted professionals over what ARE welfare issues. Obviously not everyone is like that, not at all. But if push came to shove, if we could rid ourselves of silicone breeches that ruin leather saddles and a few other products that cause other issues, the horsey world would probably be a better place. Horses are complex, my FB reels are horrible on the whole, and simplify so many things (presuming most are from TikTok), and it's too easy for people new to horses to go down the route of everything being about aesthetics, and it's only going to push the industry further away from what is genuinely good for horse and rider and towards what is genuinely harmful. LM matchy matchy is absolutely not causing is, and of course is not harmful in itself (and I actually think most numnahs I've seen are decent quality even if I don't like all the features) but it's easy to forget the horse should be at the centre of everything.

There endeth the lecture, and this is just what I see, week in week out in yards literally ALL over this country and Eire.

 

[Barton Bounty]

I've said quite clearly that SOME people are more interested in matchy, to the extent that they'll talk themselves into ignoring their trusted professionals over what ARE welfare issues. Obviously not everyone is like that, not at all.

It was not you I was referring to @sbloom

 

[sbloom]

It was not you I was referring to @sbloom

Sorry, just been back and edited while you posted, some philosophy for everyone on a Friday lunchtime

 

[Poppy+MrDarcy]

I only have one le mieux colour and I don't really keep up with new colours and all, I think it has lost the excitement of some people, and will continue to, if the prices aren't loweres.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Despite my very first post being a littler reactionary and probably over dramatic, I've said quite clearly that SOME people are more interested in matchy, to the extent that they'll talk themselves into ignoring their trusted professionals over what ARE welfare issues. Obviously not everyone is like that, not at all. But if push came to shove, if we could rid ourselves of silicone breeches that ruin leather saddles and a few other products that cause other issues, the horsey world would probably be a better place. Horses are complex, my FB reels are horrible on the whole, and simplify so many things (presuming most are from TikTok), and it's too easy for people new to horses to go down the route of everything being about aesthetics, and it's only going to push the industry further away from what is genuinely good for horse and rider and towards what is genuinely harmful. LM matchy matchy is absolutely not causing is, and of course is not harmful in itself (and I actually think most numnahs I've seen are decent quality even if I don't like all the features) but it's easy to forget the horse should be at the centre of everything.

There endeth the lecture, and this is just what I see, week in week out in yards literally ALL over this country and Eire.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, like I said earlier, Bb went through a phase of needing a shimmed pad with the last saddle, and I had various all costing upward of £80 and a shimmed half pad, I know you can probably tell from my posts and the way I treat bb , he is treated like a king and what he needs he gets

 

[DressageCob]

The new release appears to be 3 adult women and they recently advertised their Freya breeches with models from size 8 to 18

There's a difference between the "catalogue" photos and the marketing campaigns on instagram for example. It's not about having a couple of adults in photographs, it's about funding a whole bunch of teenagers to post barely identifiable adverts. Have a look on instagram and you'll see what I'm talking about. Advertising these days is more through the use of influencers on instagram and TikTok than press releases and catalogues.
That said, in previous years they have used children and teenagers to advertise their ladies' clothes on their website (in fact, a quick scan shows they still do that for some of the base layers in the ladies' section), which I found very odd. I expect it's just to show the colour but normally one chooses clothes for fit, and seeing it on a pre-teen doesn't help with that.

LM sends products to these people to use and persuade their followers to buy. You can see by looking on their instagram page, they follow a few big names and companies and the rest are little girls and teenagers (and the occasional adult). It works for them, but it's not for me.

 

[Hallo2012]

I'm still only ever going to order it in white, black, brown and navy blue - just because it'll match all the other rubbish I own

if i ever turn up and smiley noodle is in full hot pink stood on the block doing his yoga.......i will think aliens have abducted you!!!!

 

[RachelFerd]

if i ever turn up and smiley noodle is in full hot pink stood on the block doing his yoga.......i will think aliens have abducted you!!!!

I'm going to use my stash of white nuumed dressage squares that I bought on the cheap because they've got unwanted embroidery on them for at least the next 10 years. I don't know what 'CJ' stands for, but we'll continued to wear it with pride....

 

[Barton Bounty]

I'm going to use my stash of white nuumed dressage squares that I bought on the cheap because they've got unwanted embroidery on them for at least the next 10 years. I don't know what 'CJ' stands for, but we'll continued to wear it with pride....

Make something up

 

[Katieg123]

Make something up

We can have a whole other thread for this

 

[Jenko109]

I was put off them after the dog hair pom poms.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

I was put off them after the dog hair pom poms.

Say what?

 

[RachelFerd]

Say what?

Boycott Lemieux

Found to have been selling hats made with dog hair from China. Disgusted.

forums.horseandhound.co.uk

 

[Squeak]

I'm going to use my stash of white nuumed dressage squares that I bought on the cheap because they've got unwanted embroidery on them for at least the next 10 years. I don't know what 'CJ' stands for, but we'll continued to wear it with pride....

I have some like this I have no idea what the embroidery stands for but they look smart and have been doing the job for the last ten years.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Boycott Lemieux

Found to have been selling hats made with dog hair from China. Disgusted.

forums.horseandhound.co.uk

Oh I missed that!

Ew.

 

[ester]

In the interests of accuracy it was racoon dogs, not actual dogs and was a fairly wide issue at the time ergo not a Lemieux specific problem.

 

[Goldenstar]

And it was not just LM.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I'm going to use my stash of white nuumed dressage squares that I bought on the cheap because they've got unwanted embroidery on them for at least the next 10 years. I don't know what 'CJ' stands for, but we'll continued to wear it with pride....

Court Jester
Crown Jewels
Crappy Joke
Cock Jockey...

 

[suestowford]

If I had CJ on my numnah it would stand for Can't Jump

 

[catkin]

I am older, and I don't have matchy matchy. Not because I don't like it, but when I was buying tack, it wasn't available, so I bought what I could find that fitted. It's mostly still here as it's not worn out.

I always hankered after one of these (don't think it's Le Mieux though) for my black pony. I thought it would have suited him very well, especially if I could have found a dragon headpiece to go with it. He'd probably never have 'spoken' to me again if I made him go out in that lot though!
View attachment 108262

Oh I SO want one of these!!!!!

 

[dottylottie]

If I had CJ on my numnah it would stand for Can't Jump

i’d have jumped at this, my first initials are CJ

 

[Fjord]

You could write 'du' between the C and the J in Sharpie and pretend you are a famous dressagist.

 

[Griffin]

I am middle aged and remember when numnahs only came in boring colours. I don't have bandages of fly veils but I love my bright Le Mieux saddle pads! As another poster said, you can wash them to death and they still look good. Also, many areas of my life are horrible these days, if a bright yellow saddle pad cheers me up, that's a good thing!

 

[rabatsa]

What gets my goat are the people using "bonnets" on every horse but posting wanting the best comfort bridles and head pieces.

Surely it should be one or the other, not both.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

What gets my goat are the people using "bonnets" on every horse but posting wanting the best comfort bridles and head pieces.

Surely it should be one or the other, not both.

The ear bonnets are supposed to be for protecting the ears when there are flies. I used to put them on in summer. My old boy had small ears though and if he shook his head the bridle would slip off if he was wearing one. Current horse doesn’t like wearing them and is a bit touchy about his ears.