Easy Summertime Equestrian Decor

I have horses. And I love adding little elements of horses, or equestrian-related elements to my interior decorating. I know summer is just about over, but I have a really easy summertime equestrian decor piece that you can add to your own decor.

Even if you don’t have horses yourself, you can still find horseshoes to make crafts with! And if you have a horse lover in your family, or you just like adding a little equestrian style to your decor, you might like this project!

Horseshoe art has become a bit of a passion for me lately. Horseshoes are associated with horses, and you can find them in a lot of decor whether English or Western style.

And to make this project you will only need a few things. For most of these items, I have provided links in case you aren’t able to purchase them locally. They are affiliate links, meaning if you purchase something from Amazon using these links, I do receive a small commission. This helps me to continue to do what I do on my blog.

Easy Summertime Equestrian Decor

These are the supplies you will need to make your own framed horseshoe art:

• 8 x 10 Frame with a back easel
• A horseshoe
• Acrylic paints
• Mod Podge Matte Finish sealer
• 9 x 11 piece of fabric in the color of your choice
• Hot glue gun 
• Glue sticks

How to Frame a Horseshoe

First, remove the glass from your photo frame, you won’t need it. Then, choose a paint color for your frame. You could leave the frame plain if you wanted to. But I chose to paint mine. I found my frame at Hobby Lobby in the clearance section of the store. This is my favorite place to find fancy frames.

When you are painting the frame, don’t use a lot of paint. The idea is to make the frame look weathered and distressed. With a thin coat of paint, it is easier to achieve this. Paint every viewable portion of the frame. The front and all of the sides, and then allow to dry.

If you are using a plastic frame, you will need to do multiple thin coats of paint. Don’t try and do it all in one sitting, you won’t be happy with the results. Trust me.

If your paint is a little thicker than you would like, use some sandpaper to remove some of the paint. If you are going to sand the frame, be sure to allow at least 24 hours between painting and sanding to allow the paint to cure. Otherwise, the paint will just peel instead of sand off.

Once the paint has fully dried, you can seal the frame with the Mod-Podge To make your paint job last.

Adding the Background

Next, you will want to attach the fabric to the frame. The fabric will be your background, so you want to make sure that the backing is completely covered. You don’t want to see a corner of the frame backing stick through. It is a good idea to have the fabric overlap, and you can fold it over the back of the frame and glue it down.

Painting the Horseshoe

Once you have completed the fabric gluing, now it is time to attach your horseshoe. If you want, you can leave the horseshoe plain, or you can choose to paint it. For my example, I wanted to go with a summertime theme, so I chose to paint my horseshoe.

I had a theme of colors that I was going for, so I chose a pink color for the horseshoe. I did two coats of paint to fully cover the horseshoe so that none of the original metal color was showing through. I did think about distressing the shoe with sandpaper, but in the end, I liked how the pink looked, so I did not sand any of the paint off.

Once the horseshoe was dry, I attached it to the center of the frame using my hot glue gun. You may be thinking the horseshoe is too heavy to stay attached with just glue stick glue, but it is okay. It will stick, I promise! Just be sure to apply enough glue to the back of the horseshoe. Allow it to dry flat for an hour or so before setting it upright.

And once the glue has dried, your artwork is complete! All that’s left to do is to find someplace to display your masterpiece.

Easy Summertime Equestrian Decor

As I said, this is a simple project that you can easily complete in the afternoon if you have all of the supplies.

It was nice to have an easy project after spending a lot of time on the wooden art I had made for the wall. But in the end, each project was worth the time I invested. When I am able to ride again, I will have these pieces to remind me of what to do when I have some downtime.