My Horse in the Livia Colesium Horse Gear

Here is my horse, Sharayah, wearing the Livia Colesium horse gear. I have also discovered this gear on the Livia flashback scene rider in Path of Vengeance, so it was used in at least two episodes. My horse is a lot smaller than Livia's horse, but the gear still looks cool displayed on her. The hole in the blanket is deliberate so the stirrups can come through. There is one on each side.

Standard Horsecollar

A fairly large item, made for decoration around the necks of horses. Quite detailed, although this piece shows quite a bit of set wear and does have some missing emblems. Made of leather and glued on decorative pieces. Looks Roman. I have an affinity for equestrian-related pieces and feel that the prop dept really outdid themselves making the costumes, even for the many horses used throughout the series. M

Valkyrie Horse Quartersheet

This is one of my favorite pieces in my collection, and the second one I have. The other one is part of the complete Valkyrie horse gear shown in the post below. It is the full-sized horseblanket used on the flying Valkyrie horses in the Xena Season Six "Ring Trilogy." Made of soft velvety type fabric with resin medallions and glued on woven piping. This came to me straight from New Zealand and still has black horsehair on it! Has definite wear from being used onset. Seen onscreen in the Valkyrie eps frequently. A very nice piece that is currently being displayed in a glass cabinet for protection.

Complete Horse Costume-Valkyrie Flying Horse

This is one of my favorite episode arcs, as well as one of the most beautiful horse costumes created for the series. Although I already have one Valkyrie horse blanket, I had never been able to find the rest of the costume until now. This costume is 100 percent complete and comes with a second horse blanket, so now I have the honor of owning two matching quartersheets. This costume has been authenticated in NZ by Xena's riding stunt double, Bex Watts, and the photo of Bex riding in the costume is part of a lovely "memories" album that Bex made for me. The album is mine; the copyright on the photograph belongs to Bex and may not be copied or otherwise used in any manner. Therefore the photo is deliberately out of focus and at a distance, in order to protect the copyright. The costume itself consists of a leather bridle overlaid with silver rope and resin medallions and a resin faceguard; a breast "plate" which is leather overlaid with matching material and also includes a large silver tassle and cloth, foam and leather decoration. There is also a heavy shiny silver saddlecover and the larger black and silver quartersheet. Just lovely!
You will note that the faceguard has what looks like a break or crack in the end of it. The guard is backed with felt and the felt is completely intact, so the end of the faceguard is more like a "hinge." I was informed that although the faceguard is not labeled, Bex believes that it is Xena's horse's faceguard because in the photo, her faceguard is broken at the same place. Since it is not labeled, this cannot be proven, but I am happy to take the opinion of the woman who actually rode in this gear, and either way, it is a gorgeous piece that I am honored to have in my collection.

Livia's Coliseum Horse: Blanket

It is my great pleasure to be able to acquire some of the gear used on the horses in the Xena series. As many of you already know, I have an affinity for horses and love the detail that was put into the horse gear. Just as much care was taken with their costumes as there was with the human actor's costumes, and it shows in the craftsmanship. This is the mesh blanket used in the coliseum scene in the Season 5 episode, "Livia." In this scene, Livia rides her horse into the arena, where she fights Xena. The horse is wearing a black mesh blanket with the yellow symbol near the back. It has gold colored piping, a leather closure, and metal buckles. There are pre-cut holes for the stirrups to come through. This is a gorgeous piece, and fully functional. I will add the matching screencapture soon. This piece came directly from the set and has been authenticated by Xena's actual riding stunt double, Bex. Below is a continuity photo of the horse wearing the gear. Livia's horse is also wearing the same gear in the Season Six ep, Path of Vengeance, in the flashback scene.

Livia's Coliseum Horse: Breastplate

Here is the breastplate that goes with the coliseum blanket. This is from Livia's Coliseum horse in the episode, "Livia." Her battle horse and her usual horse had completely different costumes; this one was specific to her Coliseum horse. Or so I thought originally...but Livia's battle horse is also wearing the same gear in the Season Six ep, Path of Vengeance, in the flashback scene. Beautiful detail on this piece, and is is fairly lightweight. I'm sure the horse appreciated that!