Have you ever noticed Special Week and Silencce Suzuka have mismatched shoes?
There’s a LOT that goes into designs that’s worth pointing out but let’s focus on this one today. In particular because it’s so easy to skim over, and the fact that it IS so easy to skim over.
If you actually go and pay attention to the designs you’ll see other examples. Grass Wonder has a mismatched shoe, as does Hishi Akebono, as does Admire Vega, Inari One has mismatched socks. Sakura Bakushin O has a mismatched glove AND a mismatched shoe.
And if that last example didn’t give it away, let me reveal what that is all about.
You see, if you pay attention to the mismatched colors, it’s often a case of white and a different one: They’re there as a nod to the real horse’s hooves with white spots in them.
There’s also other sneaky cases of this. For example, Toukai Teio has one dark glove to convey the one hoove of the original horse without a white spot. And Gold City has mismatched shoes but also a single white glove.
What’s so neat about this, is that you don’t really think about it. The designs are already so colorful and varied, and the mismatched colors so harmonious with the rest of things, that you don’t pay much mind to it.
But once you ask if maybe there’s a meaning to it, you learn that the answer is “yes”.