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Jagerbomb, Glamourdale, Tiffanys Diamond, Sir Caramello Old… If you’ve spent the summer collecting names of Olympic dressage horses and sharing memes of Snoop Dogg in jodhpurs, how about a perfume to match? A new generation of scents is capitalizing on equestrianism, alternately evoking the smell of sweaty saddles or the strange bouquet of straw and poop familiar to even the humblest groom. Call it “horse lady energy” – in a bottle.

First up is Hermès, whose Oud Alezan joined Hermessence’s range of high-end perfumes earlier this year. Developed by in-house Swiss perfumer Christine Nagel to overcome her own fear of horses – a major problem in a luxury house that began as a saddler – the new scent is inspired by Nagel’s snuggling up to a chestnut horse named Scheherazade. The smell of sweat and sawdust stuck in Nagel’s memory; it resurfaced seven years later when she smelled an oud grown in Bangladesh. By blending oud with light rose water and a sharper rose oxide, the result is a deeply sensual perfume that has none of the cloying heaviness of traditional ouds.

Hermès Oud Alezan, £283 for 100ml

Perfumer H Saddle, £130 for 50ml

Lyn Harris, British perfumer and founder of Perfumer H, had an equine revelation in 2023 when her friend Cameron Smith, co-owner of LA antiques salon Galerie Half, sent her a package containing saddle soap and brushes from his horse-loving husband. “The funny thing is, I’m not a horse person,” laughs Harris. “But I am obsessed with animal smells and sweat. I had this idea of ​​the soap on the nice warm saddle and just put pen to paper.”

I had this idea with the soap on the nice warm saddle and simply put it on paper.

Although she originally planned a candle and home fragrance exclusively for Galerie Half, Harris couldn’t resist creating a complementary eau de parfum: Saddle, which launches September 5. “The fragrance mimics the shape of the body in the saddle; it’s about the sculptural element of how the fragrance wraps around you when you wear it,” she explains. With a base of pure musk, “there are interesting dirty amber notes, but with very clean aldehyde notes and a hint of orange blossom.” Still, you won’t see Harris in the saddle any time soon. “I love the different smells of the stable. But I’m not tempted to ride.”

It’s a different story at Maison d’Etto, a New York-based perfume label founded in 2017 by horse-mad luxury brand manager and dressage rider Brianna Lipovsky. Each of Maison d’Etto’s six fragrances is named after Lipovsky’s interactions with a single horse, though she’s quick to point out, “It’s not necessarily that (the perfumes) smell like horses, but the horses are my muses.” (They’re also her market research panel: Lipovsky took sample paper for what would become the line’s best-selling scent to equine namesake Durban Jane to get his “yes” or “neigh.”)

Today, Lipovsky introduces a seventh perfume: Verdades, created by French perfumer Julien Rasquinet and named after the “spirited” Olympic dressage horse. The tango-colored juice of “inverted orange blossoms” was inspired by Lipovsky’s memories of the competitions in Wellington, Florida.

Then there’s Cowgirl Grass, the newest scent from Brooklyn-based DS & Durga. It’s a more feminine take on the “rustic and dirty” Cowboy Grass, the sagebrush- and amber-infused scent that put DS & Durga on the map when it debuted in 2008 (a time when “in Brooklyn,” co-founder David Seth Moltz recalls, “we all acted like we were living in 1808”). Cowgirl Grass is a “simple and modern” pink floral “for the modern cowgirl—the lady in Texas who wears a diamond-encrusted belt and Lucchese boots,” Moltz says. In other words, it’s a little fancier than its sibling scent. “Cowboy Grass (is) for staying overnight on the trail,” Moltz says. “Cowgirl Grass (is) for staying overnight at the beautiful hotel overlooking said trail.”

Perfumes for riders don’t make every heart beat faster. But if you fall, you fall hard. Mackenzie Reilly, the young American perfumer who created Maison d’Etto’s vetiver-based Macanudo, was so taken by the energy of riders that she started riding ever since. For everyone else, there’s a spritz and a rousing rendition of “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Let’s go!