Beginner Blankets

Why do you have to put a blanket on her? Horses in the wild didn't have blankets. (post includes: why, how and types)

True enough, but horses in the wild also don't live the way my horse does. When you change their environment you must take responsibility for ensuring you do no damage. For one thing, there weren't too many wild thoroughbreds running around Canada. Ever. (not that there aren't a bunch who pretend to be!) The climate is just too
harsh. There are some breeds particularly well adapted to winter conditions (Icelandic, Shetland, etc) -- they tend to be of the short, stocky, hairy kind -- all items that dispose them well for winter. If the average domestic horse were permitted to get nice and fat, grow a thick fur coat that's rarely groomed so it maintains
all its weatherproofing-oils, have enough space to move around and keep warm, and shelter from the nastier elements, they'd probably be just fine outside, naked, in the winter.

BUT we tend to stable most of our horses. Interference number one. That means the temperature will change differently than it would if they were always outside (may be significantly warmer indoors than out) -- which the horses' bodies don't adapt to well. Remember when you or I walk into a nice warm room from the bitter cold outside, we take off half a dozen layers and are then good to go. Your horse doesn't have that option. So he either grows a think winter coat and then comes in and sweats and makes himself ill, or he doesn't, and then goes out and spends all day shivering -- making him more prone to various illnesses and serious weightloss. By blanketing him, you
remove the need to grow the winter coat and thus keep him comfortable indoors and out. Some people will start blanketing in late Aug or early Sept, before it's *really* necessary, so that the horse really doesn't grow any winter coat at all.

Some of us also *gasp* ride all winter! This means the horse is expending energy she wouldn't in the wild. Energy that could otherwise be used for keeping her warm. Before riding, the horse is usually groomed - for health and safety - but this removes natural oils from the coat that are essential to "waterproofing" her. And
while being ridden, she will likely sweat - requiring long cooling periods and messing around with the natural coat oils. Often, to avoid the long cooling out periods, people will clip their horses. If your horse is clipped, she must be blanketed. Period.

Just like jackets, blankets (or rugs if you happen to be in the UK or Australia :) come in all different types, sizes, styles, etc. Your basics are:

• Coolers: usually a big rectangular piece of fabric, with two strings that can be used to tie around the chest and a strap that goes over the ears. Coolers are only used under supervision. They are used on a wet (either from sweat or because somebody just gave them a bath) horse to allow enough air circulation for the horse to
  dry, but slows the rate of drying so the horse doesn't become sick. Picture when you work out in the winter: you get all hot and sweaty, then you stop and are fine for a couple minutes. But slowly you start shivering -- the wet from the sweat becomes cold, and if you don't do something about it you'll end up sick. Same goes for your
  horse. Walking them with a cooler on and making sure they are *never* put away wet will help. Also, do not just put on one of their other blankets while they're wet -- the blanket will get wet on the inside, thereby making it completely ineffective. (essentially like wearing a wet jacket). You can also now get coolers that
  actually have front straps and sometimes belly straps to help hold it in place while you're cooling the horse out. Just make sure it's of a fabric that is going to take the sweat away from the horse -- fleece does not work well!


• Sheets: usually cotton, these blankets are very lightweight and not waterproof. They are meant to be worn indoors by stabled horses -- particularly on cool fall nights when blankets are not *quite* necessary yet, but it still gets chilly in the barn.


• Rain sheets: lightweight blankets that are essentially a waterproof shell with no insulation. May or may not have a liner.


• Light-weight, Mid-weight, Heavy-weight blankets: the weight referenced here is the amount of insulation, not the physical weight of the blanket (which may be quite light even for a heavy-weight :)


• Quarter-sheet: this is used while riding to keep the horse's hindquarters warm. Particularly if they're going to have to stand still for any length of time. It has straps for the girth to go through and one at the back for the tail. These stop it from sliding backwards or sideways.

So you get to the barn for your weekly lesson and discover your horse is wearing a blanket. Great! But ummmm.... How do you get it off to tack him up??? When taking a blanket off, the first thing you need to do is undo all the straps. Start at the back end of the horse; this is an important safety issue -- if something should
happen that resulted in sudden movement and gravity, you don't want the blanket on the ground tied around the horse's legs. The chest straps must always be done up if any leg straps are -- therefore, leg straps get undone first. There may be straps between his hind legs (these are optional, but common), if they're there, unclip them.
Then move to the side (almost always the left side) there will be one or two buckles. These straps may be straight (perpendicular to the ground) or on an angle. Undo these (be careful not to let them hit the horse's legs as they fall!) Then go to the front of the horse and undo the chest straps. Now that all buckles are undone, hold
the blanket where it crosses the withers, and fold it back to the tail (so the blanket is now folded in half). Do that once more from the middle to the back (blanket now folded in quarters, sitting on the horse's hindquarters). Then slide the whole thing off the back and fold it width-wise and hang it up or put it somewhere out of the way. It is important to take it off this way for a couple reasons:

• when folded like that it's much easier to put back on


• much safer as it avoids spooking the horse and there are no random straps flying everywhere as you try and pull it off


• much easier to manipulate (these blankets are big and oddly shaped!)

Now of course there IS an exception. Some blankets don't have chest buckles -- the chest area is sewn shut. In this case you fold backwards (butt to withers) and then slide the whole thing up and over his head. These blankets require care when using and are a bit of a pita to deal with so I'd recommend avoiding unless absolutely
necessary. Why would it be necessary? Sometimes for fit and sometimes because you own an escape artist who undoes the buckles :)

And putting it back on? Well that's just the reverse process. Lay the blanket on the hindquarters, unfold it up to the withers. Do up the chest straps FIRST (note this is the opposite of taking it off when they're the last thing done. Remember the reason for this is that if only one thing is done up, it should be the chest. That way,
should the horse bolt or shy or any other horse-type behaviour, the blanket won't end up tied around his legs. Never have leg or belly straps tied when the chest straps are not done up!) After that the belly straps. If the straps are perpendicular to the ground, they do up straight (ie the strap at the front on the right, buckles to the
strap at the front on the left). If the straps are on an angle, they cross when you do them up (ie the strap at the front on the right does up to the strap at the BACK on the left). Then the leg straps -- two options here, either cross them (left strap attaches to right buckle). Or do them up each to their own side, but when you do up
the second strap loop it through the first one. The reason for this is two fold -- first it's a little more effective at stopping the blanket from twisting and second it stops the straps from rubbing on the horse's hind legs.

And after all that, why do you sometimes see horses wearing blankets in the summer??? These are actually fly sheets -- meant to keep the flies off, deflect sunlight to keep the horse cool, and stop the horse's coat from bleaching (which matters in some sports).