Lovely Margo

Her last day at my farm.. Isn't she cute in her boots and sheet? :)

For Sale: 72" Rambo Dustbuster Fly Sheet

New fly sheet, only tried on a horse a few times. 72" Rambo Dustbuster Fly Sheet/ show sheet/ scrim sheet. White with black trim and white piping.

These are $100+ new. Has Rambo's patented circingles and front closures. Leg arches, tail flap. A really nice sheet!

Asking $35

How to Measure for a Horse Blanket

I thought I would comment on how to measure a horse for a blanket. I found this handy diagram online:

Take a cloth measuring tape and measure from the center of the horses chest, around his side, and stop on his butt near his tail. Blankets in the United States are sized by this number of inches, so my pony wears a 46", and Margo wears a 78". If you get an odd number, buy the next size up blanket. If you don't have a cloth measuring tape, use a piece of baling twine, then take it inside and measure the length with a ruler.

I like to cross the front straps on a blanket, as shown above, to give the neck more room.

I also like to cross the leg straps to prevent rubbing. To do this, buckle the left leg strap to the left back dee ring. Then take to right leg strap and thread it through the left, then buckle it to the back right dee ring.
Remember that most horses are warmer without any blanket. Their fur stands on end creating an insulating layer around them. Too light of a blanket just flattens that natural insulation, making them colder.
Also, make sure you check if your horse is too warm, at least twice a day by putting your hand under the blanket around the withers and under the blanket over the haunches. If you horse feel like he is sweating even a tiny bit, pull the blanket off.
Read more about blankets on my old post Blankets and Sheets and Coolers, Oh My

More Blanket Woes

Tango has managed to somehow split the lining on his blanket right down the middle over his big booty. So I had been putting him in Jake's (too short) blanket, then Tango managed to break one of the front buckles off on it. Lovely. So now, both of his blankets are damaged. Pony Pete, however, looks SOOOOOOOO cute in his little tiny blanket it would make you cry! Pictures soon, I promise!

Blankets and Sheets and Coolers, Oh My!

I have always been one for blanketing horses, even though the winters here in Missouri have become more and more mild. But, as with all good things, there are draw backs.

For instance, Tango wears a turn-out sheet; it is windproof and waterproof. It can be soaking wet on top, and underneath he is dry. This is nice. However, when it is below freezing out, the parts of the blanket that hang away from his body become frozen stiff as a board. So... should I leave the half frozen sheet on him? No, I decided. I took the sheet off and brought it in the house to defrost. I must be crazy, because the first thought I had was to put the muddy, hairy, half frozen blanket in the dryer. Thankfully, my husband stopped me before I did that. So then, should I hang the muddy, hairy, half frozen blanket over a heat vent on the carpet to dry? What should I hang it from? ... Alas, I decided to hang it on a hook in the basement stairwell, where, hopefully, it will dry (eventually).

So, now the poor baby (Tango, not my husband) is cold and might get wet (the horror!) So, what to do? Well, I have another sheet I had bought for a previous horse. It is, however, a size 76, and Tango, my dear, wears a size 86. So on goes the 76, with at least ten inches of Tango's butt left uncovered. This is okay to me, at least he is warm and dry (well 88% of him...)(Yes, I used a calculator to figure that). Then I go to attach the leg straps that hold the back of the blanket on. And, of course, at their most stretched out position, the leg straps are at least 10 inches too short. So back to the house I go, to fetch the leg straps off the muddy, hairy, wet, but now not frozen, blanket hanging in the basement stairwell. (This of course, requires me to sit down, remove muddy wet boots, fetch straps, sit again to reapply muddy wet boots...) Long story short, leg straps were combined, crisis averted.

On to the pony (whom we still haven't named). I decided that the poor pony needs a blanket too! So out I go in the mud and muck to measure him. He is a size 48. So in I go to look through my horsey catalogs for a size 48 sheet. Well, the normal horse sheets start at size 66. And the sheets and blankets for mini horses only go up to size 45. ??? So, what about all the ponies and horses that wear size 46-65??? I don't know. They must be a forgotten market segment. (Maybe I should start a company that only makes horse blankets size 46-65). So, should I order him a size 45 and let 2 inches of his butt stick out? Will the neighbors think I am odd with my too small horse sheets? Will I ever find the elusive size 48? Tune in to find out...