The Dirty Horse NJ Blog

Most of the repairs we do on tears involve the inside nylon lining of blankets. Some customers can’t understand why this lining rips, especially if it’s a relatively new blanket. But, many brand name rugs are mostly made in India or China, because labor is cheap and materials even cheaper. The flimsy material combined with the non-sturdy thread is a recipe for a RIP. Watch your horse with his blanket on, and you may see him roll to scratch his back sometimes. You are watching a typical 1200 pound animal moving back and forth, pulling his or her weight against a light fabric lining sewn with household thread. Or, your horse sleeps in this blanket in the cold winter, and gets up in the morning after laying down in the stall; pulling his weight against the lining. Or, he may buck when you first put him out; pulling the lining as he kicks out. This is the same material used for lining your coat or jacket, so think about how you can rip the lining by pulling against it, and you aren’t 1200 pounds (I hope). The best lining we find that holds up is fleece, because it is hardy and doesn’t tear as easily. Whoever came up with using nylon for lining must have had good intentions to keep the horse warm, but for the consumer, it will cost in repairs over and over and over. The blankets we get that require few repairs are Baker blankets, or fleece lined blankets. These blankets usually need repair on the outside from another horse biting  or the horse getting the blanket caught on a fence or something. There are no-rip fabrics available to blanket companies, but they may be expensive to produce based on the material. Believe me, horse laundry companies don’t really like doing repairs; but we have to. We are still waiting for someone to come up with the lining that does not rip. So, the next time you purchase a blanket, look at the lining and consider the consequences if it is nylon.

We got a call from California, from a woman employee working for a horse product company that we purchase items from for our business. She wanted to know how she could start a horse laundry and repair business in her home. She thought it was easy with little start up costs and big profits. Starting a business, any business, is not easy. You have to be prepared to sacrifice a lot of time and money to get your business going. Looking at a business from the outside doesn’t give the real picture of all the details required to run the business. You have to like the business you get into to be successful. If you get into a business only because you “think” it will be profitable fast; think again. Anyone in business will tell you it’s more demanding than any job and less money than you thought. We told this woman to get a  job at a horse laundry and repair shop to learn first hand what was involved. We haven’t heard from her, but know that she will learn; there’s more to being in business than she thought.

Eventually every horse owner will end up with a blanket, cooler, fly sheet, that is beyond repair. We get many calls asking where they can donate their old blankets to a horse rescue. Keep in mind, that horse rescues are like any other barn, and need blankets cleaned. Don’t donate dirty, ripped blankets to a rescue until you have them clean and fixed. WE do pick up blankets that people no longer want but we clean and repair them before donating to a rescue. Many horse people will keep their old blankets for “scrap” material. We often get blankets along with a bag of “repair” blanket material. Hardware on blankets, tail straps, surcingles, buckles, can all be used on repairing your new blankets. So, before you throw away your horse’s blanket take a look at what is still in good condition, and save it. You never know when you will need it.

It’s very dangerous to use pins to repair a tear on your horse’s blanket or sheet. The horse will roll, or another horse may bite his blanket, and the PIN will either stick the horse if he rolls or stick the mouth of the biting horse. Pins can be used to keep material together when you are sending it out for repair, but they are really not necessary. We got a blanket in for repair and found safety pins OPEN and in the insulation area of the blanket! Think about it, if the blanket is repaired and your OPEN safety PIN is not found, but left in the insulation, your horse can roll and stick himself! He will start bucking and running and may seriously get hurt. It’s very important to NOT USE PINS on blanket tears. Most blanket repair companies always check to see where are the tears, and they are obvious. For the safety of your horse, it’s best to leave the pins at home.

The best way to get blanket deals is to search online in the off blanket season; April on. There are a ton of online websites that offer fantastic deals on blankets. And, many of your local tack and feed stores will offer deep discounts to move their stock. There are lots of websites that offer blanket sales, but be sure and use the sites that don’t charge you sales tax; this can be 6 to 10%. Ebay is a great way to shop and find deals. Check out your local area barns for used tack sales. Horse auction places, also have used tack sales going on in conjunction with the horse sales. The bottomline is, buy a winter horse blanket in the off season to get the best price. So, what is the off season? April through September.

Sometimes your horse tears his blanket and you can’t get it fixed right away so you use duct tape as a temporary bandage. It may work but when we get blankets in for wash and repair with duct tape on them, it is hard to remove. The tape will attach to the fabric and  it takes special cleaning and extra time to get it off. Then, when we try to put it in the sewing machine, the sticky glue from the duct tape clogs the needle or breaks it. So, if you want to do a quick fix on a tear, use a tape that won’t leave a residue of glue behind when it’s removed. We sell special tape that is made for outdoor tents and horse blankets. You can also buy this clear tape in your local sporting goods store. If the tear is minor, the tape may do the trick and you won’t need anything else. But, if you use duct tape for a repair or anything else, it is simple to remove by applying WD40 spray. This oil spray looses the duct tape glue, and you can then wipe it off with a sponge. However, you should wash your blanket as the odor of the oil will remain. We use this often to get duct tape glue off blankets and it does work.

The bugs are coming as the weather gets warmer. Most horse owners put a fly sheet on to ward off these biting pests. When we get them to wash, it has to be done like your dainty net pantyhose; slow and carefully. Many horse owners and barns wash the fly sheets themselves, and if you are considering it, just use a slow cycle. Fly sheets that come in for repair are in many cases, impossible to fix, because it’s not a fabric, but fabric “strings” woven together or fine netting. You can buy used or new fly sheets for a lot less than it would cost you to repair one. It’s worth mentioning that aside from putting a mesh armor on your horse, you should try and eliminate the flies; or most of them. Fly predators are a great way to kill off a lot of flies before they hatch. We sell fly predators, and you can order at online at the website; www.certaincelebrity.com and click on the horse icon with flies buzzing around. The fly predators look like black seeds and come in a plastic bag right to your mailbox. You just have to throw them around where flies hatch; paddocks, stables, gardens, manure bins. You get them every month depending on your location. They are not expensive. There is an easy form to fill out online, and cost is based on the number of horses you have. We know of many barns and homes that saw a big difference in the fly population once they started using the predators. In addition, you can fly spray your horse with one of the many products in stores or make your own. Some horse owners add garlic as a supplement during fly season, and feel that it helps. So, just covering your horse in netting is not really going to solve the fly problem. You have to deal direct with eliminating the flies before they hatch.

Most of the outside blanket tears we repair were caused by another horse who took a bite in play or anger. Owners get frustrated with constantly repairing blankets knowing that it will be torn again. They frequently ask us how they can get other horses to stop tearing their blankets. Years ago, I put a brand new heavy blanket on my horse, and he was turned out with the barn manager’s horse in a big paddock. When I came to ride, the new blanket was shredded, and had to be thrown out. Aside from that, when I tried to get my horse, her horse would charge at us ready to bite. I constantly complained, but the barn manager did nothing to correct the bad manners of her horse, and even thought it was funny. Needless to say, I left that farm, and moved to a place where rudeness was not tolerated; by horse or human. The point here is that the horse or horses tearing the blanket are not tearing the blanket; they are nipping in play, anger or dominance at your horse. He/she just happens to have a blanket on. The first step is to speak to the barn manager, and see if they can move your horse with another one. Horses have personalities, and you have to match them up so they get along. If they can’t move your horse, you should  take the time to watch what happens in the paddock. Once you see which horse is nipping at your horse, you can mention this to the owner and barn manager. Ask if they can use any training to stop the behavior. If not, you can go online and there are a lot of training methods that you can try yourself. If all else fails, there is always the option of moving to another farm. But make sure that you ask how the horses are turned out, and how horses are matched up.

The weather here on the East Coast in New Jersey has been crazy this year. We have had one of the mildest winters with temperatures hitting the mid-50s in January and February! The flowers are starting to come up and horses are beginning to shed their winter coats earlier. If you blanket your horse, it’s smart to wait til temperatures stay in the 50s consistently before removing heavy blankets. On days when it is unseasonably warm, with no wind chill factor, you might want to replace the heavy with a lined sheet. I have even seen horses with no blankets on days when it was warm. Most owners launder their heavy turnouts starting in early April. Always keep a rain sheet and/or a lined sheet on hand just in case. Horses that show, and are clipped, might need a medium turnout on those warmer days. Depending on where you are in the USA, will determine when you take those blankets off.

Horse blankets have been around a long time. In New Jersey, most owners blanket their horses when the weather turns cold; usually in December. But, there are people here who never blanket, and just provide a run-in shed for their horse. Horses will develop a heavier coat if they are left outside year round without a blanket. The choice to blanket or not depends on your horse’s lifestyle and age. If you show your horse and clip the coat, you most likely will also blanket and keep him in a stall. Pleasure horses are typically the ones you see without blankets; living outside year round. The age of the horse is also a factor, because seniors need more attention and care. If the horse is old, and has never lived outside fulltime, you may not be able to change his lifestyle without first consulting your vet. However, I’ve seen senior horses in their late 20s, outside with a run-in, who get blanketed when it gets very cold, and do just fine. If you are thinking about trying your horse outside year round, make sure you start in the warmer weather and let him/her develop a heavier coat as the climate changes. Some horses are better living outside, and these are usually the ones that kick the stall walls, or chew on the wood. But others prefer a stall, and want to come in to eat, if it gets cold, or rains. You will find pleasure horse people, who don’t blanket tell you that this is natural for horses, and blankets can cause accidents; sometimes fatal. While show horse owners will say that if their clipped horses didn’t get blanketed, there would be a lot more fatalities from illness. So, the final decision to blanket or not depends on your horse’s lifestyle and personality. You have to determine what’s best.