Cuz lately I'm done with Horseware. I have three of their blankets right now, and none of them fit well, and they are all adjacent in sizing. So, what should I do? And I'm sick of the poop catching strap behind, bad design, or.....is it somehow superior to the leg straps and I've forgotten?
I love adjustability up front, and I've got it again.
I don't really need a dress for my boy horse, but OK, I've got that too.
Length-wise, it fits perfectly. I spent some time on Chronicle of the Horse, and talking to merchants this week, how to size a Weatherbeeta.
Indeed, I bought the 125cm (69 inch, 5'9" for the UK), and though that size is too small in Horseware, it's perfect in Weatherbeeta. Mag is such a massive Arabian, it's really odd to me that it's not too small. I mean, he's not wide, and he's not narrow, and he's not really tall, I don't know why he seems so massive except perhaps his bones. Come meet him and tell me why I'm confused about his build.
I bought this blanket after taking both my Horsewares to the brand new tack/feed shop nearby, and having them both professionally cleaned, so I can sell them on Germany's craigslist (there is no craigslist here but Ebay bought out its equivalenet.)
Vivian, the owner of the new shop, told me FINALLY to use the informal language with her, cuz it is really hard for me to talk about horses to someone my own age and use the formal. Whew! She actually shook my hand and said, "VIVIAN." That is the way you tell someone to stop using their last name and switch styles.
I asked her about the photos on her website, they are so similar to my photographer's, with "gegenlicht" and such. She got to talking about her aged Haflinger and her new Welsh A, that she rescued. What an adorable horse! I would want it in the livingroom with me on the couch! (It was ill so it's really tiny, it is a mini Arabian moreso than normal Welsh ponies.)
It was so nice to just talk with her, listen to her talk about her animals, I really hope her business can survive (despite Amazon - I'm guilty), especially since the horse shop closest to me, "Pferdenaar" (horse crazy) recently closed. Now it's a wool shop, a knitting shop. Hm! I might want to learn that someday, since I'm done with latch hook.
As I left the store, she said, "Send me a photo of your horse in the new blanket!"
I said, "Um, he's ...disgusting. He's coated in mud from his ear tips to his tail tips, and the whisker tips too."
In fact, I'd told Mag today, "You look like an orphan! Don't you have an owner!?"
He had a splash of mud across his forehead, and his ears were coated too. Every bit of his face, in fact, required scrubbing, just to take a photo of him with his new blanket on.
No, I would never have chosen black and pink, but I know that colors do not matter in Mudland++. The blanket will be solid mud as soon as I open the gate tonight. Which I'm dreading.
I read an article on facebook today, linked to by my photographer friend. It was about how all horse blankets are unnecessary, superfluous, even unhealthy for horses. Hm! Well, the author is right. A healthy horse in a healthy environment who is not required to be ridden, would not need a blanket.
But I would ask this author if he's owned a horse in Swampland(TM), where you arrive at the barn after driving 30-45 minutes, and since it's raining, your horse has just rolled in the mud, and it's thick and black - it's pudding mixed in with the hair - and there is no brushing it off, and there is no warm water hose to rinse the horse to make putting a saddle on possible, it's freezing cold.
Or the times when the bacteria/fungus get going and attack your horse's back, and he (Baasha) loses ALL the hair from his back from rain rot. I will forever be seeking those pustules that signal the letting go of all the hair.
I so agree with this writer about the multitude of superfluous things horse owners buy - I just recently complained to S1 that Kraemer sells a 2-in-1 rump rug. One is water resistant. The other has a fleece lining that you can attach. I say, if my horse's butt needs warming, it needs warming, not LEVELS of warming. Just full on 100% warm!
Horse people will buy anything.
But my horse shivers at 12 degrees C, eating his breakfast mash. That is alarming to me, I've never met a horse so sensitive to cold.
To argue this author, I would say, my horse needs a Winter blanket because 1. He's the coldest horse I've ever met, 2. Rain rot, any idea how awful that is? 3. Usefulness - if I want to ride the horse, I need to have a horse without an inch of chocolate pudding on his back hanging on to all his hair.
So, more pics of my fabulous blanket, still to be proven.
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2 comments:
Blankets: Weatherbeeta doesn't fit Fiddle. Too tight across the shoulders, even when I get a bigger size, it is just longer and the "across the front" part of the blanket is too small. Schneiders too: they are great quality blankets but they don't fit correctly. Live and learn.
I'm astonished that the blankets that DO fit (and stand up to the abuse of Swampland(tm) life) are the "Saxon" brand that most of the online shops carry--they are cheap! I tried it originally because it was a.) cheap and also b.) purple. The purple color is hard to find now, but I own (embarrassing number) of them, so we're probably covered for the next few winters. When has my horse ever needed the cheap version of anything? lol. I'm exaggerating, she also takes the $45 neoprene girth rather than the $200+ girth that Hana needs, but still...!
Blanket research: Articles circulate every year citing "research" conducted by Colorado State University that "shows" that blankets are the Worst. Thing. Ever. The problem is that CSU has never conducted such a study, and the research is bogus. Article about the hoax: http://bit.ly/2wO53ZM
There IS a blanketing article on the CSU website, written by one of their teaching veterinarians, here: http://bit.ly/1MN10NZ This article is pretty common-sense. It doesn't mention rain rot (it's cold but DRY in Ft Collins, doubtful the author sees rain rot very often there), but any Swamplander can tell you that keeping a horse in a clean blanket will minimize or prevent rain rot. It's also cheaper to keep a "shiver-y" horse in a blanket than to feed huge amounts of extra hay to keep them warm--ask me how I know. One of the reasons that Fiddle was a very hard keeper in her younger days is that she got cold easily. That has mostly changed with age, but not entirely, and thus she wears a blanket.
I think the black and pink is pretty, but you're right: it's probably already mud-colored now. :-)
I loved my Saxon so much! Did you know they're made by Weatherbeeta? (But just like within Horseware, the sizing is totally different between normal WBs and Saxons.)
Oh, they have purple, too bad they don't quite fit your horse: http://tinyurl.com/ycvorots
The memory foam wither relief thing is interesting - it's two elongated pads on either side of the withers, that supposedly takes pressure off the withers/mane. Like the bars of a saddle that keep it off the spine.
Re: your 2nd article, I thought this was a funny sentence: Unless you are showing your horse, blanketing is a personal decision.
Update: This morning I'm happy to say the blanket is still on the horse (lol?) and has not shifted/pulled back. I was able to put my arm in the neck hole and it was loose up there! Usually I'm yanking the blankets forward to take pressure off Mag's chest.
As expected, the "generous" tail flap caught poop. They say they make the tail flap "with love" but it's way too much.
Since the length of the blanket is perfect, no poop got on the sides of the blanket, woo!
If the leg straps start to rub Mag's legs, I see they also make leg strap pads, wow.
This morning my blanket is muddy, both sides, but it still looks sharp.
Now if they'd only make HUMAN jackets that are as waterproof!
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