Best blanket for narrow chest?!?!?

[playingtime]

My gelding seriously loves mud. He will roll, wriggle, get up, get down, roll, wriggle, repeat… He makes sure that EVERY inch of himself is covered. I think if he was a super hero his defense would be his impenetrable mud suit. Usually I find it hilarious and endearing and happily curry & brush, and curry & brush, and curry & brush… until his black coat is shining again. But he’s getting putting to work and I really don’t want to do that every day, so I have decided to blanket him.

He measures close to 74." His shoulder area & chest are very narrow compared to his middle and hind. He’s a mutt… possibly a morgan/tb cross… no idea really. He has a pretty big stride and is very active in t/o so he needs room to move in the front without a low hanging collar cutting into him.

Need help finding brands, styles, sizes that may fit… What have you tried? What fits and what doesn’t?! Thanks in advance!!

**I’ll try to take/find some pics that may help!

[goeslikestink]

measure the horse better
like elbow to wither chest to tail and wither to tail and get a rug with high neck line
or buy a combo rug with an attached neck cover built it

horsewares are good, amigo rugs combination

[Showbizz]

I’ve had a few long, narrow, hard-to-fit types. Euro necks or higher is better. Avoid anything with a cut-back neck or large opening. I, too, have had good luck with Horseware.

[TWH_Girl]

Weatherbeetas have always fit my narrow chested Walkers very well.

[demidq]

Look at Schneiders (sstack.com)- their blankets come in several different styles, last, and are well priced. I got the ‘contour collar’ model for my narrow chested youngster, and it fit her well.
I cab also recommend buying an inexpensive canister vacuum (I got a small “Eureka”) and a Dr Smith horse grooming curry attachment for it. It is the BEST solution for the dry armadillo scales of a mud lover!

[marta]

weatherbeeta freestyle high neck. my mare has a narrow chest. she also has high withers. i find that the high neck cut is the only thing that doesn’t gape around her shoulders. the weatherbeeta freestyle also has gussets on the sides of the shoulders which i think make them more comfortable. i did buy a rhino high neck last year but i’m not thrilled with it. it doesn’t have the gussets (which i knew buying so that’s not the main complaint). the quality of the material seems to be substandard to weatherbeeta oricans.

[playingtime]

Thanks for all the input!! I am ordering a dew different styles to try. I really like the warranties and different fits available from Schneiders! I like Horseware but I’m skeptical that the front cut, which I think fits better on horses with a wider shoulder and chest, will fit him… possible the v front though. Definitely thinking about trying a vacuum after last year!

[dude.does.dressage]

My horse is narrow chested, but not particularly wide behind either (TBx) and his Schneiders Contour Collar blanket fits much better than his Dover bought (forget the brand, maybe their house brand?) blanket. The Dover one sits too low and doesn’t give him much room at all to move, only use it when the Schneiders one needs to be washed. He’s pretty free moving in his shoulder so he also wears one of the duratech shoulder slickers under all his blankets. Doesn’t totally prevent rubs but keeps things manageable. I’ve seen the Schniders V-free ones fit very well on the couple of Arab/ASB crosses in my barn (very upright necked.)

[horsepoor]

My guys now are all wide, but since I bought most as awkward and undeveloped two year olds, they were narrow then. The one who grew up to be a 1500 lb. tank had the skinniest chest at 2 yo, looking like he was still folded up. I found that the wug cut, with the high neck and double snap on ring closure, from Horseware worked well on them, except the side to side drop was sometimes too long. That could be an issue if you have the belly straps hanging so low that a leg can catch in them. Other brands that worked pretty well for them were Turtleneck, especially the older ones as they were cut less generously than the new ones, and Masta. I think some other brands have kind of copied the HW wug cut so may be worth trying.

[walktrot]

I got a high neck Weatherbeeta Freestyle sheet for my narrow-chested, high-withered Paint gelding and it was terrible. It gaped at the shoulders and did not keep hiim dry and fit so tightly that it rubbed his shoulders. I think the gussets at the front are not deep enough. The other thing I don’t like about the freestyle is that the tail cover is so huge he can’t get it out of the way when he poops, so the back end is caked.

I always liked Weatherbeetas. I gave this sheet to the barnowner and bought a Pessoa sheet (on sale) which fits him fine.

[Simkie]

Just posted about my narrow horse and his new blankets here. Might be useful info.

[morganpony86]

[QUOTE=TWH Girl;7194827]
Weatherbeetas have always fit my narrow chested Walkers very well.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I have a narrow chested Morgan and Weatherbeetas were the only thing that fit.

[inne]

I only have experience with one Bucas blanket so I don’t know if it’s a characteristic of the brand as a whole, but I found the one I tried very narrow. My horse doesn’t have particularly big shoulders and wears his Rambos and Amigos very comfortably, but the Bucas was like a spandex minidress and he looked like quite the trollop.