Blanket bags or no?

[shadesofbay3]

i’ve been storing my horses’ blankets in blankets bags during this winter season - as in, on their stall door’s blanket bar, the blanket bag hangs there

however there has been some mention about the possibility of rodents getting in the bag and nesting in there

how do your store your bags for easy access for yourself/barn staff?

i keep 3 blankets available - a sheet, mid weight and heavy with detachable hood (rotated out), so it stays pretty full. i like the neat look of a bag, but not with mice!!

[lintesia]

I just moved to a new barn which has a system I hadn’t seen before. Each stall is numbered and across from the stalls are pairs of hooks clearly labeled with a corresponding stall number. The hooks are high off the ground and the blankets and sheets hang from the hooks. Each stall is allocated 2 hooks which is ample for hanging a turnout sheet, a day sheet, and an overnight blanket,

[OverandOnward]

Wet humid winters, here. I was never enamored of blanket bags because the blankets don’t dry inside them. But they might work better where winters are dry. When I lived in Colorado with humidity often below 40% in winter, everything dried no matter where it was.

[Kirikou]

@lintesia

Each stall is numbered and across from the stalls are pairs of hooks clearly labeled with a corresponding stall number. The hooks are high off the ground and the blankets and sheets hang from the hooks. Each stall is allocated 2 hooks which is ample for hanging a turnout sheet, a day sheet, and an overnight blanket,

That’s a really neat system!

Yes, OP I have rodents in blanket bags (not sure what the barn cats are doing ) and also find hanging them reduces the “risk”.

I have found out that plastic boxes with a (tight) lid also work quite well (if mold/wet isn’t an issue where you are).

[dmveventer]

I find blanket bags impractical for blankets in active use. They’re annoying for staff to get in and out of, they hold moisture and dirt, and yes barn critters find them appealing. I leave my blankets out on the stall bar during the winter. I store them in bags in my tack room during the off season and haven’t (yet) had any rodent problems since they don’t get opened regularly.

If you want to use them I’d be shaking them out regularly and not putting wet/dirty blankets in them until they’ve dried. You could also just ask your barn staff what they’d prefer - if the rodent mention came from them it may have been a subtle way of suggesting they want you to ditch the bags.

[MapleFarm]

In the winter I hang them very high - I use heavy duty schneider’s blanket bars - and in the summer those that I do not use get washed, dried, and packed in moisture-resistant plastic bins (the ones with a seal). Year round coolers etc stay on the hooks. The big ones are strong enough for 3 or 4 heavy blankets.

[Small_Change]

We also have hooks high up off the ground for our in-use blanket storage (I request that the ones not in active use be kept upstairs in everyone’s personal tote bins). The hooks are great for helping to dry damp or dirty blankets, and are high enough that they’re easy to sweep under. I have one per stall because we’re space limited, but the hooks are sturdy enough to hang more than one blanket on if need be. I bought hooks that are flat and rubber-covered so as not to damage blankets. Labeling them is genius, and will be done next year to keep things extra tidy!

[Indy]

I don’t love a blanket bag. Not only because critters but also because it can be pain to dig around and find what you need and also they don’t get any air to dry off. Ours that live in barns with a central aisle all either have blanket bars on the front of their stalls or chain stall guards hung up on the doors that act as blanket bars. They can hold 2-3 blankets and you can see what you need easier than bags.

We also have a bunch of horses that live in outdoor barns without an aisle. Hanging blankets on their doors doesn’t work, even in bags, because the overhang of the barns isn’t enough to protect them from moisture. For those we use the boxes that are made for storing patio cushions. We line them with tarps because they usually have drainage holes in the bottom that let moisture in (nothing like needing a blanket and finding it covered in ice!) . Each storage bin has enough space to hold blankets for two horses. They’re easy to open and grab what you need.

[LCDR]

Ugh, rodents. I was boarding at a retirement barn which had a mouse problem in the barn that even the barn cats and black snake let get out of hand. At winter’s end I took my blankets off the stall door racks and tossed them in the back of my SUV to take home to wash. At home I pulled the first one out and mice fell out and bolted to hide in my garage. I was more careful with the other blankets but still even more mice escaped inside. I just prayed that all of them were the same sex and that if they were girl mice that none were pregnant.

[trubandloki]

Those that hang the blankets from hooks - how do you balance the need to have the hook high enough so the blanket is dragging on the ground and being able to get the blanket onto the hook?

Do you have a folding technique you use when hanging so your hooks can be at a reachable height?

Edit to add - I am asking because I love the hook idea, but everywhere I know that does the hooks has a couple of feet of blanket laying on the barn floor or hooks so high that most people can not reach them with out a stool.

[MapleFarm]

This is my aisle which shows the height -

I put mine up very high for a few reasons. One, I’m tall. Two, my horses are big - 86-90" blankets hang further. If they aren’t wet, I fold them into thirds - back half of the blanket over the middle, then front over that, then pull off the horse. That makes it easy to put back on them, too. And third, that’s where I had space to put up a new 2x6

If it’s wet, I hang it by the front on the bar until dry just like a jacket. You can pull it over the bar more if you don’t have the space already used or if it’s lower to the ground.

ETA: the lighter weight bars to the left are not as strong for big blankets, mostly I use it for pads and fly sheets, which I planned on packing up for winter and never did.

[trubandloki]

Thank you for the photos @MapleFarm. You appear to use blanket bars more than just hooks.

Everything is so tidy.

BTW, I like your saddle pad storage that I can see on the right there.

[2DogsFarm]

@LCDR

At home I pulled the first one out and mice fell out and bolted to hide in my garage. I was more careful with the other blankets but still even more mice escaped inside. I just prayed that all of them were the same sex and that if they were girl mice that none were pregnant.

Friend’s horse would have been useful to you.
She uncovered a nest of baby mice in his stall.
He ate them

OP:
I agree bags don’t get blankets dry or air out.
I use a Rubbermaid tote for my 3 turnout blankets. Sizes: horse, pony, mini.
A layer of Dollar Store mothballs keeps mice out of the tote.

[MapleFarm]

Thank you! I just finished building this tack room in my old bank barn, and I’m super happy with how it has turned out. My favorite feature is my saddle storage door that closes into the room.
I switched from hooks to bars for blankets as part of my re-organization - the way the blankets hang on hooks seemed to collect more stink bugs, dust, etc.

[endlessclimb]

Personally, I just let the bottoms hit the ground, and make sure I rustle everything around every other day or so, in hopes that it makes it an unattractive nesting place. I also have mouse traps on either side of where the blanket tails touch the ground.

[rogueknits]

My barn has hooks for blankets–boarder hooks are in our trunk room and schoolie hooks are in the hay stall. We aren’t allowed to hang anything off of the stall doors other than halter/lead rope. I keep 4 blankets at the barn–one Back on Track stable sheet, turnout sheet, medium turnout and heavy turnout, all with tags with my horse’s name and blanket weight. Personally, I think it would be a pain to have to bag my blankets every time they got swapped out, but it probably looks nicer than having blankets hanging.

[lintesia]

@trubandloki

Those that hang the blankets from hooks - how do you balance the need to have the hook high enough so the blanket is dragging on the ground and being able to get the blanket onto the hook?

Do you have a folding technique you use when hanging so your hooks can be at a reachable height?

Edit to add - I am asking because I love the hook idea, but everywhere I know that does the hooks has a couple of feet of blanket laying on the barn floor or hooks so high that most people can not reach them with out a stool.

I’m short and I have to use a stool to hang the blanket. And, a small part of the blanket is on the ground because my horse wears an 81" blanket! But I appreciate the system – both the neatness of the barn aisles and the foolproof system of matching blankets to stall numbers, so I don’t mind the minor inconvenience to me.

[Montanas_Girl]

I hang my blankets on utility hooks, high enough to keep them from touching the ground. This allows them to dry while hanging. My horses are all small - 13.2 to 14.3 and size 68-72, but I am only 5’1”. I keep a ladder next to the hooks so I can reach them. Normal sized people wouldn’t need the ladder.

[LCDR]

Does no one hang theirs over the fence to dry in the sun before putting them back on racks, hooks, or in bags?

[jvanrens]

@LCDR

Does no one hang theirs over the fence to dry in the sun before putting them back on racks, hooks, or in bags?

If your blanket is wet from being outside, what are the odds of it being sunny out to dry your blanket out to dry unless you have multiples of the same weight and can stretch out the drying time? Around here horses usually come in overnight this time of the year, so it isn’t an option to hang them over a fence in the sun and even if you did, this time of the year, if it is sunny out, your blanket would come in frozen.