This is not a great picture but you can see how tight the blanket is across her wither, if I bought a blanket any bigger I would have to sew up the length, somehow the fit just isn’t right.
Can you suggest a brand that fits more forward of the wither?
Some years ago I had a winter blanket that fit several inches ahead of where this blanket fits and more or less dropped straight down.
What sheet is this? “Fits more towards the wither” is all relative to the horse, and this one might do that for another horse. Some cuts have a bigger neck opening which allows this for smaller shouldered horses.
Look at www.sstack.com
Look for high-neck models or even ones with a full neck.
A blanket that more or less dropped straight down from the front of the top might have been a high neck model.
I bought a chest extender for my Rambo which was too tight over the withers. The blanket itself was a very good deal impulse purchase from a garage sale, and nearly new, so no returns or exchanges and motivated to make it work
Avalanche, which is sold by Horze. These are very high quality blankets and are easily adjusted to fit. My Paint gelding was narrow in front. When I first bought him I found some blankets that were cheap, well-made and fit perfectly. Needless to say the manufacturer went out of business. Everything I tried was cut generously for big shoulders and neck. I couldn’t keep his shoulders and chest dry,
Avalanche has a triangular gusset sewn in above the withers. The blanket doesn’t rest on the withers. There are two sets of t-buckles on the chest. You can adjust them easily to keep your horse dry and warm without rubbing. The last barn we were at (sorry to say this) had unlimited blanket changes. I had everything adjusted so I didn’t have to worry about who was changing blankets.
There are a lot of other nice features including a huge tail cover.and very high shoulder gussets. I had a medium weight with a neck hood that also could be adjusted to fit the blanket correclty. They have a rain fleece: a regular rain sheet with fleece lining.
I lost my beloved Paint gelding last year at 28. He required an extreme level of pampering. I managed to acquire a complete wardrobe of 7 Avalanche blankets and sheets. I’m going to hand them down to a kid I’ve known for years. She loved my gelding, gave him a bath and braided him the day before we put him down, She graduated from HS so I guess she is an adult now. They will fit her very pretty App mare who needs more pampering than she already gets.
Watch for sales.
Wug-type cut blankets solved the “tight across withers” issue for several of mine and the horses seem to be really comfortable in them.
I am partial to the way Rambos/Rhinos fit but Smartpak also makes blankets in that cut and they’re way cheaper so I bought the Smartpak last year. It survived last winter with my very playful young gelding just fine. We have several others in the barn as well and they seem to hold up well.
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/rhino-smartpak-collection-wug-turnout-blanket-10666
The photos make them look like they’re higher up the neck than they really are, IMHO. In real life they are definitely in front of the wither but not half the way up the neck like it looks in the pictures. High enough to keep rain and wind out, but not so high that they get hot, and no binding across the wither at all.
There is also v-neck fit from SS tack where you can adjust the blanket at the wither but I don’t have personal experience with those so I’m not sure how well they work, if at all.
Edited for clarity.
It’s a Profession Choice brand. The material is great, it has held up well except for one quirky thing.
The belly straps do up with snaps rather than buckles, which I thought I would like. However, the material somehow creeps inside the snap and sometimes is quite a pain to pull out.
I have not heard of a chest extender, going to go look that up.
I am sorry to hear about your paint gelding, so hard. I do love my new girl but I am not in love with her like I was with my sweet girl.
One day I hope to find another special one.
I will check out Avalanche.
I have several of these, and they’re pretty good for more prominent withers. But, the high neck is just better still, especially for my shark-finned TB mare.
So…I have an idea I’m going to try. I bought the Equifit sheepskin gadget for mine; it was an epic fail. I’m going to try to glue a piece of pool noodle to the underside of one of my turn out sheets on either side of his withers to see if that will disperse pressure. I’ve had great luck w gorilla glue fixing things. I won’t be doing it any time soon, but will report if it works.
well I had the brilliant idea of trying on the assortment of turnouts I have and see if one of those brands fit her better. Seems obvious now.
I have been wondering about trying to alter this fly sheet as well. I can sew reasonably well, but
I am not good with angles and seeing what effect ‘this’ has on ‘that’.
Everything I own is high/extended neck these days. I have a bunch of Avalanche brand stuff because in addition to the high neck they also have a very generous shoulder gusset which I find essential to preventing shoulder rubs too.
Rambo has the one with the gusset all the way up to the withers, which I think would be ideal, but the Avalanches are wayyyyy cheaper.
good point - gusset placement and length is a HUGE deal. SO many blanket/sheets have tiny gusses right at the front of the shoulder, which is useless for anything other than allowing the forearm to raise without interference. That’s useless for the shoulder
At least the OP sheet appears to have a decent gusset.
Schneider’s blankets also have nice gussets that allow actual shoulder movement without pulling
Yes, the gusset is good, her shoulders are fine, I have not had to use a bib with this sheet.
Her winter blanket seems to fit her withers, no rubs or pressure points there but not enough shoulder freedom so need to use a bib.
But…I wonder if it is snug enough to require a bib to avoid rub marks does it um, cause bruising or stiffness or?
Fold a blanket along the topline and put it on the floor. Many “high neck” blankets are cut farther forward to cover the withers. That doesn’t work because of the way a horse is built. That is why you need a gusset of some sort inserted over the withers so the blanket follows the curve of the topline. It shouldn’t sit on the withers,which causes rubbing. It also may not leave enough room in the shoulders and neck if the shoulder gussets are too short…
ALL high neck blankets cover the withers, that’s their entire point
it DOES work for a whole lot of horses, including all 3 of mine (and the 4th when he was still around). No wither rubbing. Not mane loss.
The cuts of the ones I have, all from Schneiders, are such that they are not pressing down on withers. I’m sure some other brands might. These don’t, on my horses.
And they have tall gussets in the right place.
You have given ne a good idea on how to compare. If I find a turnout that fits her better I can compare them on the floor and maybe make some altrerations to the fly sheet.
I have a couple of Schneider’s blankets, they lasted well too. If they fit her well I will probably order from there again even with the $ exchange.
JB, I should have been clearer. Most blankets are cut straight on the topline. Waterproof turnout blankers don’t have a seam on the topline. They make them “high neck” by maintaining tje straight topline beyond the withers. That is why many blankets rub - they sit on the withers… I finally figured it out when I laid them on the floor folded. No curve to follow the withers. The Avalanche has a triangular gusset stitched in the front edge. The chest could be adjusted so it didn’t rub. I finally had a warm dry horse. Horze wasn’t known for quality products, Avalance may have been prodiuced for a company in the European market and imported. .
My Paint gelding had tons of TB and was built like one. He had high withers but his chest was narrow. Most of the name brand turnouts I tried didn’t keep him dry. The neck and shoulders were cut large for “modern” warmbloods. He was on pasture board for 20 years. He ate enough hay to maintain normal body weight. I couldn’t fatten him up for the winter here in Maine… He was the CEO (alpha) so he had dibs on the shelter and an acre of pine and fir trees that protected the round bales. We retired to a luxury barn for his last 18 months. .
Folding them the long way and laying them on the floor helped me picture the cut… I was able to compare a few other brands from fellow boarders. The rescue shelter is 10 minutes from here so they got a donation that included Weatherbeeta and Pessoa…