Blanket keeps getting mysteriously damp?

[Limitless]

I use a heavy weight stable blanket for my senior for night time inside. I’ll change him out of his turnout at the end of the day and often use a liner underneath in really frigid weather. He only wears this blanket inside, and it’s hung during the day on a hook in my aisle. Somehow, it seems only on damp days, it absorbs dampness out of the air. Is this possible? I went to put it on him last evening, and it was damp along the outside back, which is the side that faces out when hung. It was a snowy day that was damp and chilly. I had to quickly wash it and dry it before bedtime, so I wasn’t putting a damp blanket on him for overnight temps in the low teens.

Is this even possible? Can a blanket just attract damp? Or is it getting dripped on somehow? It’s not the first time this has happened, but I assumed that I hadn’t tried it enough. Last time it happened, I not only dried it in my dryer, but set it in the sun for the day and then dried it again!

[JustTheTicket]

Yes? If it’s damp out, things will get damp. That’s pretty normal.

[StormyDay]

Could also be urine.

[SuzieQNutter]

When you hang a rug you hang it upside down to let the side facing the horsetup to dry. If you hang a winter rug the right way up the dampness in the rug follows gravity and goes into the lining touching the horse.

If it is damp outside the rug will be damp while hanging. If in the sun it will dry.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Yes, a blanket can absorb dampness from the air. I bring mine inside. My kitchen/sitting area is blanket central! LOL My barn doesn’t have doors, and if I put my blankets in the center aisle, they will get soaked when its raining and breezy out (which is like every single day, nowadays!). Stable blankets seem more susceptible to getting wet and staying that way. Years ago I stopped using stable blankets and went to all turn-outs.

[Scribbler]

Yes, blankets get damp, saddles and hay get mildew, wood rots, etc from moisture in the air.

[drafting_dots]

It’s so damp and humid at our barn that I have to take any used towels home to dry-- they will not dry at the barn. Aside from just moisture, snow/rain can travel pretty far through even small openings!

[atr]

It could also be that during the day the dampness it gained from him existing inside it overnight is wicking out of the blanket lining onto the shell. Is it damp inside? if not, I would assume this is what is happening and that it is doing it’s job rather well.

And on a wetter day, it’s going to take longer, if ever, to evaporate into the atmosphere, so will stay damp on the outside longer.

[phoebetrainer]

If it’s pure wool, it won’t matter if it’s damp when you put it on him. Wool stays warm when it’s wet, and the blanket will still wick moisture away from his skin.

[Limitless]

Hmmm, perhaps I’m just a dumbass! I guess it makes sense that none of my waterproof turnouts get damp. However, none of my liners do. It’s just this one heavy weight stable blanket. He’s definitely not sweating overnight, and it doesn’t feel damp inside, but I still feel bad about putting it on him damp, hence the quick wash and dry. It’s not urine, because it’s along his back, so the part of the blanket that’s really exposed when hanging. It was a cheap blanket, but he seems pretty comfortable in it, despite the fact he hates blankets, and I like to switch out blankets to change up what he’s wearing in case things are rubbing the wrong way.

[Wanderosa]

Stable blankets typically aren’t waterproofed IME. It very well could absorb moisture from the air.

ETA: are you totally sure that he isn’t sweating? I once got a Percheron gelding shipped in from WI in the winter. He was fuzzy as a wooly mammoth but his mom worried that he would be cold on the trip because he was old. He stepped off the trailer completely sweat soaked under his thin sheet. Draft horse sized blankets tend to be primitive compared to what’s available for light horses and his sheet turned out to be made of some unbreathable fabric with a flocked lining that didn’t allow the sweat to evaporate. (The seller had asked for the blanket to be sent back with the shippers. But I now had a soaking wet horse in 30 degree weather and no other blanket large enough to fit him. I remembered a trick from one of the British Pony Club books I’d devoured as a child and stuffed hay up under the blanket to absorb the sweat. It worked! )

[mypaintwattie]

I had blankets hung on the stall getting wet, I figured out it was moisture from the barn roof and trusses that as the air got warmer and more humid it was dripping down, right on my blanket. Had I not been there at the right time I wouldn’t have seen it and would probably still be wondering why my blankets were wet!

[foggythistle]

All horses will let off moisture (perspire) when they are covered, even if they aren’t sweating. You do too. It’s natural. There is moisture in your breath when you exhale. There is small amounts of moisture coming from your skin. That ‘perspiration’ gets absorbed by clothes or the blanket. When you hang the blanket, that moisture can be trapped where the air doesn’t get to it, resulting in the dampness you feel when you take it off the hook. To prevent, expose as much underside surface area as possible to the air. Of course if the basic air is moist, your blanket might absorb more of the air moisture than it dries.