Boarded horse pulling and ripping blankets off my clipped horse, suggestions?

[cswoodlandfairy]

So in the last week along, my 5yo has come in with one blanket half on/off and twice his sheet completely off, everything connected. The first time there was no damage and figured a fluke, it doesnt happen every night, but last night it came off he was completely naked for who knows how long on a cooler rainy night, but this time there was a chewed up tail cord, liner ripped the length of sheet and trim pulled away. Assuming the inside damage is due to my horse getting out, which is dangerous in itself. They are all Rambo blankets.

Last winter never had this problem, but this year I had two new horses board at my farm. One of low man in the pecking order so not him, but a little morgan pony is a bit of a pain and he is the best guess culprit and now that there is damage im fairly confident its him.

So what can I do? Being winter and he is overweight and gets fat on air would it be mean to make him wear a muzzle during the night when the horses are out in blankets? During the day the horses who wear clothes are in, and the others that are out are head horse so he wont mess with them. I was thinking of something like this?

Tough-1 Freedom Muzzle | HorseLoverZ

Thoughts? Anything else I can do outside of a muzzle short of asking them to leave? I do not have multiple paddocks nor setup to have him separate and alone, nor would he do well. He gets upset when his friends leave the field yet he can see them the whole time.

[2DogsFarm]

Explain to owners why you want to muzzle their horse.
If they agree, great.
That Tough-1muzzle looks like a good solution unless the little monster uses it as a weapon.
If they don’t want their horse muzzled, tell them blanket repairs/replacement costs will be shared with them.
50/50 seems fair to me since you can’t offer separate turnout to The Ripper.

[Horsegirl_s_Mom]

A question I have is whether the owners of the Morgan pony will agree that their guy is likely doing the damage. Is there any way to observe the horses together in the pasture and see if he starts working on the other horses’ blankets?

[Jealoushe]

You can spray raplast or no chew on the blanket too. I know that’s not the greatest option but I have heard it works.

[cswoodlandfairy]

So I know it’s down to 2 horses for a fact, as the others lived with me all last winter and I never had this problem. The second reason I am confident is that I have visibly seen thus horse go after my horse while he is laying down, bute him, whip around and kick at him ( missing) and gallop of as mine struggled to get up and then chase. He us 5yo and I wont say he isn’t innocent in his playful ways either but hes never mean about it.

So what I think is going on is at night when my horse lays down to sleep he goes after him, grabs the blanket and it some how comes off. All clips are still attached though. So thats special.

He has to wear a muzzle in the summer since he would get laminitis so he’s use to it, but willing to find a solution before I tell them its not going to work out.

[cswoodlandfairy]

Also, being the type of horse he seems to be will wearing the muzzle at night be an issue for hay and such? I feed alfalfa round bales, he gets next to nothing for grain but can increase to give calories

[Equkelly]

@Jealoushe

You can spray raplast or no chew on the blanket too.

Raplast is expensive but the stuff works!

[Puddin_Pie]

I just to board with someone whose horse was an aggressive blanket destroyer. He had to go out in an anti crib muzzle that looked like a baseball referee mask. It seemed to work.

[RedHorses]

Can you try the muzzle and see if your horse’s blankets stay on and intact? If the hay is free choice he’ll get enough, especially if it’s only on at night. The distraction may even keep him too busy to pester the other horses.

[Blugal]

You can put a fly sheet of heavy vinyl/plastic material on top of your winter blanket. The top one won’t rip when bitten and should help prevent the shifting that can happen when the other horse bites.

A bib on the other horse might suffice as a lesser version of a muzzle.

[cswoodlandfairy]

Thanks everyone. Tonight hes in his summer muzzle since that’s all we have at the moment and I still have grass in the field so we shall see over the next couple days if he’s the culprit or not. I may but replast too since on sale with black Friday sales…

[Larbear]

@Blugal

fly sheet of heavy vinyl/plastic material on top of your winter blanket.

This is what I do. I have a Kensington plasticy fly sheet that I put over all of my sheets/blankets and it works very well.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

Funny story… years ago my former BO put one of these muzzles on a blanket/flysheet destroyer. He had it on for 10 minutes before (who is now) my old man walked over and relieved him of his torture device… BO said he grabbed ahold of it and didn’t let go until he ripped it off hahaha!

That is what has kept me from putting one on my younger gelding who likes to take patches of hair off my old man now and again (the irony??) . I also wonder if the metal wouldn’t damage his front teeth while he grazes or eats hay with it on.

[Weezer]

What a pain! I hope you are able to solve this. If you live in an area with freezing temperatures or snow, a muzzle is not great because you can get ice or snow build-up in it. The bib would be a better option in those conditions.