Boarding and Blanket Storage

[CHT]

For those of you that board, how much blanket storage does your barn give you? Where and how are you able to store your blankets?

I need ideas as I have clients whose horses have better wardrobes than I do, and they are taking over the small amount of storage I do have.

Looking for ideas on what is a reasonable expectation for blanket storage, and ways to provide it without taking up too much space.

As well as I can remember, when I boarded, we didn’t really have storage, so in the winter our spare blankets would live in our show tack trunks, stored out of the way, but none of my clients have tack trunks. I just don’t remember anyone having the number of blankets per horse that people seem to have now either.

[Sansena]

3 items on the stall front on a blanket bar… usually 1 sheet, 1 blanket, 1 scrim. Turn outs hung in an exit aisle with x ties on rack similar to shown below. In the ‘off’ season, blankets are kept in the loft in owner supplied large rubbermaid locking top tubs.

Personally, I’d never store my blankets at the barn for fear of mouse damage. Have them laundered, put in an air tight bag, and put them some place safe at your own home.

https://www.statelinetack.com/item/equi-racks-wall-mount-stable-blanket-rack/BRE03/?srccode=GPSLT&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_vfcBRDJARIsAJafEnENE6JgsRjv657Ph2sqsuKdOlNOb9bYvsrMgVM9Q9nwISsF7Tk1jS4aAmsvEALw_wcB&kwid=productads-adid^160627723370-device^c-plaid^367594711184-sku^134081-adType^PLA

[demidq]

We have a blanket bar on the front of stall like Sansena. We do have tack lockers and a space for a smaller storage tote but anything off season goes home. It is a pain drying wet blankets at the barn, no hang up space.

[BeeHoney]

Yes, no more than three seasonally appropriate blankets/sheets to be stored on or next to the horse’s stall door. Out of season blankets should be removed and stored elsewhere by the owners. The exception is that I store blankets for absentee owners, but they get a bill for washing and repairs.

[Edre]

My barn offers one “arm” of a blanket rack per client/horse. Means clients are typically restricted to a sheet, medium, and heavyweight. Anything else lives at home/car trunk/tack trunk - clients would switch out blankets as one got filthy/in need of cleaning, they’d take that home and bring another of the same range (light/med/heavy). Figure in blanket season, the horse was always wearing at least one of them so the “arm” would only have two on it.

[billiebob]

Ok. I am that boarder who has an entire Stanley trunk just for horse blankets (and it, uh, barely closes). What I keep at the barn during blanket season is one turnout of each weight, my horse’s Baket blanket, a cooler, and a quarter sheet. These are stored on a long piece of baling twine on my horse’s stall and in a tote in my locker depending on what’s in use. I generally have two turnouts and my cooler on the front of my horse’s stall. This is more than basically every other boarder, but I think what keeps my BO from killing me is that my blankets are always folded neatly with no straps dangling. My stall front never looks like a trainwreck.

It’s probably worth mentioning that at my barn blanket changes are the responsibility of the owners and I live in a climate where blankets can be a necessity from October-May if your horse is a massive wimp like mine. We have large individual tack lockers that we’re able to customize somewhat as far as shelves and bins go. The BO does encourage us to take blankets home if not in use and most people seem to be pretty good about it.

[atlatl]

When it’s blanket season, one on a hook outside the stall. Otherwise, blankets are stored elsewhere.

[x-halt-salute]

We have blanket bars on the front of every stall for in-season items (fly sheets/masks in summer, turnouts in winter). They fit approximately 3 turnouts (sheet, medium, heavy), and boarders are encouraged to take out of season items home. Coolers and quarter sheets are generally kept in tack trunks.

There is no additional blanket storage. We have small tack lockers and we are allowed to have one trunk outside of each stall, so some store blankets in their trunks and some just store them at home after they get washed in the spring.

At the barns I’ve boarded at in the past, about half have required boarders to store blankets at home and half have allowed a tack trunk or rubbermaid bin per boarder to be kept in their lofts or other storage spaces. I’ve yet to encounter anything more space-saving than a system that used tidy, moderately sized stacking bins and limited blanket storage to one bin per horse.

[PrincessPonies]

Most of the barns I’ve been at have had a single blanket rack, holding about three depending on the size, and allowed the owners a second tack trunk in front of their horse’s stall (that’s where we kept all our tack trunks) for their others. Mine is a sensitive grey paint that gets clipped so I have a lot for her. I had one barn that only allowed two blankets at a time, most people there felt this was normal and they were from all over the states. Since I was at the barn everyday I was able to take care of my sensitive girl by switching out the blankets everyday after checking the weather.
I did have one barn owner who hated blankets in the barn and the second they didn’t need the blankets owners had better take them away or they’d go into the shed.

[CanteringCarrot]

Most barns I’ve been at don’t have blanket storage. Or they just have a few racks that are all taken up by the same person and their 80 blankets. So you have room to pile plastic totes somewhere? It’s neater and easier (can label and keep sealed) than just piles of blankets. The other difficult part is finding somewhere to hang the wet ones.

[trubandloki]

Most barns I have encountered you could have what fit on your door during the season they were needed. No other blanket storage was provided (though I suppose you could shove them into your tack locker). When blanket season ended you were expected to take them home.

[mmeqcenter]

@trubandloki

Most barns I have encountered you could have what fit on your door during the season they were needed. No other blanket storage was provided (though I suppose you could shove them into your tack locker). When blanket season ended you were expected to take them home.

My experience as well

[peedin]

None. Not every stall has a blanket bar and when blanket season is over you take your blanket home. Each boarder is allowed one tack trunk, and nothing is to be kept on top of the trunk or in the corner of the tack rooms. What you fill your tack trunk with is up to you, but you are not allowed to spread your stuff. I have my blankets and sheets cleaned at the end of the season and store them in my garage.

[kashmere]

We have blanket storage above the hayloft for everyone, and lots of people stack blankets on their lockers in the locker room, as well.

In the larger barn, blankets fit easily on the stall front for ones that are in current rotation, in the smaller barn where they don’t work as well on stallfronts, we have a blanket room and each horse has 3 hooks for blankets being used frequently.

If we didn’t have the luxury of all the extra space, I think it would be completely reasonable to say “whatever doesn’t fit on your stall front [or whatever designated space you have] has to be stored at home”

[Angela_Freda]

As a barn worker at barns where clothing changes are done by staff, the keeping it at home isn’t helpful to us.
I needs it where I needs it when I needs it.
Best arrangement was what’s in use on the door, the rest up in loft in a trunk, accessible when needed.

[Princess_Sparkles]

Ah, blanket storage. I’m in southern Ontario, so we have a loooonnngggg winter, plus usually some lovely cold rains in the fall and those delightful ice storms in the spring. I WANT my boarders to have lots of blanket options. I can’t stand a cold, wet horse. I myself have a blanket buying problem, but I can always swap my mare out into something warm and dry because I have extras.

Our system has been devised over the years and is constantly being improved. Each stall boarded horse has a hook to hang blankets as well as a blanket rack. We don’t limit what can go on them–if you can fit it, you can have it there. Outdoor boarders–we had several hooks in the aisle in each barn, but they became overloaded quickly, blankets were hung on top of each other so you had to dig for the one you wanted, and things didn’t dry because they were so crammed together. So this year we devoted a stall for outdoor blankets. Two huge racks with multiple hooks so everything can be more spread out. The hooks in the aisle stayed, so now we can hang wet blankets there to dry.

I do expect boarders to take blankets home during warmer months. Your winter turnouts don’t need to be at the barn in the spring/fall, and NO blankets need to be there during the summer. I have varying amounts of success with this as some people just can’t understand why I don’t want their blankets around all the time. I have had to make my point by shoving them in garbage bags and storing them in our storage building, which is full of mice. I give plenty of warning before I do this–you always have the option to take them home before they end up there.

Absentee boarders we arrange washing/repair and store the clean blankets until they are needed again.

[Nestor]

I’ve generally had a blanket bar on the stall door, and then 1-2 hooks elsewhere. Sometimes there’s additional space to have a bin with extra blankets.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic solution. Other than to limit boarders to one light, one medium, and one heavy blanket. Anything else stays at home, you bring the extra when you need it. That generally works, until something happens and it doesn’t work… i.e. owner is away and horse destroyed his heavy and it’s going to get REALLY cold. In which case usually someone in the barn provides a loaner that will work for the time being. If you have room in a hay loft, that can work for having a place for tupperwares of extra blankets just in case.

[Texarkana]

One thing I really liked about my last boarding barn was that they had long, sturdy blanket bars outside each stall that spanned the length of the wall. Those puny blanket bars that screw into stall doors can barely hold a midweight turnout, let alone multiple blankets. These bars were made from a shower curtain rod inserted into wooden ends the barn owner made.

We also had floor to ceiling tack lockers that were large enough for you to hang blankets in. Storage was really A+ at that place.

In my current barn, I recently repurposed a temporary closet to store my clean blankets-- I have it on my porch and hang the blankets by hooking them around the bar. The footprint isn’t terribly large considering how many blankets I can stuff in there-- I think I have 12 or so in there at the moment and it’s much more efficient than trying to fold them or bag them up! I like it so much I’m considering buying another for the barn to hang dirty blankets in during the winter months.

[CHT]

I guess I should have specified that most of my boarders are outside boarders, so storage on the stalls is not going to work.

1/4 of the boarders are taking up half the space (4 out of 16), but three of them have their own trailers, so I think it would be fair to expect them to store off season or spares in there? I could also make room in our “small barn” which currently houses our side by side and some client owned alfalfa hay.

Based on responses here, I am thinking two hooks and one bin should be reasonable though, and we will put shelves up to stack the bins or blankets in bags.

We do have a space by the barn entrance where clients can hang wet blankets overnight or while they ride as there is a drain and good air circulation.

Sound reasonable?

Now I just need to put my foot down on the people that take advantage and think they are special.

[sophie]

@CHT

Now I just need to put my foot down on the people that take advantage and think they are special.

LOL good luck with that - there are many Speshial Boarders at my barn. I can’t believe the amount of “stuff” some boarders have for their Precious Poopsie. One outside horse has a mountain of stuff in the aisle next to her owner’s HUGE locker. Our barn is big, so people think they can just spread out at will… until the BM and barn workers blow a fuse :lol:

My horse is stalled in winter and I keep 1 unlined rain sheet and 1 Med Weight turnout on her door. I do have 2 spares in a bin in a back tack room in case her blankets get soaked and she needs dry ones (hasn’t happened yet). Everything is labeled with her or my name on it in permanent marker.
In the Spring/Summer/Fall when she lives outside her fly mask and fly spray are attached to her field’s gate, and her rain sheet hangs from a hook on my locker. It’s worked perfectly well for us.