Managing horse blankets in the barn

[SLW]

For those of you who use stable blankets, coolers and turn out blankets/sheets how do you keep the barn tidy and keep the blankets at your fingertips? Mine are in large tubs which keep them in order during the summer but come cold weather it turns into a disaster in my tack room and on the bars in front of each stall as I reach for the appropriate blanket for the day.

Am I missing some magical management practice? In the past its been okay with just 3 horses with a turnout blanket. Only one of those was clipped and required a few in-between garments. This year I have 4 horses and 2 of those have a full wardrobe of heavy duty and in-between stuff. My horses are at home so I can create any set up you offer. Help!

[normandy_shores]

I’ve liked having hooks hung high at the end of the barn. Keeps the blanket clutter in one spot, plus lets them hang to dry. I’d. E putting away all out of season blankets and the backups, and just keep the current sheet and blanket(s) out.

If you’ve got a blanket bar on the front of each stall, you could keep the horse’s cooler there since that’s generally going to be an after-ride use.

I don’t have a barn, /9 keep blankets in tubs except what they’re wearing or very likely to be swapped out to. I only have three horses and have a small feedshed right by the paddocks for convenience, so just hang those 2-3 blankets there.

[kasjordan]

I also have hooks. 2 horses, 15 blankets at last count lol

[bdj]

I got one of these: http://www.sstack.com/horse-blanket-and-cooler-racks/easy-up-mini-swing-arm-rack/ to manage turnouts for my pony (they do also make a bigger one, and sell extra arms). It’s in an out of the way corner of the barn, and works really well during the fall and winter when she stands out in the rain and then decides that she must roll around in the run-in while still wearing her blanket…
When things are still dry and neat(ish), I hang them on a blanket bar on the stall front.

Doesn’t somebody make a stall front blanket bar (I think it’s collapsible) that has two rails? I swear I’ve seen something like that in some catalog or other…
Ah ha - found it - but it’s pricey!: http://www.doversaddlery.com/stubbs-collapsible-rug-rack/p/X1-27394/

[invinoveritas]

All that hang get dusty in just a few days.
Putting them in plastic containers, even in big plastic garbage bags, keeps them clean.

[Libby2563]

I have collapsible blanket racks on each stall front for turnouts. My horses have anywhere from zero to three turnouts each, depending on whether they are clipped etc. Three turnouts will fit on one of those and if you fold them neatly it doesn’t look bad. I think that’s the key. When I’m rushing and just shove them on there it does look messy.

I also have two of these, except steel, hung high halfway down the aisle so I can hang anything that needs to dry there if it’s too damp to throw over a fence outside. They fold back against the wall so they’re not noticeable if not in use.

Coolers and quarter sheets I keep on a four-bar rack hung on the back of the tack room door. They stay there all summer and are out of sight, out of mind, but if I need them they’re right there. I hang them to dry and then re-fold them and put them back on the rack in the tack room until the next use.

[QUOTE=invinoveritas;8888427]
All that hang get dusty in just a few days.
Putting them in plastic containers, even in big plastic garbage bags, keeps them clean.[/QUOTE]

I’d worry about mold, if they were dirty and even remotely moist when put away. Here our winters can be very damp though, so that might work elsewhere.

[theresak]

[QUOTE=invinoveritas;8888427]
All that hang get dusty in just a few days.[/QUOTE]

This doesn’t really matter when you’re hanging up the mud-caked rain sheet…

I have this for hanging blankets and this for lighter weight coolers and quarter sheets.

Blankets are hung out in the barn near his stall. I buckle the chest fastners and hang the blankets from those. The bars are up quite high since my horse wears 87" blankets, but there is a feed bin to stand on. The coolers are hung in the tack room.

[partita]

The more I learn about horses the more I learn that they do not need blankets. Horses are a cold climate species and generally do just fine in the cold. Of course, then we come along and pamper them and shave off their winter coats!*:lol:

That said, the only reason I ever used them, really, was to keep the horses cleaner. I use those swing arm blanket bars as well. I hang them high so the blankets clear the ground. Unused blankets lay folded on shelving racks. Blankets in frequent use might get laid over a saddle rack so long as they are dry. A 4x4 with a hook works well for a portable rack. Hook it wherever.

I have a rule. Leg straps ALWAYS get hooked. NEVER left dangling on the ground. It takes a few extra seconds, but keeps them from getting hungup.

[fordtraktor]

I put those rubber-covered chain stall guards along the front of all my stalls. The horses all have 3 blankets (lite, medium, heavy) and the guards can hold whatever the horse isn’t wearing just then.

In the summer I keep their fly sheets there so they are up year-round.

I am trying to simplify blanketing this year but I usually end up going back to the regular program, despite my saying that when fall rolls around. They just look so cozy in their blankies!

My coolers stay in the tack room and gets used on whomever needs it post-ride. They don’t all have separate coolers. I use stable sheets/blankets for shows and sometimes as liners, but I don’t leave them out all the time. I don’t switch into stable blankets just because they are in.

[Badger]

I have big, heavy duty hooks hung high up on the wall. Each of the five horses gets one hook (labeled with their name) and there is one miscellaneous hook. They are strong enough to hold a Rambo duo, several weights of liners, and an unlined sheet per horse. I used to have a five-shelf utility bookshelf in the feed room, but this is way easier to find what I need than folded in piles.

In the spring I clean everything, bag and label, and put them on shelves in the loft until fall.

[SLW]

Thank you for sharing your tips and ideas with the blankets. I can make some of these work in my barn.

[Night_of_Songs]

You can make a blanket rack using screw eyes and rope tarp hooks. Will work like a saddle rack that hooks on to a screw eye in the barn aisle.

We used a length of 2x6 and put a row of screw eyes about 8-10 inches apart, then screw into your wall studs with deck screws. Hang it about 4-6 inches higher on your wall than your longest blanket.

The ‘rack arms’ were 2 ft pieces of 2x2s with a rope tarp hook screwed on the end (drill pilot holes first…). Once you get the correct placement of the hook so it hooks into the screw eye and the end is flat against the main board, is then easy to then mark and screw all the rest of the hooks on.

Made a few extra rack arms and used them to hang wet blankets to dry in the barn aisle as needed. Hook them on the cross tie screw eyes and easy to store when blanket is dry enough to go back on the main rack.

[ryansgirl]

I bought the Easy Up swing arm rack and it has 12 arms which is perfect. I got mine from Schneiders. All my winter blankets get hung up when not in use during blanket season so they can air out and dry (if needed). Just make sure you hang it high enough so the tail flaps aren’t on the floor/dirt.

i would never store them in plastic containers during the season. I do store mine in plastic bags once they are washed in spring to store them until blanket season comes again.

[DHCarrotfeeder]

[QUOTE=SLW;8888308]
For those of you who use stable blankets, coolers and turn out blankets/sheets how do you keep the barn tidy and keep the blankets at your fingertips? Mine are in large tubs which keep them in order during the summer but come cold weather it turns into a disaster in my tack room and on the bars in front of each stall as I reach for the appropriate blanket for the day.

Am I missing some magical management practice? In the past its been okay with just 3 horses with a turnout blanket. Only one of those was clipped and required a few in-between garments. This year I have 4 horses and 2 of those have a full wardrobe of heavy duty and in-between stuff. My horses are at home so I can create any set up you offer. Help![/QUOTE]

We took a spare stall and filled it with hanging blanket racks.

I dunno what to suggest if you don’t have an extra stall but it’s great if you can.

[SLW]

Ha, ha, my last spare stall just got filled with a new horse so that option is out. I have blanket bars built into the front of each stall and it will hold a blanket and sheet. Still, it just looks so messy. Am I maybe missing a special way to drape/fold it on the bar??

My retired mare and driving donkey are only blanketed if it raining, sleeting or snowing so that’s not too much of an issue. My hunting mare and hunting mare in training are the two with waffle weave sheets, fleece sheet, turnout sheet and turnout blanket. One of those is trace clipped so she needs the coverage. They have stable blankets but since I only stall during ice storms those don’t get used much and are left in the tack room.

And yeah, I can tell you exactly where the horse blankets are but I’m going to have to dig through closets in the empty bedrooms to find my winter coats.

[PNWjumper]

I have about 10 of these https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/b/2038 hung high at various places throughout my barn. I can hang a couple of blankets per hook and it keeps them up off of the ground. I do a much better job of keeping the horses’ blankets organized if I can quickly and easily toss them up on a hook somewhere near my tack area.

[Libby2563]

[QUOTE=SLW;8889360]
Still, it just looks so messy. Am I maybe missing a special way to drape/fold it on the bar??[/QUOTE]

Maybe! My former BO always folded blankets so beautifully and everything looked so neat. Try this folding technique or something similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vghJY9zoA3c. When I fold mine like that, the barn looks so much more tidy than if I just double them over and stuff them in the blanket bar. Only downside is I have to lay them on the floor to do it.

[SLW]

[QUOTE=Libby2563;8889795]
Maybe! My former BO always folded blankets so beautifully and everything looked so neat. Try this folding technique or something similar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vghJY9zoA3c. When I fold mine like that, the barn looks so much more tidy than if I just double them over and stuff them in the blanket bar. Only downside is I have to lay them on the floor to do it.[/QUOTE]

Yes! Something so simple like that will help! Thanks for the link.

[msj]

Only once did I have 4 horses in the barn and it was a bit hectic with turnouts. I have 2 blanket racks. One storebought like this:

https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e073ee-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

The other was made with broken broom handles and rope. In addition, if turnouts came in wet I had 2 of the European blanket bars hanging over the baseboard heater in the tack room.

http://www.doversaddlery.com/european-horse-clothing-rack/p/X1-27326/

These were in the heated tack room.

I also had rope and broken broom handles on each of the 4 stall fronts.

I worked in a lab and I think the caretakers intentionally broke the broom handles so I had plenty to work with. :lol:

I’d just saw the break off and drill holes in either end. I think the bars were easily 3’ and maybe longer. They were able to hold a heavy weight blanket easily. I usually kept one turnout on the horses and one in front of the stalls with the rest in the tackroom.

Each horse had 2 light, medium and heavyweights but I usually only needed 1 medium/season but I liked having more in case the horses trashed one. Having a T-Rex QH who liked to pull his turnout off and try to tear everyone elses when he could. He never did manage to rip a Rambo but he did damage to anything else. :sigh:

[partita]

[QUOTE=SLW;8889360]
Ha, ha, my last spare stall just got filled with a new horse[/QUOTE]
Funny how that happens*:lol: