Question about belly band turnouts?

[seabreeze]

I’ve always used turnouts with low, double cross surcingle closures. One of my horses somehow (no idea how, can’t find anything in the pasture or around the barn) ripped a nice hole in the back half of her belly almost two weeks ago. She’ll be coming home from the vet with no restrictions except not to use turnout blankets with surcingle closures.

I hadn’t clipped her yet, so she’ll be fine naked for a while. However, this wound is going to be slow healing over the winter, filling in gradually, and, at some point when the coastal storms are blowing cold, wind-driven precipitation, I know I’ll want to give her a bit of protection (cold+wind+rain/snow).

The design of the belly band turnouts looks like they would not touch or interfere with her wound. However, it seems to me that the closures (the surcingles high up on the sides that hold the belly band in place) could easily snag on something and be a safety issue. For those of you who have used them, is this a problem? Am I being paranoid (Granted, I’m a touch paranoid since she somehow incurred this injury and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out how)? Am I borrowing trouble? Or have you belly band turnout users had good luck without problems?

Thanks for your feedback.

[Amy3996]

I’ve used belly band turnouts and fly sheets with no problem whatsoever (*knock on wood). Several other boarders at my barn use them as well. Schneider’s makes good turnouts - economical, and lots of different fits/styles to choose from to find the one that best suits your horse. As long as the blanket is fitted correctly and the straps are adjusted properly, it shouldn’t be a problem. Might be worth giving your horse’s turnout paddock/pasture and stall a once over for your own peace of mind, just to make sure there’s nothing glaring that she could get snagged on. Did you figure out how she may have caused the initial injury?

[seabreeze]

@Amy3996

I’ve used belly band turnouts and fly sheets with no problem whatsoever (*knock on wood). Several other boarders at my barn use them as well. Schneider’s makes good turnouts - economical, and lots of different fits/styles to choose from to find the one that best suits your horse. As long as the blanket is fitted correctly and the straps are adjusted properly, it shouldn’t be a problem. Might be worth giving your horse’s turnout paddock/pasture and stall a once over for your own peace of mind, just to make sure there’s nothing glaring that she could get snagged on. Did you figure out how she may have caused the initial injury?

Thank you for your feedback. Good to know you’ve never had a problem. That is reassuring. Schneider’s is the retailer at which I was looking. They do seem to have a nice selection.

No, I have not figured out how it happened. That is still a mystery. The very day I got home from taking her to the vet, I walked every inch of fenceline and looked at every fencepost, gate, corner, the two hay feeders, stalls…everything. Couldn’t find a thing that could’ve caused it and couldn’t find any evidence of blood, fur, etc. (except blood in the middle of the stall where she had come in and stood for a while, apparently) The wound did not have a puncture at all. It was as if someone had peeled the flesh back as if they were peeling an orange, which was strange. You would think, getting snagged on something hard enough to peel back a big “V” of flesh underneath her belly, there would be a puncture at the point where it snagged, but nope. I have walked it all a couple more times since, and still can’t find anything. As you say, it would give me peace of mind to actually find something that I thought caused it. At least then I could remove it.

[bdj]

Used to use a Schneiders belly band turnout on my old guy - it was great. No worries at all about the closures. He was only turned out with one other horse at the time - and while they’d run around a bit, neither was especially rowdy.
And I know you didn’t ask, but the nylon liners with the leg strap slots are super, and a great way to increase your blanketing flexibility for a pretty low investment. (And you can wash them in a regular top load washer!)

[seabreeze]

@bdj

And I know you didn’t ask, but the nylon liners with the leg strap slots are super, and a great way to increase your blanketing flexibility for a pretty low investment. (And you can wash them in a regular top load washer!)

Good to know! I appreciate the information! Thank you.

[wildlifer]

I’ve used belly bands before, no issues even with a horse who liked to itch his skin off on everything. The fasteners don’t bother me, they aren’t any different from surcingle fasteners.

For liners, I like the Horseware ones better, primarily bc when I was looking last year, all the Schneider ones were closed front. For my horse wearing it, who thinks static is a demon monster waiting to attack & devour him, I did not want to have him suddenly decide to exit with a liner around his neck. Plus velcro on the front means I can remove the liner without taking the outer blanket off. And the Horseware ones are much more affordable than their blankets. (I still keep dryer sheets stuffed in my pockets to keep the snappy demons at bay, lol).

And don’t feel too bad about mystery wound - my same horse came in last year having literally slit his throat - full thickness, it’s just luck he didn’t kill himself. I went over every inch of his paddock never found a thing. Other than the fact that he was 4.

[suzyq]

I’ve had one catch on something. Not sure what, but the fastener was bent pretty severely the first time and the second time the strap tore. So I think that the strap would tear if it got caught.

[seabreeze]

@wildlifer

For liners, I like the Horseware ones better, primarily bc when I was looking last year, all the Schneider ones were closed front. For my horse wearing it, who thinks static is a demon monster waiting to attack & devour him, I did not want to have him suddenly decide to exit with a liner around his neck. Plus velcro on the front means I can remove the liner without taking the outer blanket off. And the Horseware ones are much more affordable than their blankets.

Thanks for the liner insight. I don’t know that I would’ve thought about the closed front if you hadn’t pointed it out.

[seabreeze]

@suzyq

I’ve had one catch on something. Not sure what, but the fastener was bent pretty severely the first time and the second time the strap tore. So I think that the strap would tear if it got caught.

Just last night I saw something for sale on Facebook that’s a plastic safety mechanism for fastening surcingles (baling twined for surcingles, I suppose). I’m thinking they would alleviate my concerns.

[Sansena]

There are belly band closure blankets that use velcro. No hard plastic, no dangling straps. I can’t recall the make of course, but they are definitely out there.

Or you can bring your blanket to a blanket repair person and they can replace the traditional surcingle hardware closure with velcro.

[findthedistance]

My experience with belly band blankets is that they shift more than surcingle-types. I’m not sure why this is, but I’ve seen it a few times with horses that don’t have a shifting issue with other blanket styles. YMMV.