Trouble with horse's paddock mate...

[katiegrace]

Long story short, my horse is having his blankets ripped by another horse in the field. This guy is fairly young and is notorious for ‘playing’ with his friends in the field. Unfortunately for me (and my bank account), his version of playing means grabbing other horses’ blankets and pulling until something gives.

At this point I’ve already had my only two winter blankets repaired because of this horse, and since it’s getting colder and colder out, soon I’ll need to put them both on him. I just can’t afford to keep repairing his blankets, and soon I wont have any that aren’t torn wide open.

I totally understand that it’s not the other horse’s owners fault, but I’m still the one paying a bunch of money because of her horse… My coach said I should phone her and ask her to start paying for repairs, and/or pay for another blanket so he should always (in theory) have a good blanket to wear. I’m just a super non-confrontational person and I feel super awkward about the situation. I know something needs to be done, but I have no idea how to solve this

Any advice??? I feel bad asking someone for money when it’s not technically their fault, but I just can’t afford to keep doing this!

[OveroHunter]

Can you ask for your horse to be moved? I had a horse like that and he had to be turned out with horses that weren’t blanketed (many aren’t blanketed in GA for the winter). I would have expected to pay repairs had he eaten someone’s blanket. “Luckily,” he just ate my other gelding’s blanket…

[Meany]

Spray your blankets with Raplast. If you haven’t used it before, handle with caution and do it while your horse is NOT wearing the blanket.

His pasturemate probably has favorite spots to grab; so obviously get those. And don’t do it once and give up: teach the pasture mate that your horse always tastes terrible. It should put a pretty quick end to any mouthing of your blankets.

[bamboopole]

If you can’t switch horses, I agree with the Raplast (or similar). Could the other horse wear a wire muzzle?

[katiegrace]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Unfortunately he cannot be moved, this is the only field with a round bale (he’s a hard keeper).

I’ve tried something called McNasty, and while it irritated the heck out of me, it didn’t seem to do any good as the blanket I sprayed it on was ripped the next day. I wonder if maybe my horse rolled and it came off or something?

I would totally expect to pay for someone’s repairs if my horse was a serial blanket killer (every horse rips things once or twice, but a friend who had her horse in with this one went through FIVE blankets in a month and a half last spring). Is it fair of me to ask the owner? I would feel awful if things were switched and offer whatever I could…

[GraceLikeRain]

I think a basket muzzle for the offender is appropriate if this is a chronic issue with multiple horses.

[norcalammie]

Ask the owner to repair the blankets.
When the horse next to mine ripped my horse’s blankets I asked the barn owner to install hot wire between the two paddocks as besides ripping blankets the other horse would charge at my horse when he went into his stall. My horse started running in - not a good scenario. The hot wire was added and no more problems.

[NoSuchPerson]

This isn’t a problem with your horse’s paddock mate, this is a problem with your barn manager. The person who is managing the facility where your horse is being boarded needs to do whatever it takes to separate the blanket ripper from your blanket-wearing horse.

“This is the only field with a round bale” is not a valid excuse for refusing to separate these horses. “Put another round bale out in a different field” seems to be a pretty simple fix.

[TRIPLEBAR]

If it were me I would give the barn manager a little talking to. Horses are horses but you should not be the one to phone the serial blanket eaters owner. The BM should be the one telling the owner their horses penchant for eating blankets is making multiple people upset. Muzzling the beggar for turn out or moving him to a paddock where he can’t eat other horses blankets seems to be the reasonable answer.
And, if BM can’t handle that then she should be aware she may have an exodus on her hands due to one naughty beggar.

[Wonders12]

Your BO/BM/Trainer should be handling this, not requiring you to talk to the other owner. (Unless it’s a co-op situation.)

The person running the barn has more options than you do. They can mediate an agreement between you and the other owner, put a muzzle on the offender, supplying a sheet to cover your blankets, set up a separate turnout for your horse, etc.

If management isn’t willing to handle it, then you will need to. An email might be the easiest low confrontation way. I would phrase it as “You know I really like Dobbin, but he seems to just love putting huge holes in blankets. I’ve already had to patch the only two I have, and I’m worried that I’m going to end up in the same position as Mary. Did you know she had to replace 5 blankets last spring? That’s just not in the budget for me, and I’ve never seen a horse destroy blankets as quickly as Dobbin. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just tell him to stop? I’m trying to brainstorm a solution. Trainer suggested you paying for repairs or a third blanket to rotate since one will always be out getting repaired. What are your thoughts? I want to set something up that’s fair for everyone, but I’ve already spent $x repairing the blankets Dobbin has ripped apart, and I can’t keep spending that every month.”

Put the ball in her court to come up with a solution. The worse she says is no and then your in the same boat you are now. I would offer to split the costs with her, so I would add that to the email, but that’s up to you.

[yellowbritches]

1. Honestly, I think this is a risk and an expense a horse owner takes when turning out with other horses. Just as management typically assumes that they will have to replace fence boards, I think boarders generally assume that they have to replace blankets (and sometimes have vet bills) if their horse is turned out with other horses.

2. All that being said, it is MANAGEMENT’S job to find a permanent solution, because this is not a good one. A horse that routinely trashes blankets is also a horse that routinely pesters their pasture mates. At some point either the pasture mate is going to lose their patience and unleash on their harasser, or the harasser will hurt the harassee. Time for management to step the hell up and figure out a solution before someone gets hurt. BTDT.

[CHT]

I have boarded at quite a few barns…never have a heard it being appropriate to ask someone to pay for someone else’s blanket because their horse ripped it, or to buy a new blanket.

I could see that snowballing into that boarder being held liable for every little rip and tear…could get very expensive if we are talking multiple horses.

What quality of blankets are we talking about?

Overall though, I agree that the horse needs to be moved to a private turn out for the winter.

[SnicklefritzG]

[QUOTE=NoSuchPerson;8394774]
This isn’t a problem with your horse’s paddock mate, this is a problem with your barn manager. The person who is managing the facility where your horse is being boarded needs to do whatever it takes to separate the blanket ripper from your blanket-wearing horse.

“This is the only field with a round bale” is not a valid excuse for refusing to separate these horses. “Put another round bale out in a different field” seems to be a pretty simple fix.[/QUOTE]

At least they put hay out. I know one barn who doesn’t feed horses any hay during the day. If they are out and there is no grass (ie late fall through winter), oops, too bad, horses don’t get to eat anything between 7am and 4pm.

[WendellsGirl]

Horse needs a wire basket muzzle. Clips on halter, easy peasy. This is most certainly a barn management issue, not something you the horse owner should have to absorb as an un-ending cost. A snag/tear here and there is perfectly normal and acceptable (and part of owning a blanketed horse) but if your BM is turning a blind eye to a horse who lives to destroy others blankets constantly? Not cool.

[crosscreeksh]

Raplast is like MACE!!! Few horses will mess with anything coated in it. Also agree with a muzzle for the destroyer!! I only deal with my own horses, so don’t know how this would work for you…after spraying/painting the Raplast on the blanket…I take a brush full of Raplast and poke it in the offender’s mouth so he gets a “Good taste”…that way he doesn’t have to eat half of the blanket to get the message!! I don’t know if that would be “legal” with someone else’s horse!! Blankets are too darn expensive these days to be “chew toys”!!

[Hunterkid]

The barn owner should move the other horse. It is not your place or responsibility to charge the other owner for the damage.

[Dewey]

Agree with those saying this is obviously a chronic problem that the BM should deal with, not you. This has escalated way beyond the occasional blanket tear most of deal with. This horse is destructive and targets blankets. You need to talk frankly to BM about the problem, and he/she needs to deal with it.

[McVillesMom]

No advice on what to do regarding the other horse, but Dover Northwind blankets have a lifetime guarantee against tearing, fyi.

[katiegrace]

So to answer a couple things, I have nice Bucas blankets that are getting torn, and he was out all last winter with no rips in them…

I totally understand that little tears are a part of paddock life, I’ve had to have blankets repaired before. That’s why it’s so tough for me to have this problem, I would normally never blame anyone for those tears, it’s just horses playing, right? But like I said in my original post, this horse is a notorious blanket killer, and they’re not tears you can ignore or patch with some duct tape…

As an update I mentioned to the other owner tonight that I’m having this problem and was wondering if she had any solutions and she basically told me “too bad so sad”. So I’m definitely going to my BM and telling her to figure something out…

Just so frustrating as I know it’s not really anyone’s fault!!

[RockinHorse]

I agree this goes beyond $h!t happens. It is a barn management problem. If it were me, I would start looking for other places to board. Heck, even more expensive places might be cheaper in the long run if you don’t have to constantly replace and repair blankets.

Once I had a new place picked out, if I really preferred where to stay where I was, I would go to the BM and let them know that they need to solve the problem or they have my 30 days notice. There are ways the problem can be solved as suggested in this thread.

If I were the BM, I would either have the blanket ripping wearing horse be confined to individual turn out or required to were a muzzle.