According to Punxsutawney Phil (the groundhog who saw his shadow) we have six more weeks of winter and according to the current weather reports I think he may be right! If your horse blankets are looking a little rough for the wear and you are not sure they will make it through the winter or you want to stock up for next year, now is the time! Schneiders, www. sstack.com, is having a huge winter blanket sale.
All their turnout and stable blankets are marked down to great prices. I own a few of their blankets and they are very nice quality, making them truly a steal at these prices. Check them out at www.sstack.com and keep your horse warm and cozy!
How to measure your horse to find the perfect size horse blanket:
Make sure your horse is standing squarely. Take a cloth tape measure and start at the center point of your horse’s chest and run the tape measure along the side of it’s body to the center of the horse’s tail. That measurement will correspond to a blanket size. Remember that the blanket should fit snugly to avoid rubbing. FYI This is much easier to do if your horse is tied and you have someone help you hold the tape measure, one at the chest and one at the tail.
Just a quick tip today before the weekend arrives! I picked this up from a magazine and it really, really works! If that familiar crackling, popping sound followed by you and your horse getting shocked by static seems to accompany you ever time you take your horse’s blanket off, try mixing equal parts water and fabric softener in a spray bottle and mist all your blankets with the mixture. Your horse blankets will be static free and smell great.
We have had a much colder (and wetter) than normal winter this year. Which means my horse has spent a fair amount of time bundled up in his blanket. When the temperature dropped into the single digits I bought Woody a fleece blanket to wear under his extra thick winter blanket to keep him warm as well as to keep him from growing hair.
I bought the SmartPak Fleece Dress Sheet from www.smartpakequine.com in a size XL, Woody wears a size 84 blanket. It is made from very soft, polar fleece with traditional nylon webbing trim. It has a buckle front and a belly strap but it does not have back leg straps, it instead has d-rings on either side of his butt and a string that is supposed tie the back end shut over his tail.
I opted out of tying the back closed, afraid it would rub his tail and cause hair breakage and for this reason the blanket does not really stay put, it slides around quite a bit even though it is the correct size and the belly strap is adjusted properly. Since he mainly wears it as a blanket liner it works pretty well because his blanket does a good job of holding it in place. Although there are times it hangs crooked on him, hanging way out of his blanket on one side which prompts my mom to say he looks like a rapper who wears really baggy pants and lets his drawers hang out!
The SmartPak Fleece Dress Sheet washes and wears well and seems to be of very good quality. Overall I like the sheet but get annoyed at all the sliding around it does and wish it had legs straps. It also builds up a lot of static so you have to make sure to use fabric softener when you wash it. I am planning on ordering another fleece blanket from Norman Equine Design that looks like it might have a better fit and leg straps, I will keep you posted and let you know which I like better.
Okay, so you know you are a horse person when you get way too excited about getting a horse brush in your stocking at Christmas time. I can say that I am a tad bit embarrassed at how excited I was when I pulled a Germinator brush from my stocking courtesy of my husband (who paid attention when I showed him an ad for it in Horse and Rider magazine).
What makes this brush so unique and special is it’s ability to inhibit the growth and transfer of harmful microbes that can cause skin infections. The Germinator’s bristles are antimicrobial so it can safely be used on horse after horse without worrying about passing on any types of skin problems. The Germinator brush makes an excellent finishing brush, it’s bristles are soft and smooth allowing it to bring out a nice sheen on your horse’s coat.
It’s only drawback would be it’s price, at $17.99 it makes it the most expensive brush I own, but if it keeps germs from spreading it can save you a lot when compared to buying fungus shampoos, creams and treatments. It is a must for busy training stables that use the same set of brushes on multiple horses and worth try for any horse owner. Available online at www.kinetictech.net.
To make it up to you for taking such a long hiatus from blogging I am posting this very funny video that I saw on The Literary Horse (which is a great blog and worth reading). It is called “How To Choose A Human” and it is from the horse’s perspective. Very silly and very cute. Enjoy!
Sorry for the major lack of recent posts, it has been a bit busy! My husband launched a series of ETF’s (exchange traded funds) and with that came a trip to New York City to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Couple that with the holidays, 14 inches of snow (plus the 1/2 inch of ice and 4 inches of snow received over the weekend), below arctic temps and a new horse and my time has been a bit occupied. But I am back to blogging about all my favorite horse products and have lots of new ones to share with you! Stay tuned for some great horse product reviews!
My husband and I ringing the opening bell at the NYSE.
My new horse, Woody B Moxie, a 16′3 hand appendix Quarter Horse.
Happy November! The holidays are just around the corner and I am loving these super cute, a bit kitschy holiday themed halters from www.redhautehorse.com. I know it is a little early to start outfitting your horse in red and green but most of these halters have a lead time of 7-14 days for shipping so now is the time to order yours. Having horses is about having fun and so allow your horse to share in your holiday spirit. Available at www.redhautehorse.com.
I saw this video on Equine Ink’s blog and it was too crazy not to share. I feel so sorry for the horse for putting up with this rider and still doing his job of jumping the fences. I am not sure I have ever seen so bad of a rider take on jumping a full course like this. It is very sad yet quite funny to watch. Enjoy!
If you show Quarter Horses, Paints or Appaloosas it is essential you make daily or at least weekly visits to www.gohorseshow.com. It is an amazing website that brings the entire horse show community together in one great forum. Look for great articles on various horse show related topics, interviews with influential trainers and judges, horse show updates, results and pictures as well as news and information from AQHA, APHA, ApHC and NSBA. There are also free classifieds, directories and ads from your favorite horse trainers, breeders and products. The monthly online magazine GoMag is definitely worth looking out, it is full of gorgeous ads from the whose who of the horse show world. If you are actively showing or used to show you will want to bookmark www.gohorseshow.com.
As I was flipping through SmartPak’s newest catalog I was intrigued by EquiFit’s AgSilver Clean Bucket. The AgSilver Clean Bucket is infused with ionic silver that helps control bacterial growth and bucket slime. According to EquiFit’s testing, one to two months time can lapse between bucket scrubbings and that during side to side tests horses preferred drinking out of the AgSilver Clean Bucket.
I was a tad skeptical but as I mentioned above I was also very intrigued, so I added one to my order of horse supplements and as soon as it arrived began testing it to see if their claims were accurate. I decided to try it in Awesome’s stall (IB Awesome, one of my dad’s cutting horses) because she is a hay dunker. She takes a bite of hay from her feeder and then walks over to her water bucket and dunks it in the water. As you can imagine her bucket is usually super gross and slimy and has to be dumped and scrubbed every day.
After five days her bucket remained clean and slime free once the hay filled water was dumped as opposed to her next door neighbor’s bucket (who is also a hay dunker), that has to be dumped and scrubbed everyday to remove the slime. After ten days the AgSilver Clean Bucket has remained slime free. It truly does live up to it’s claims.
However, the cost of the AgSilver Clean Bucket ($29.95) is pretty high compared to a normal horse bucket ($8.95). If you only have one or two horses that you board or are in training and you want to insure their water buckets stay clean then I would recommend buying the AgSilver Clean Bucket but to fill a whole barn with them may be a bit to expensive when you can just invest in a scrub brush. AgSilver Clean Bucket available at www.equifit.net and www.smartpakequine.com.
