Horse Stable Blankets

Stable blankets are usually used, as the name implies, when the horse is standing in a stall or when the horse is being shipped on a horse trailer. Stable blankets come in three weights: light, medium, and heavy. 

Stable blankets are usually made of sturdy cotton, canvas, or wool and usually have a thick lining.  Stable blankets are usually fastened with straps across the chest and a strap that runs around the horses belly like a girth.  Stable blankets are strictly for indoor use and are not waterproof and not appropriate for your horse to wear out in the pasture. Stable blankets are often put on horses that are stabled overnight when the barn heaters are turned off.

Your Horse Might Need a Stable Blanket if:

• You live in an area that gets severe temperatures during the winter.

• Your horse has a clipped coat or you want to keep the horse from growing a thick winter coat.  If you do start blanketing the horse early in the fall in order to keep a thick winter coat from growing or you clip the horse regularly, it’s important that you blanket the horse throughout the winter so that the horse doesn’t get too cold. 

• The stable where the horse is kept is warm during the day but gets cold at night when all the barn heaters are turned off.  Many stables don’t blanket the horses during the day in the winter but use stable blankets at night to keep them warm.

• You travel with your horse a lot.  You should have a stable blanket packed in your gear if you are traveling with your horse just in case it is cold where you are going and your horse needs the added protection of a stable blanket.

• If you turn your horse out in the winter in very cold temperatures your horse might need a stable blanket under a turnout blanket for extra warmth.

• Your horse has sensitive skin. Stable blankets are smoother than turnout blankets so a turnout blanket might irritate your horse’s skin. If that happens you’ll have to put a stable blanket under the turnout blanket because a stable blanket is not waterproof and not secure enough to be used as a turnout blanket.

If you are not showing your horse and don’t need to keep your horse’s coat short and your stable is fairly well insulated and the horse’s stall isn’t drafty, then you probably don’t need to invest in a stable blanket.  A stable blanket isn’t something that every horse needs to have because some horses can make it through the winter quite well without a blanket.  Horses adjust to cold temperatures very well.