Video: How to Remove a Closed Front Horse Blanket

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Some horses might spook when closed front blankets are taken off them and pulled over their head. Learn how to keep your horse calm and under control when removing a closed front winter blanket in this free equestrian video guide.

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AQHAstar Dec 24, 2008
Frankly, this is the most cumbersome and dangerous way to put on a closed-front blanket I've ever seen. I bought a green 5 year old gelding 3 months ago, and then purchased a closed-front blanket. He'd never seen one, so we worked on desensitizing him to it first. When it didn't bother him at all seeing or feeling it, I rolled it up, back to front and held it with both arms really wide so he could see me on the other side. Rolled up this way, the amount of blanket that goes over his head id roughly 14", and it lands squarely on his withers, making it easy to unroll over his back. If anyone put a blanket on my horse according to this video, he'd be 3 states away. Check all the implications of instructions as many newbies would do this perhaps on a spooky or green horse, have 3/4 of the blanket on the ground where the horse could step on it, and all heck would break loose. Hopeful

Video Transcript

Hi, on behalf of expertvillage.com, I'm Shelly here at AA Calister, in Salt Lake City, Utah and I'd like to show you one of the points about putting on and taking off a close-front winter horse blanket. Now the first couple times you put on or take off your winter horse blanket, this is Rudy here and he's always good to stand, but your horse probably won't be and it's probably going to frighten them a little bit when something goes on over their eyes and over their head. Once they get used to it, most horses will become acclimated and it doesn't give them a problem. So what I'm going to do is pretend that Rudy is tied up and we've untied Rudy because sometimes it will scare them and they will pull back. We don't want to have them tied up so that they can kind of get away from us. Now what we are going to do is run the lead rope through your hands so that you have a hold of your horse and then slip the blanket over his muzzle, up over his eyes and over his ears. Now, I've still got my halter lead rope right here so that if he does get too scared, I still have a hold of him. Now, if you want to tie your horse up, you would do so now, because it's going to be just like a regular blanket, putting it on the rest of the time. Throw it over his back, just like a closed front blanket and it's ready to go. No buckles to do in the front because it's a closed front. This one is a two surgical blanket here that crisscrosses, so we'll do those up for him. It also has the tail strap at the back and the leg straps. So, we'll undo the leg straps for him. This one has detachable legs straps. You can see that they will detach from both sides because your horse might not need them. Depends on how much your horse runs around, how wild he is. If he's pretty mellow, a lot of times you don't even need the back straps. There just here to help keep the blanket from getting too shifted during his movement and run around. So that's how you’re going to put on the horse blanket, the closed front. To take it off, we just going to undo the leg straps, undo the belly straps, pull to the side. I'm going to grab a hold of Rudy's lead rope here, but I don't want to tie him up. Pull it off over his head, and I still have a hold of him. This is how you take off a closed front blanket.

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How to Remove a Closed Front Horse Blanket

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