How do you store your horse blankets?? As with most housekeeping endeavors, there is never one solution to fit all needs, but the following is what I have found works the best for our friends at Equine Welfare Society.
This simple, inexpensive set-up will keep you from screaming when your horses decide to roll in the fresh mud puddle right before it’s time to come inside with their dripping, sloppy blankets!
Materials:
Tape Measure
Level
Stud Finder
Marking Pencil
Bolts (with corresponding anchors if needed)
Washers
Drill Driver and Bits
Easy-Up® Pro Series Swing Arm Blanket and Saddle Pad Rack (Schnieder’s Saddlery)
Location:
Our blanket storage resides in an empty stall. There are mats on the floor for easy cleanup, a window for ventilation to help blankets dry, the stall front allows for ventilation while keeping the look tidy. The extra space is also used for wheelbarrow, pitch-fork and broom storage.
Because the system is so simple, it can also be easily removed to convert your stall back to being equine safe. If you don’t have a stall to spare, any area with good ventilation will work! In the summer (or when blankets are not needed), the arms can easily be removed leaving only the bar which is flush with the wall for safety.
Installation:
Height – Our blankets range from 84” down to foal size with a little bit of everything in-between. 90” from the floor to the bottom of the bracket keeps them off the floor.
Measure and mark 90” (or your desired height)
Find your studs (IMPORTANT – Horse blankets are HEAVY!)
Place bracket and level marking the holes where the bolts will go
Drill pilot holes
Bolt in place (If your studs do not align with the bolt holes in the bracket, use hardware with properly rated anchors.)
Install handing arms
Voila! Hang your blankets
Maintenance:
We have had ours up for seven years and have had zero adjustments or broken pieces. We used three bars spaced evenly on a twelve foot wall and ordered extra arms to accommodate all of the blankets. We routinely have twenty blankets in use at any given time.
Tips:
Keep a designated step stool by the blankets to make hanging and retrieving a breeze.
Hang with chest buckles in towards the wall and use the hook at the end to hook something on the neck. Horseware blankets have metal loops for hood attachments which work brilliantly.
Brass tags on the hood loops or chest buckles make finding blankets a snap. Quillins Leather and Tack makes round brass tags that are indestructible. They are the same price as more common brands, but the quality is vastly superior.
Keep as much space between individual blankets as possible to help them dry.
I wish you many years of organized, dry, almost-stink-free blankets!!