One wonderful aspect of being a horse owner or enthusiast is the variety of available equipment–generally innovative, cool stuff–to use under saddle or in the stable. Exciting innovations in recent years have lent safety, comfort, and practicality to our horse adventures.

Bev Harrison is a master saddler and owner of The Tack Collection, a full-service equestrian tack store in Lafayette, Colo. She sagely comments, "Whoever wrote the saying, ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same,’ may well have been describing horse equipment. Given the vast number of years humans have been putting equipment on horses to gain control and provide personal comfort, it’s not surprising that many of the ‘new’ gizmos can be traced back to earlier versions with some minor variations. However, there is a difference –that of a relatively new focus on the comfort and well-being of the horses and also on rider safety … concern for our horses has prompted physiological and mechanical research using new, superior materials or traditional materials used in new ways."

Blankets and Sheets

Whether used for warmth or cooling, horse blankets and sheets traditionally have been made of cotton, canvas, durable fabrics like Cordura, and/or water-repellent materials, and lined with wool, felt, Polarfleece, or polyester. Harrison notes, "We now expect blankets to be waterproof and breathable with an assortment of choices in denier (a unit of weight expressing the size or coarseness of a natural or synthetic fiber or yarn–so, essentially, a gauge of thickness) of the fabric. There are also more choices of design that fine-tune the fit for different breeds." One example is a blanket designed to accommodate withers of big-shouldered breeds to reduce rubbing