Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our older horse, who is at pasture this winter with other younger horses, needs to be blanketed to keep her hips warm. The problem is, the other horses chew and pull at her blanket until it is torn to shreds. We are on the second blanket now and don't have the money to keep replacing the blankets. How can we prevent the other horses from destroying another blanket.

Exasperated.

I wonder if there's anything you could spray onto the blanket (like that Bitter Apple stuff) that would make it taste bad and therefore not be chewed on? I know that with my mom's dog, who was chewing his injured paw, the bitter apple flavor discouraged him frrom chewin'. Wonder if it'd work on horses?

That is a frustrating problem with no easy answer! We have noticed that in pastures where only one or two horses are blanketed, the problem seems to be worse than where they all have blankets on - kind of the odd man out getting the attention.

If there's no way to pasture her either by herself or with more laid back horses that aren't interested in messing with the blanket, then you're pretty much in rough shape!

There is a product on the market that is made for putting on bandaging which tastes gosh awful and you might be able to liberally smear it on the most chewed on spots of the blanket - it's strong though and you don't want your mare rubbing on it and getting it in her eyes so be careful where you apply it. I think it's called "Wrap-Last" or something very similar...I have a friend who uses it on her stalls to prevent the horses from chewing on them. It might help.

Other than blanketing, you might also want to increase the fat and fiber in her feed to help her put/keep more weight on and stay warmer. A good senior feed or a high fat feed like Purina's Strategy would help her, and of course all the good quality grass hay she can get.

Good luck with her, and let us know if you are able to prevent blanket destruction!
-----
PH Cody
HorseHobbyist Site Coordinator