Nothing defines the changing seasons for me more than the transition from early fall to blanket season … that is when day time temperatures consistently hover around zero degrees Celsius and Bear needs to be blanketed. This is when I know winter is surely on its way.
With his hirsute winter coat clipped, so as not to be a sweat trap when he’s training, Bear needs the added buffer of an insulated blanket to ward off the cold and keep out the mud. For, like any self-respecting horse, he loves to express his inner foal with a good roll in the mud (or dirt, depending on the season, of course), when the spirit moves.
Needless to say, come spring I have a lot of laundry to do …
Thanks for visiting …
Dorothy 🙂
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Copyright Aimwell CreativeWorks 2012
Eyes to Heart 
You prompted a question about horse blankets — if you see a horse in the field with a blanket on, despite the temperature being warm, is it to protect from biting bugs? or something else? ~ Kat
Good question. … It depends. Summer turnout sheets are lightweight and may be put on a horse susceptible to biting insects or to prevent a dark coat on a show horse from bleaching out. Those are two of the reasons I can think of. Bear doesn’t wear a summer sheet. … Thanks for visiting and your comment … D 🙂
I suppose you send him to the car wash from here, huh?
Wash stall, actually, and only in the summer when the weather’s warm. Rest of the time it’s all elbow grease for grooming and the blankets go to the horse blanket laundry in town in spring. In the winter the dirt gets brushed off the blankets with a stiff brush when they’re dry. High maintenance but worth it … 😉