How to measure a horse for a blanket

Bymuntaseer

Blanket size is one measurement in inches, and it is not the horse’s height, its weight or its breed.

How to measure a horse for a blanket

Stand the horse square on level ground and use a soft tape, the sort used for sewing rather than a builder’s tape.

There is only one measurement to take, which is the answer to how do I measure my horse for a blanket without a chart, a breed table or a set of scales.

Start at the centre of the chest, just below the neck. Take the tape around the chest and the widest part of the shoulder, along the side of the body, to the point of the rump.

Finish about 10 inches below the tailhead rather than at the tail itself. That figure is Georgia’s extension service, and it is the step people most often get wrong by stopping short.

The number you read off is the blanket size. A horse measuring 75 inches takes a 75.

What size blanket does my horse need if it falls between sizes?

Take the larger one. Rugs come in 3-inch steps, so a horse measuring 77 inches goes into a 78 and not a 75.

Both the extension services and the manufacturers say the same thing here, which is unusual enough to be worth noticing.

The reason is that the two failures are not symmetrical.

A rug slightly too big shifts about and may need the straps taking in; a rug too small rubs the points of the shoulder bald and stops the horse getting up comfortably.

Horse blanket sizes in cm are not conversions

This is the part that catches people out, and it catches them out silently.

The manufacturer’s own size table. The third column is what your inch measurement converts to, and it is not the same number as the second.
Sold as (US/UK) Sold as (Europe) What the inches actually convert to
36 in 90 cm 91.4 cm
39 in 100 cm 99.1 cm
42 in 105 cm 107 cm
45 in 115 cm 114 cm
48 in 120 cm 122 cm
51 in 130 cm 130 cm
54 in 140 cm 137 cm
57 in 145 cm 145 cm
60 in 155 cm 152 cm
63 in 160 cm 160 cm
66 in 170 cm 168 cm
69 in 175 cm 175 cm
72 in 185 cm 183 cm
75 in 190 cm 191 cm
78 in 200 cm 198 cm
81 in 205 cm 206 cm
84 in 215 cm 213 cm
87 in 225 cm 221 cm

Read down the second and third columns. A rug sold as 120 cm is the same rug sold as 48 inches, but 48 inches is 122 cm.

The largest gap on the whole table is at 87 inches, where the European size is 225 cm and the true conversion is 221.

So converting your own measurement and then shopping by centimetres can put you a size out. Measure in inches and read the inch column, or measure in centimetres and read the centimetre column, but do not cross between them.

What about height, weight and breed?

They are all proxies, and they are all worse than the tape.

Two horses at the same height can be 6 inches apart in body length, because one is a stocky cob and the other a rangy Thoroughbred. Height is measured at the withers and a blanket is not.

Charts that map hands to rug sizes exist and they are a starting point for buying blind. If you have the horse and a tape, there is no reason to use one.

How to measure a horse blanket with no tag

Lay it flat and measure the bottom edge, from the front closure at the chest to the back edge of the tail flap.

That length is the size it was sold as, give or take a little stretch. It is worth doing on second-hand rugs, where tags rarely survive.

Fit is not the same thing as size

The size gets you the right rug on the shelf. Whether it fits is a separate check and it takes thirty seconds.

The rug should sit in front of the withers rather than on them, and you should be able to slide a flat hand right around the neck opening without forcing it.

The back edge should reach the top of the tail. Belly surcingles cross under the barrel with a hand’s width of slack, and leg straps loop through each other so the rug cannot swing sideways.

Check the shoulders after a week.

Rubbed hair at the points of the shoulder means the rug is too tight there whatever the tag says, and no amount of adjusting the straps will fix it.

Sizing a rug you are not going to need

One last thing worth saying on a page about buying rugs. The commonest mistake in blanketing is not the size — it is putting one on at all.

Horses in a full winter coat generally do not need covering until it is genuinely cold, and the blanket weight calculator will tell you where that line is for your own horse.

Common questions about horse blanket sizing

What size blanket for a 14.2 hh horse?

Somewhere between about 63 and 69 inches, and that spread is exactly why the question cannot be answered from height. A stocky 14.2 cob and a fine-built 14.2 pony are several sizes apart.

Take the tape from the centre of the chest to the point of the rump and use what it says.

How do I know what size blanket my horse needs?

Measure from the centre of the chest, around the widest part of the shoulder, along the body to the point of the rump about 10 inches below the tailhead.

The number in inches is the size. Rugs step in 3-inch increments, and if you land between two you take the larger.

Is it better for a horse blanket to be too big or too small?

Too big.

A slightly large rug can be taken in at the straps and mostly just moves about; a small one rubs the shoulders raw and restricts the horse lying down and getting up.

Every size guide and every extension source says to size up when you are between.

What is the average size of a horse blanket?

Around 75 to 78 inches for an average adult riding horse, but “average” does more harm than good here.

The sold range runs from 36 inches for a miniature to 87 for a draft, and the whole point of measuring is that your horse is somewhere specific in it.

What size horse does a 72 blanket fit?

A horse measuring 72 inches from chest to rump — typically a middleweight riding horse of about 16 hands, though the height is a consequence rather than the rule.

In European sizing the same rug is sold as 185 cm, which is not what 72 inches converts to.

Do I measure my horse in hands or inches for a blanket?

Inches, and along the body rather than up the leg.

Hands measure height at the withers, which tells you nothing about how long a horse is from chest to rump — and length is what a rug has to cover.

How to measure a horse for a fly sheet?

Exactly the same measurement.

Fly sheets, turnout rugs, stable rugs and coolers all use the same body length in the same 3-inch steps, so a horse that takes a 78 turnout takes a 78 fly sheet.

Can I measure my horse for a blanket on my own?

You can, but it is much easier with someone holding the other end of the tape and the horse standing square. Measuring alone tends to produce a short reading, because the tape sags in the middle and you end up guessing at the rump.

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