A horse blanket or rug is a blanket

Blanket

A blanket is a type of bedding, generally speaking, a large piece of cloth, intended to keep the user warm, especially while sleeping. Blankets are distinguished from sheets by their thickness and purpose; the thickest sheet is still thinner than the lightest blanket. Blankets are generally used...

 or animal coat

Coat (clothing)

A coat is a long garment worn by both men and women, for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front, closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a belt, or a combination of some of these...

intended for keeping a horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 or other equine

Equidae

Equidae is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, donkeys, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus Equus...

 warm or otherwise protected from wind or other elements. They are tailored to fit around a horse's body from chest to rump, with straps crossing underneath the belly to secure the blanket yet allowing the horse to move about freely. Most have one or two straps that buckle in front, but a few designs have a closed front and must be slipped over a horse's head. Some designs also have small straps that loop lightly around the horse's hind legs to prevent the blanket from slipping sideways.

Protection from the elements

Standard horse blankets are commonly kept on a horse when it is loose in a stall or pasture as well as when traveling. Different weights are made for different weather conditions, and some are water-resistant or waterproof. Modern materials similar to those used in human outdoor wear are commonly used in blanket manufacture.

Blankets are sometimes used to keep the horse's hair short. If horses are blanketed at the beginning of the autumn, especially if kept in a lighted area for 16 hours a day, they will not grow a winter coat

Coat (animal)

Coat, or the nature and quality of a show mammal's pelage, is important to the animal fancy in the judging of the animal, particularly at conformation dog shows, cat shows and horse shows...

. Blankets also protect horses that are kept with a short clipped hair coat for show purposes. When a horse is given a full body clip, or even a partial "trace clip", it needs to have a blanket kept on at all times if the weather is cool because the horse no longer has the natural insulation of a longer hair coat. If a blanket is put on a horse at the beginning of the winter in order to suppress the growth of a winter coat, or if the horse is kept clipped in cold weather, the blanket it cannot be taken off until warmer weather arrives in the spring. If a horse is subjected to cold weather without either a blanket or a natural hair coat to keep it warm, it may become ill, and vulnerable to sicknesses such as influenza

Influenza

Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...

.

Heavy blankets for warmth make up the bulk of the horse blanket market, but lightweight blanket may be used in the summer to help the animal ward off flies and to prevent the hair coat from bleaching out. Such blankets are usually called a "sheet" or a "fly sheet". They are usually made of some type of nylon or strong synthetic fiber, but with the capacity to "breathe" so that the animal remains cool. Most have a smooth nylon lining in front to prevent hair from wearing off on the shoulders. They are becoming increasingly popular, particularly with the rise of insect borne diseases

Infectious disease

Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...

 such as West Nile Virus

West Nile virus

West Nile virus is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, domestic...

.

Any blanket may be supplemented with a neck cover or a full hood. Neck covers are often attached directly to the blanket. Hoods are a separate piece of horse "clothing", which cover the neck and come down the head to just above the muzzle of the horse, with holes cut for the eyes and ears. Summer weight hoods and neck covers help keep away insects and are also frequently used to keep a horse clean before a horse show

Horse show

A Horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and...

. Winter weight hoods are used for warmth.

Saddle blankets

A blanket or pad used under a saddle when a horse is being ridden is called by many names, including a saddle blanket

Saddle blanket

The terms saddle blanket, saddle pad and saddle cloth refer to blankets, pads or fabrics inserted under a saddle. These are usually used to absorb sweat, cushion the saddle, and protect the horse's back. Saddle blankets have been used for many centuries with all types of saddles...

, saddle cloth, numnah, and saddle pad. They usually do not cover the horse's entire body, though a hybrid design that is a cross between a saddle blanket and a horse blanket, called a quarter sheet, is a blanket placed under the saddle but which covers the horse from shoulder to hip while riding. Quarter sheets are sometimes used in cold weather to keep a horse's muscles loosened up when warming up for competition, or on horses that may have to stand around when under saddle and run the risk of stiffening up if their muscles get chilled.

Other designs

A cooler or a mantle, is a large, nearly square blanket with ties that is draped over a horse that is hot and sweaty from an intense workout, or one that has just been bathed and is wet all over. It is commonly made of wool or synthetic fleece, though a few designs are made of woven cotton. It is worn as the horse is being walked to cool down and allows enough air circulation for the horse to dry, but slows the rate of drying to prevent the horse from becoming hypothermic

Hypothermia

Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as . Body temperature is usually maintained near a constant level of through biologic homeostasis or thermoregulation...

. It is designed so it can be tied shut in front, most designs have a small browband

Bridle

A bridle is a piece of equipment used to direct a horse. As defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, the "bridle" includes both the headstall that holds a bit that goes in the mouth of a horse, and the reins that are attached to the bit....

 which can be used to keep it positioned well up on the neck, and it may have a loose cord that goes beneath the tail to prevent the wind from blowing it off from the rear, but usually it has no other straps or attachments. It is intended to be used on a horse while the animal is being led or held by a person and not left on an unattended horse. In windy weather, a loose surcingle

Surcingle

A surcingle is a strap made of leather or leather-like synthetic materials such as nylon or neoprene, sometimes with elastic, that fastens around a horse's girth area. A surcingle may be used for ground training, some types of in-hand exhibition, and over a saddle or horse pack to stabilize the load...

 may be added to prevent the cooler from blowing completely off.

A traditionally-shaped blanket of loosely crocheted cotton, called an anti-sweat sheet, is used to absorb moisture. Often used alone to wick moisture from the surface of the horse, if placed under a cooler, it is removed when it becomes wet.

A barrier blanket is sometimes used in Australian Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

racing. This blanket weighs about 40 kilograms and is placed over the horse prior to entering the starting stalls. It is then tied to the back of the stalls after the horse has been loaded and remains in the barrier as the horse jumps. Quite a few horses respond positively to it and are more easily loaded and are calmer in the stalls.