Oh yes, another oldie but goodie song from my youth.  Which today seems like forever ago.  Hate getting old.  Never believed it would happen to me, of all people.

When I was writing the Post about checking under the blankets, it hit me; they are “Artificial Aids” also.  Funny never thought of them like that before.

We talk about Aids and Artificial Aids that we use in riding, and training, but a blanket?  Well in the wild God doesn’t supply “blankets” so to speak.  Horses grow long thick coats to keep them warm.  If they do get cold, they run around a little to heat themselves up.  Smart, right?  So once again us humans step in and try to make it better.  So we shave their natural protection off of them, put them in a warm?? barn, and blanket them.  So here they stand naked as a jay bird (have no idea where that saying came from) forced to stand still, and possibly have to shiver to keep warm.  I know, I know, they have to look pretty and be easy for us to take care of.  It’s all about us again.  So now the blankets are on and we believe they will be fine until spring.

But a blanket does not act or react like their natural coat.  It makes the hair lay flat.  We’ve always been told to layer when we go out.  It helps to hold the heat in.  Well that’s what their hair does naturally.  Their hair is made to lay flat or fluff according to their needs.  If it’s hot, it lays flat.  If it’s cold it fluffs up and traps the heat of their body under the long hairs to keep them warm.  But if they have a blanket on and get warm, they can’t take it off, they have to wait for us to come and help them remove it.  Although I’ve had some horses which do that just fine in one way or another.  Be mindful of the temps and remove that thing before they over heat.  Most destruction of a blanket is caused by them not wanting it on.  They either have an itch under there that they can’t get at, or it’s too hot and they want it off.  This is not Rocket Science 101.

A blanket also gets to rubbing on certain areas of the body.  Especially areas like the point of shoulder, where the skin is close to the bone with no natural padding.  So being we impose this unnatural article of clothing onto their bodies, we are ultimately responsible for taking the time to make sure that everything we’ve caused is rectified.

This wasn’t supposed to be just about blankets, but it sure has led in that direction.

I do put sheets and blankets on my horses.  The coat they get in the winter here in Florida, is not the coat they used to get up north.  They grow coats according to the day light hours, not the temperature.  It’s also the drastic change in temperature that we react to.  It will be 85 and then boom, 40 degrees, and surprise, back to 75, down to 28.  My horses have an extensive wardrobe, but we depend a lot on the weatherman to give us a heads up.  It’s the only job in the world that you can be wrong every single day, still get paid and not get fired if you are wrong.  (Sounds like big government in Washington)  Every channel you listen too has a different idea of what the weather is going to be.  My neighbor and I, last year, decided to keep a record of what they said it would be, what we thought it would be, and what really happened.  We won most of the time.

So I walk out the door, look to the sky and make a decision.  I can’t go by, if I’m cold they’re cold, because I’m always cold.

Well I have to end here because I’m going to go and apply for a job as weathergirl.  I can certainly get paid for being wrong, just as well as they can.  My guess is as good as theirs.

I will continue the Artificial Aids thing another time.  Keep an eye to the sky, if you get wet, it’s going to rain.  How am I doing so far?