Have you ever returned from a competition late at night, with two horses to unload,
\nfive horses to rug\/blanket and feed with three tired, cranky young children in the car?<\/p>\n

I have!<\/p>\n

As much as I know about the theory of bringing the horses into an enclosed area and
\ntying them up while their rug is put on, we all tend to take short cuts when we are in
\na hurry.\u00a0 Especially with horses that we know and trust!<\/p>\n

On one of these occasions, I fed the horses and while they were eating I put the rugs
\non.\u00a0 The last one was a young stallion.\u00a0 Just as I had the rug half on, one of the children
\nwoke up and started crying. The stallion was unsettled with the strange noise, and he
\ngalloped off.<\/p>\n

Luckily I had done up the back leg straps first, so after a quick buck and kick out, the
\nrug lay in a crumpled heap on the ground.<\/p>\n

Imagine if I had done up the chest strap first!\u00a0 He would have galloped off and the rug
\nwould have slipped around his neck leaving the bulk of the rug for him to trip over and
\nstumble on.\u00a0 If he didn\u2019t go through a fence, he certainly would have torn the rug to
\nshreds before I could rescue him<\/p>\n

—oooOOOooo—<\/p>\n

Many years ago, I worked in racing stables. \u00a0It was common for the stable hands to
\nride the horses from the stables to the track with the front of the rugs\/ sheets done up
\nand the leg straps undone.<\/p>\n

Every time I saw this I shuddered.<\/p>\n

I lost count of the number of times I saw horses trying to gallop back to the stables
\nafter they had dislodged their rider, summersaulting on the bitumen road, slipping
\nand scrambling to their feet as they stood on and stumbled over their rugs that were
\nstill done up around their necks. There were sparks flying (it was often before dawn)
\nand on one occasion a car hit a horse, who received two broken legs and had to be
\nput down.<\/p>\n

—oooOOOooo—<\/p>\n

I know many people have some great reasons why rugs should be done up with the
\nchest strap first and if the horse is tied up and in an enclosed area these reasons could
\nbe valid.<\/p>\n

However my experience has shown me that doing the leg straps up first (and undoing
\nthem last) is best practice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Happy Riding,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Glenys \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever returned from a competition late at night, with two horses to unload, five horses to rug\/blanket and feed with three tired, cranky young children in the car? I have! As much as I know about the theory of bringing the horses into an enclosed area and tying them up while their rug […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,31,71,74,8],"tags":[105],"yoast_head":"\n