Cold Front, Winter Blankets, and New Friends

The weather man has been telling us that it's going to be a bit chilly in the south this weekend. They are guesstimating the temperatures are going to be in the teens! In the six years that I have lived here, it has NEVER been that cold here. My Father in Law bought blankets for his horses. He has NEVER done that either! It must be something in the air. Just a week ago I took some pictures of the boys and it was nice and sunny and warm! Now, not so much. I also, dug out my horses' winter blankets. I had actually forgotten I even had any horse blankets! I have two winter blankets and two sheets. Two days ago, I drug out those heavy things and tried them on some of our horses. My Thoroughbred mare was more than happy to wear the WeatherBeeta turn out blanket I had. She gets so cold so easily. I wasn't too worried about her wearing it because nobody seems to bother her. I love this blanket! It's durable and warm and super water proof! It was worth every penny! But the other night, when I put it on my mare, Ozzie made an escape from his pasture! He pushed out one of the wire panels and made a break for it! The next morning Mr. Cowboy went out to feed and didn't see Ozzie but poured him some grain anyway. He figured Ozzie was just eating grass behind our house. Little did he know Ozzie was in the big pasture with his girlfriend! But Pearl seized the moment! She heard and smelled grain and tired to squeeze her narrow Thoroughbred self through the broken wire panel to get to the grain. But she didn't account for one thing! Her heavy duty thick comfy blanket! And sure enough, the blanket got caught on the panel and tore an "L" shape from Pearl's shoulder to her hip! I couldn't believe it! When I brought Pearl in to feed and saw the huge tear, I about died! There went 160 dollars out the window! So much for total water proof blanket. Luckily the makers of WeatherBeeta blankets are super smart! They actually sew the batting on the inside of the blankets. So, if their is a tear, the batting won't go anywhere! I was happy for that much. So, yesterday I spent two hours at a laundry mat washing horse blankets so I could take them to get repaired. It seemed like all four of my blankets needed some kind of repair, and in order for them to be repaired I had to have them cleaned. Just a little tip for everyone who has WeatherBeeta heavy weight blankets. When you wash them, do so wrong side out! That way when the washer spins the water out, the water can actually get out of the blanket!! I learned that the hard way and had a sopping wet blanket after the spin cycle! I finally got the blankets all cleaned and dried. It didn't take the repair man but five minutes to sew up all four blankets! He was awesome. He and I chatted a bit while he fixed them. He told me how his wife has osteoporosis and how she loves to ride but he is too scared to let her. He's afraid she might fall off and break something. So, they have some miniature horses for now. He then went on to talk about how she used to ride English. I told him that I rode English too! He got all excited. I told him that I had an older mare that I showed and jumped on and if his wife ever wanted to come out and ride she could. I told him that my old mare is now my kids' rodeo horse. That my four year old rides around on her. I gave him my number and our web address so she could look us up! He was so excited for his wife that he refused to charge me for fixing all four of my blankets. Originally he was going to charge me 20 dollars per blanket! And I was excited to maybe be able to have a riding partner. Someone who can walk and trot around my kids' horse while I ride another. It would save me a lot of riding time. I just hope that she rides as well as her husband says she does. I'll keep all my fingers and toes crossed! I am always wanting to find someone who would want to just come and ride a few horses for me. I have a couple that just need to be exercised and if the repair man's wife would come and do that for me I would be so happy!