Horse blanket

Some designs also have small straps that loop lightly around the horse's hind legs to prevent the blanket from slipping sideways.

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.

Blankets also protect horses that are kept with a short clipped hair coat for show purposes.

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.

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.

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.

[1] A traditionally-shaped blanket of loosely crocheted cotton, called an anti-sweat sheet, is used to absorb moisture.