Making your blankets last: cleaning, waterproofing, and repair

A good turnout blanket should last five or six winters, not two. The difference is washing it right, re-waterproofing it on schedule, and fixing small tears before they become big ones.

Some links in this article are affiliate links; Apex Equine may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

A decent turnout blanket costs real money, and most people get two winters out of gear that should last six. The blanket doesn't wear out — it stops being waterproof, the leg straps fray, a gusset rips, and into the trash it goes. None of that is necessary. A blanket maintained on a simple schedule keeps a horse dry for years, and the routine isn't complicated once you know it.

Cleaning comes first, because a dirty blanket can't be waterproofed. Caked mud, hair, and sweat clog the fabric's pores and the waterproof membrane can't breathe or repel through the grime. At the end of the season, brush off the dried mud, then wash the blanket — and here's the part people skip — with a detergent made for technical waterproof fabrics, not regular laundry soap. Ordinary detergent leaves a residue that actually attracts water and kills the waterproofing. Use a blanket wash like Nikwax Rug Wash. You can do it in a large front-loading machine (never a top-loader with an agitator, which shreds the straps), at a self-serve horse-blanket laundromat, or send it to a professional service. SmartPak carries the proper blanket wash and waterproofing products that won't ruin the membrane.

Re-waterproofing is the step that buys you the extra years. A turnout blanket's water repellency wears off — usually within a season or two of hard use — and you'll know it's gone when the horse comes in wet through to the skin under a blanket that's "waterproof." After washing and while the blanket is still damp, apply a wash-in or spray-on waterproofing treatment. Nikwax and Storm are the common names; the wash-in type goes in the machine, the spray type you apply by hand to the outer shell. Let it cure fully dry before use. Dover stocks both wash-in and spray waterproofing treatments, and one bottle treats several blankets. When Lacey at Windrow started re-waterproofing her herd's blankets every fall, she stopped replacing two or three a year — the same blankets are going into their fifth winter dry.

Repairs are where small problems become expensive ones if you ignore them. A two-inch tear in the shell, left alone, becomes a foot-long rip the first time the horse rolls. Catch it early. For field repairs, a heavy-duty self-adhesive nylon repair patch holds surprisingly well on a clean, dry shell; keep a blanket repair patch kit in the tack room and slap a patch on the moment you spot a tear. For bigger jobs — a torn-out surcingle, a ripped gusset, a shredded leg strap — a blanket repair service or a canvas/upholstery shop can re-stitch and replace hardware for a fraction of a new blanket's price. Replacement leg straps, surcingles, and T-buckles are cheap and sold separately; Riding Warehouse keeps the replacement blanket hardware and straps you'll inevitably need when a strap finally gives out.

A few habits that extend the life of every blanket you own. Check the fit and the straps regularly through winter, because a strap rubbing or a buckle starting to fail is easier to fix on a Tuesday than during a storm. Never put a blanket away wet — a damp blanket folded into a bin grows mildew that stains and weakens the fabric and smells like a swamp by spring. Dry it fully, then store it clean in a breathable bag or bin, not a sealed plastic bag that traps any leftover moisture.

The blanket library is also only as good as where you keep it. Cleaned, repaired, and waterproofed blankets stored on a dedicated shelf instead of a damp heap is the payoff of decent tack room organization, and it's far easier to grab the right weight in a hurry. And maintenance only makes sense if you bought the right blanket in the first place — if you're shopping new, get the denier and fill right so you're not pouring care into a blanket that was never tough enough for your horse. Wash it, waterproof it, patch it early, store it dry. Do that, and one good blanket outlasts three cheap ones.