Binkys

For those of you familiar with the big Boo in CA. You will remember that she was very rarely uncovered. Her pink skin was way to vulnerable in the hot desert sun. She grew used to this since her only shelter was a tin roof covering on legs in all but our Valley Center set up. She went through 1 and a half fly sheets a year it seemed. Here our gal gets to go naked all the time! Its winter after all, much to her delight! She didn't even fluff up her woolly mammoth type coat until it got below 40 degrees with a stiff breeze. Even then she was quite content in the sun. Cuervo on the other hand is cold. He has a longish coat for his norm from Ca but its not cutting the mustard. In fact several weeks ago we had a 71 degree day with a warm soaking rain. He came in shivering violently. On went the wool cooler and down went a warm bran mash. So it seems my two horses have swapped needs. Now its his turn to wear clothes most of the time. In his trunk he has a rain sheet with no insulation, a lite, weatherproof, puffy blanket with minimal insulation and a heavy duty winterized rug that I purchased when we thought we where heading north to Or. So of course what does he need? Why, a medium weight weather proof rug. From what I have read in the various catalogues a medium weight blanket is 200 grams of poly fill insulation and is suitable down to 35 degrees with a full coat. OK, but what if it heats up to the mid 50s? Which it has been known to do here on the coast after a chilling, rainy morning. It also goes the other way with equal speed and propensity. Almost every one has heard the saying "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes". Well, I gotta say, this place is the closet I've come to this saying ringing true since Boulder CO. My head is fairly spinning with choices of high tech, high priced , high falutin', choices! Many years ago in MD, my standard rule was "keep 'em dry and keep 'em natural". That meant everyone had a good rain sheet and a stable blanket to make me feel better on bitter nights. This combined with a very modified trace clip seemed to fit the bill just fine. It seems, my sensitive, light bodied, boy is bucking the norm. Next week arrives a brand new, temperature controlling, mid weight, moisture wicking,self righting,coat polishing, rain proof, wind breaking blanky of the ages. Boo is looking awfully smug, my guess is she took a lot of ribbing in Ca for her outfits.