Things I Bought & Liked

Along with the new horse has come a number of new items, mostly small one off things that don’t necessarily need a full post review.

Etsy Blanket Tags

I didn’t like any of the plastic or metal tags I could find online to identify Iggy’s blankets. So I went a different route – keychain tags. I placed a custom order with ___ and within a few days I had adorable light blue and navy blanket tags (color coordinate or don’t bother thank u very much). I sprayed them down with a coat of ScotchGuard and off to the barn they went. It’s still early, but I’m impressed. They’re easy to spot versus some of the small tags and they’ve stayed readable and clean despite their light color and the mud swamp we now live in.

Stall Sign from PalletsbyCatherine

I don’t think there’s much to really review for a stall sign, but… here is it? Iggy was looking like the poor temporary kid with a piece of paper with his name on it on his stall. None of our stalls have true nameplates, but all the other horses had pretty painted ones, so I decided Iggs needed one too. I ordered his from this Etsy store and it came quickly and is so cute.

Schneiders Adjusta Fit V-Free Midweight Blanket Liner

A few weeks ago the temperatures did their Indiana thing and dropped something like 30 degrees overnight, meaning we had a few days with highs in the single digits to teens. AKA the days I question my sanity for living here. Iggy had a sheet and a medium, but no heavy and I had a moment of total panic realizing that nothing I had was going to be warm enough for my horse. In a blind fit of ‘take my money’, I ordered a 280g liner from Schneiders with two day shipping. It showed up the next day and has been used a half dozen or so times since.

They run a little big so I ordered a 74 and while it’s a smidge tight around his chest, any bigger would have been too big for him. It has holes for straps to be fed through that keep it in place and make it pretty universal in terms of what blanket you use it with. My biggest annoyance with it is that it has a closed front, but I also get that an open one would add bulk there. My annoyance is 100% my own laziness of having to unsnap crossties to put it on.

While it doesn’t feel indestructible, it also doesn’t feel cheap and so far it’s held up well. If it was something that I was going to use daily all winter, perhaps I’d have different feelings, but for something that should get < 20 wears per season, it’s perfect. It doesn’t seem to slip around at all, which I appreciate, and hasn’t caused any rubs or other issues. Each time I’ve pulled it off of him, he’s been toasty but not overheating underneath and I’ll totally admit I’ve wrapped myself up in it more than once. I have only used it with a 200g medium over it, but I’m sure it would work just as well with other weights. I think it’s a really good option if you live somewhere you may not need a liner full-time and you can’t beat Scheniders sales.

EquiFuse Gleam Moisturizer and Shine Serum

I feel like I’m the last person to find out about this stuff, but wow. No matter how rats nest-y tails have gotten this year (uh mud dreadlocks are a thing), some of this and a Wet Brush have just about any tail in the barn looking lesson worthy. And it smells so good. I’ve converted about half the barn and already purchased the rest of the EquiFuse line and now I’m just counting down the days until it’s bath time.