Hey, you've worn one of these before, you were a dam racehorse!

The first time I had anything to do with a horse blankets I was alone and had to remove them, starting with the crazy long legged thoroughbred.  First of all, I had no idea how these things were put on, so absolutely no idea what I was doing.  I spied the buckets in front, okay lets start there.  Nothing is easy, nylon straps were damp, swollen, and hiding inside, I don't know what, pockets or loops or something. Struggle, struggle, sweat, curse, horse is jumping around cuz the crazy lady is radiating a frantic vibe … They, crazy horses, can sense these things. Ok, now those two buckles undone, what the hell else is holding this thing on?

Hmm, straps underneath, where do they go?  Under a wee flap, another buckle. A slip hinge thing, does it slip? Noooo, it binds ! Struggle, struggle, curse, curse, ha, done!  Now what? Little straps, between the legs,,, really?  Why are they wet and sticky?  Ewwwww gross!

Willy and the offending blanket

Need I add that the horse wasn't helping in any way.

NEXT! What? ... different horse, different blanket style, different buckle configuration!  Struggle, struggle, curse, curse, undo all the buckles. Working up a sweat here!

In the end, there were four horses and I think four different kinds of, buckles and hidden flaps and velco, well maybe two or three.  Now I can see how irritated Heather must have been the next day, because I had ALL the straps undone.  All in the wrong places too.  She says to me the next day, "you know these blankets just go on over their heads"  "WHAT?"  "yeah, you don't undo the front buckles, you just slide the whole thing over their heads"  "WHAT?  They just stand still for that??" "Yeah sure"

Post Script- I have since mastered blankets. I even discovered why one poor horse had buckles come undone and got caught up in loose straps.  I've fixed the problem with a little bit of binder twine.

Post Script -  Ever seen horses shake their whole body?  Kinda looks neat... Not when your head is under it's belly !