Learn About Horse Blankets - Does Your Horse Need A Blanket?

A horse blanket is for protecting your horse from the elements. To keep your horse warm, protected from the rain, wind, heat and sun. They are tailored to fit around your horse's body with straps crossing underneath, allowing your horse to move about freely without dislodging the blanket.

The traditional horse blanket is a woven blanket, usually made of wool. Modern blankets are much warmer and resistant to weather than traditional wool blankets, using inner and outer shells with an insulating fiber between. Outer shells are usually made of synthetics which are water repellent and windproof, while the inner lining is smoother than wool so it wont chafe against your horses skin. The filling between them provides warmth with much less bulk than older blankets. This means the overall blanket is light enough not to flatten your horses coat, and is more durable than their wool or cotton predecessors.

Another type of horse blanket, the Cooler blanket is a square blanket with ties that is draped over your horse if it is hot and sweaty after a workout, or has just been bathed and is wet all over. It is kept on while your horse is being cooled down as it allows enough air circulation for your horse to dry, and prevents chills and drafts.

Horse blankets are sometimes used to keep your horse's hair short. Blankets also protect horses that are kept with a short coat for show purposes.

In summer a lightweight blanket may be used to help your horse ward off flies and to prevent the hair coat from bleaching out. These blankets are usually referred to as a "sheet" or a "fly sheet". Usually they are made of nylon or strong synthetic fiber with the capacity to "breathe" so that your horse can remain cool.

If your horse is given a full body clip, or even a partial clip, it is recommended a blanket be kept on at all times if the weather is cool because your horse no longer has the natural insulation of a longer hair coat. If a blanket is put on your horse at the beginning of winter in order to suppress the growth of a winter coat, or if your horse is kept clipped in cold weather, the blanket must stay on until warmer weather arrives. If your horse is subjected to cold weather without either a horse blanket or a natural hair coat to keep it warm, it is far more vulnerable to sickness and ill health.

It is important to choose a blanket that is appropriate to how much extra protection from the weather that your horse genuinely needs.

Make sure that the blanket fits your horse properly, regardless of the blanket type. A blanket that is too tight will irritate the skin and put your horse at risk of developing abrasions and sores, while a blanket that is too large can slip down under your horses belly. Not only will that result in the loss of almost all the blankets insulating ability, if your horse gets its legs tangled in the blankets straps, it can be seriously injured. Putting the blanket on properly also helps to ensure a good fit.

It is best for each horse to have its own blanket. Sharing blankets can lead to the spread of skin problems such as girth itch, ringworm, and other fungal infections. Even if no horses in the stable have known skin problems, fungal spores can cling to the blankets and be spread to other horses.

Does your horse need a blanket?
Check out the horse blanket information and resources provided by
Bryan Thorby at http://www.pet-lovers-info.com
Your Horse may love you for it. Also links to other fine equestrian products, books and magazines.

Yoga Clothing Yoga Instruction Yoga Retreat Yoga Certification Myyogasecrets

How To Choose The Best Home Water Purifier And Ensure Proper Filtration And Contamination Removal

There are several reasons to have the best home water purifier. Having a filter for your drinking water or showers is a good first step toward ensuring proper health. However, there are many other benefits to be had from filtering all of the water that you use in your house.

One of the benefits that you get from using the best whole house water treatment system is relative to budget. When you use a filtration system for your entire home you will discover that clothes last longer. You will also find that you require less of your household cleaners, shampoos, soaps, and laundry detergents to be effective in your cleaning.

Another benefit that you get from using the best home water purifier is relative to your health, and the health of your family. Using bottled or filtered water is an important step in contributing to the water health of your household. However, your family could still be absorbing harmful organic compounds and synthetic chemicals by washing their hands, bathing, and through steam of cooking and showering.

The best whole house water treatment system will eliminate these health concerns. The chlorine that causes chloroform gases to be released into the home will be eliminated from every faucet in your home. This puts you and your family at lower risk for various types of lung cancer and asthma.

Unfortunately, not all companies that claim to have the best filters are telling the truth. All home water filtration systems are not created equally. Those using reverse osmosis or distillation methods will eliminate healthful minerals from your water, while failing to eliminate some of the more harmful synthetic chemicals.

The best whole house water treatment system will use a carbon based filter. This type of filter has been found to be the most effective in eliminating chlorine, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and triahalomethanes (THMs). This type of filter is the only one recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency for use in residential homes.

The best home water purifier will also use a multi-stage filtration process. It only makes sense that the more times your water is filtered, the cleaner and healthful it will be. It also makes sense that some types of filters will be more likely to clean water of certain contaminants than others.

For this reason, the best whole house water treatment system will use a combination of carbon based filters that will process the water in multiple stages. There are typically at least two, if not three stages to the best water filtration systems. These systems will provide the best performance.

When in doubt of the quality of system that is claiming to be the best home water purifier, ask the manufacturer for performance testing data sheets. This information will allow you to compare water filtration systems for your home. It will provide you with information about water usage and cost per gallon.

The performance testing data sheet will also provide statistics regarding the amount of VOCs and THMs that are removed from the water. It should also provide you with percentages of chlorine and minerals left in the water that has been filtered. Additionally, the data sheet should tell you the PH level of the water, and explain whether or not the finished product is PH balanced for optimum health.

Martin Spencer is a health researcher who has been studying water filtration for over 25 years. He is a regular contributor to Water Filtration Guide, a site dedicated to various methods of treating and purifying water. Learn about best whole house water treatment system and other filtration methods on our site.

Sizes Of Yoga Mats