Measuring Your Horse for a Rug

The most important thing to remember when purchasing a rug is to get the right size.

The most effective way to work this out is to actually measure the horse.  Just because your horse is a certain height doesn't necessarily mean that a certain size rug will fit him/her. Just like us horses come in many different shapes.  We don't work out the size of our shirts by how tall we are.  Neither should we with our horse.

Measuring your horse is very easy.  I have always found that a normal dressmakers tape is as good as any.  You can purchase special tapes that measure for rug size, weight and height.  These tapes are very effective but not a must have.

Measure the horse from the the centre of the chest to the furthest rear point of the rump measuring along the side of the horse.  Take the measurement in inches.  For those younger ones who perhaps only know metric there are 12 inches to a foot. 

I advise to go up not down in size, remembering that rugs come in 3" increments.  Therefore if your horse measures say 71" you should purchase a 6'0" rug. (i.e. 72".)