How do you label your rugs?

[VioletStripe]

Hello all! So, I know it's not technically rug weather, but I went to the tack shop today and noticed they had a rug sale on.. so swiftly snagged a gorgeously red Premier Equine middle weight in his size for £30 under the original price I know it's early, but it was there and I like being prepared Fits him like a glove too, though he didn't look impressed while trying it on!

Anyway, my problem is, I'm on a large livery yard on full livery, so things can go missing.. and there isn't a label on the inside like there is on my Amigo, and the inside is black! So, any ideas and experiences with how to label it with his name, my name, and the weight (so I don't put on a heavy one and leave him boiling by mistake in a mad rush!). Okay, this is an essay over a trivial topic, so I will swiftly finish now Cake for all who has read, and another slice if you can give me some ideas - I'm not feeling particularly creative xx

 

[FairyLights]

I wrote my horses initials on her rugs with gloss paint.

 

[horseless jorge!]

I've always used white emulsion and painted it on the actual rug, just by the wither or the rump.

 

[Jackson]

I use black marker pen on the outside of the rug, but if you didn't want to do that, then you could use tippex or white paint inside? Or stitch a patch on to the inside and name that?

 

[flashmans]

How about something like a small luggage tag?

 

[Enfys]

I paint the size and my phone # on it, that's all. Blankets are interchangable, no one horse has a specific blanket.

Nothing more irritating than lugging a blanket down to the paddock to find it is the wrong size for the horse.

No-one is liable to steal blankets, or horses here, the phone # is just in case the horses go walkabouts.

 

[Brontie]

We use these;

And attach them to front fastening of the rugs.

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

tippex does the job to

 

[darkhorse123]

since a theft at our yard i use white gloss paint to paint my postcode on - doesnt look brill but least i know his rug wont be taken off his back on the coldest days x

 

[hairycob]

Hi viz spray paint

 

[much-jittering]

Ditto Brontie, if it's just for your use of knowing who's is who's, may have two matching rugs in identical sizes hanging up next to each other but survingles etc will have been adjusted for the horse so it's easier if they end up in the right rugs.

All the other advice about paint etc though if it's to help prevent theft either by others on the yard or people from outside

 

[niagaraduval]

I use little engraved tags for dog collars. They are about 2quid each on ebay including engraving, They look very posh too.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

We are lucky here no one touches anybodies rugs. All the liveries have a rug rack in their stables, so all the rugs are inside hanging up and they have chest freezers to store all the rugs not in use.

1..... either key labels as mentioned above

2....paint your postcode on
3...... get a rubber stamp with ink and stamp your name on the inside.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CUSTOMISE...ping_RL&var=&hash=item68c7de0607#ht_551wt_901
4......paint your name or horses name on the inside


The only way here rugs go missing is at the cleaners. I myself wash my rugs and any liveries rugs here so they don't go awaol.

I cant mix my rugs up the weights as each of my horses have a different rug depending on weight and the colours vary like.

mare
fal goliath 14 oz is red check
fal cavalier 12 oz navy blue
fal bulldog 7 oz mauve
fal chieftan 4 oz is gold

the other 3 are the same each weight is a different rug within the fal range

 

[VioletStripe]

Wow really good ideas here Thank you very much for replying! I like the sound of the tags, just because they'd be inconspicuous so the liveries probably wouldn't have any idea if it was on there, so they wouldn't think to take it off if it were to go missing! The painting on the outside is a great idea too, as long as my monster doesn't roll too much and cover it up Luckily it's a very bright red, so should be able to see someone sneaking off with it Thanks for all the suggestions, will have a looksy as to what I have lying around etc! Thanks very much, and also really interesting to hear what you all do! xx

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Um, just a cautionary word really, to advise not to put your horse's actual name on the rug, coz if someone does steal your horse, they've got his/her name as a giveaway and can then more easily apply for a new passport etc., and/or control the horse by knowing its name. Its the same with dogs, I was advised by someone (can't remember who, sorry), not to put dogs names on tags either, for the same reason.

What I do is (depending on the colour of the rug) use something like the thickest laundry pen with indelible ink and write on in big letters my horse's freezemark - this is for things like fly rugs, light coloured rugs. For darker rugs you can often get little sample pots of paint at places like B&Q, and paint on in white so its visible.

IME if at a livery yard then whilst the little tag thingies are good, if its not written on the actual rug in letters ten feet tall, then it will walk and/or get trashed PDQ!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

My rugs have home postcode in 6" white paint along one side and on the other side is the yard postcode.

If in a mixed yard away from home, then putting YOUR home postcode on is prob best.

On the only 2 identical colour rugs, I have the size painted onto the tail flap.

I dont care what the fuzzies look like out in the field (as long as the rugs are doing what they are brought for!) - and the paint does show up. Local community policeman commented that they would be easy to return

Best to paint about 6" or so down from the withers in a horizontal line - so the numbering goes from roller/girth area - to the rear. I find this is the best place to not be totally obscured.

 

[Tnavas]

To name all the riding school ponies rugs I used a very wide permenant marker and wrote their names in 10cm high letters lowdown on the sides - helps too if you have to send someone out to catch them.
You could put your surname and postcode on the side and the weight in the front near where you do up the rug

One place I worked had Ear tags - like the sort you use on cattle the name was written in permenant marker and the eartag riveted through - almost impossible to remove. The tag was put just below the chest straps so it was easy to spot when putting it on. We had over 100 horses in work and they were all worked from 16 tie up stalls so sometimes there would be two or three rugs hanging up in the same stall.

 

[melxvengeance]

I'm lucky that I keep mine at home so don't need to worry about labelling rugs. When I kept one of them at college on working livery, I was having major problems with people putting my rugs on other horses and these rugs getting ripped/damaged beyond repair while the other horse was wearing them, which obviously causes arguments because I wasn't willing to replace rugs which weren't even ruined by my horse - he doesn't rip rugs at all!

The college started putting agricultural tags on the front buckles of the rugs with cable ties - 2 years later all my rugs still have those tags on them. The tags are rubber and are used for the livestocks' ears etc so are very hardwearing and work very well. I'd recommend those.