Organising rugs...

[HeyMich]

Can anyone give me some top tips please?

We've recently moved house and now have land/stables at home, but it means that in the last 3 months I've gone from 1 horse to 3. (My husband says it was inevitable really, and I have to agree! And it may not end at 3... )

However, the rugs are blowing my brains! When it was just my mare, I could look at a rug and know it's weight, shape, and whether it was due a repair/wash straight away. Now I have 3, all of different sizes to memorise, I'm struggling! Are there any clever (and cheap) ways of labeling rugs with size, weight etc? Gaffer tape and marker pen? Coloured tags?

And how do you all store them? Do you stack them by horse/size, or by purpose/weight?

It is actually ridiculous that rugs are keeping me awake at night, when there's sooooo much else for me to worry about (horses, fencing, hay, leaky roof, house repairs, children, husband, work...!). I guess you need to pick your battles!

 

[ihatework]

The cheapo coloured key rings

 

[dogatemysalad]

Clean rugs are stored in labelled bags. Rugs being used are stored by hanging on a rail with a pulley system inside or outside each horses stable.

 

[eggs]

At one point I had 13 horses - yes it was crazy of me - and as a result now have well over 200 rugs ranging in size from foal to 7'3", most of which I keep on meaning to sell but never get round to .....

The turn out and stable rugs that clearly don't fit have been washed and put into zipped up bags, most of which are clear plastic. I add an A5 card to each bag giving the size and weight of rug. The other rugs that don't fit eg. summer sheet, fleece, etc were washed up and put into those lidded plastic containers you can get at a DIY shop. They are done by type and size with a strip of masking tape on the outside with the size of the rugs written on.

For the rugs I have that still fit the horses I have it is a bit more pot luck! I do have the 5 arm rug racks in a spare stable which I hang the turnouts on. I try to do them by size and weight order so the first rack has 6'3" rugs on with the first arm having rain sheets and then getting progressively heavier as you move along the arm.

 

[Annagain]

Vacuum bags are brilliant for storing rugs - especially if you're at home and have access to a hoover. I don't so I take them home in the bags, suck all the air out and then take them back! They reduce the size of rugs by at least half and as long as they're properly dry before you store them, they don't get musty. I put them in the vacuum bags in a garden chest. My two share rugs as they're the same size but a friend has put a piece of plastic (the lid of an old storage box) in the middle of her chest to separate her two horses' rugs so she can find them more easily. She also buys blue rugs for one and red for the other so she can spot them quickly.

 

[HeyMich]

Brilliant suggestions, thanks guys!

 

[GoldenWillow]

I write the size so its easily seen on the inside of the rug in permanent black marker pen and then store according to size in clear storage bags (mine were from Ikea).

 

[SEL]

Black marker pen for me as well. Rugs in use are hung off hooks and those out of season are stored away.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I tend to write there name on the label, I did make some really good rug hangers for the stables, you just need a few long poles or planks of wood, and some heavy duty rope and I hung mine from the rafters so they have 2 each in there stable, I do have a chest for rugs when there not being used but it's so handy having them hanging in the stable.

 

[Chippers1]

I store mine in a garden box thing in some big plastic bags that zip up that I got from ikea. Not any particular method, just what would fit where! I would just store them in the garden box but the spiders like to make homes in them so this way they can't!

 

[HeyMich]

I guess the problem is in weather like we're having at the moment. The 'rugs in use' category covers rain sheets (for the warm weather we had a few weeks ago), the normal light-weight turnouts (a few each of these as they live out 24/7 and occasionally wet through), and the medium-weight turnouts (for the snowy -5 degrees we had there at the weekend). I get that mid-winter and mid-summer is easier, but right now my head is getting pickled with all the rugs!

I think I need to invest in some larger rug hanging rails for in the stables, some plastic bags, garden boxes and some marker pens... Thanks all x

 

[SEL]

I guess the problem is in weather like we're having at the moment. The 'rugs in use' category covers rain sheets (for the warm weather we had a few weeks ago), the normal light-weight turnouts (a few each of these as they live out 24/7 and occasionally wet through), and the medium-weight turnouts (for the snowy -5 degrees we had there at the weekend). I get that mid-winter and mid-summer is easier, but right now my head is getting pickled with all the rugs!

I think I need to invest in some larger rug hanging rails for in the stables, some plastic bags, garden boxes and some marker pens... Thanks all x

When I wrote that bit about rugs in use it did occur to me that right now I have everything from the rainsheet to the heavy weight still at the yard - and they've all been in use in the past 8 or so weeks!

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Can anyone give me some top tips please?

We've recently moved house and now have land/stables at home, but it means that in the last 3 months I've gone from 1 horse to 3. (My husband says it was inevitable really, and I have to agree! And it may not end at 3... )

However, the rugs are blowing my brains! When it was just my mare, I could look at a rug and know it's weight, shape, and whether it was due a repair/wash straight away. Now I have 3, all of different sizes to memorise, I'm struggling! Are there any clever (and cheap) ways of labeling rugs with size, weight etc? Gaffer tape and marker pen? Coloured tags?

And how do you all store them? Do you stack them by horse/size, or by purpose/weight?

It is actually ridiculous that rugs are keeping me awake at night, when there's sooooo much else for me to worry about (horses, fencing, hay, leaky roof, house repairs, children, husband, work...!). I guess you need to pick your battles!

Just permanent marker pen the labels inside (usually on inside of the neck). I put L/W, M/W or H/W for weight of rug. Its amazing how a medium weight can feel like a light weight and vice versa after a couple of years of wear. Its so hard to remember what weights they are otherwise. You can also get key tags which you can write in biro when they were last washed/reproofed but remember to put copious amounts of tape around the tag or the rain will get in and smudge/destroy the label! Clip the tag to the buckle of the rug. I also use one of those hangers (usually red coloured metal) with four hooks on which is put over the side of my stable wall (on the outside) and hang all the rugs up on it by the front breast strap (done up).

 

[Nasicus]

I have used simple metal dog identification tags engraved and attached via split rings to the buckles on the chest. They had my contact details on one side and where they were kept engraved on the other, just in case they got out and went a-wandering (fencing at that place was not great) so people could return them. You could probably get a bunch done cheaply off of eBay with their names and what weight the rug is or what have you and attach them. Hard wearing (more so than the plastic ones being suggested), easy to read, smart looking and removable should you get a new rug or sell an existing one. Just costs a bit more in the short term.

 

[Nasicus]

Remembered I still had one of the tags hanging around in my desk, not in use any more as I've moved, but I might get some more done up now I'm thinking about it! This is it after 6 months out over winter/spring with a horse living out, on a rug that was used pretty much that entire time.

 

[Antw23uk]

3 months and up to three horses already .... you are doomed! I planned to have EVERYTHING when we moved to a property with land and stables (I wanted pigs, sheep, chickens, ponies to go with the horse etc) and other than getting a second horse a year in (lived there three years this year) and a few chickens for the garden, I haven't added anything.

I quickly realised how easy it is to add animals ... and people will offer you free animals all day long trust me!! I got very used to saying thanks but hell no thanks! Way too much work when i could be out riding and having fun. I've amazed my husband and family by being so strict, although realistically two horses is one too many to be honest but now I have her I cant choose between the two horses so they both have to stay!

To answer your question ... my horses have two rugs, a rain sheet and a 100g light weight and both have two extra liners (The geldings have blue tags on) my days of owning loads of rugs is long gone since rug liners came into my life

 

[TGM]

I try to have my rugs in different colours so it is easy to tell which is which! Rather than having a pile of navy turnouts and stable rugs to sort through. And I keep them in old metal feed bins or chest freezers - one for each horse/rug size. (So we have two that are 6'3 so all their rugs go in the same metal bin as we sometimes swap about between the two horses). The other two equines are 7' and 5'6 so their rugs go in separate bins.

 

[scats]

I have rug racks outside my stables that I keep currently being used rugs on. So winter it’s stable rugs and turnouts will fills.
In the barn I have two of those plastic garden containers. These are for the rugs not currently in use. I use one for turnout rugs and one for stable rugs so currently they have my lightweights, fly rugs etc in. Soon I will do the swap and the 100g turnouts and stable rugs will go in these chests and the summer ones will come out and go on the racks. I have another container in my tack room for things like travel rugs, coolers etc.
Both girls are the same size and have similar rugs, some identical. I write their names on them in marker pen where possible, usually on the part where the belly straps are stitched to the rug.

 

[Lucky788]

I’ve brought pet tags off eBay with horses name and weight of rug so I know what’s what

 

[poiuytrewq]

I sympathise 😉
Rug organising is one of the most stressful things! I bought some fantastic heavy duty shelving, I think on EBay. I keep everything clean and packed away when it’s not in use (fly and L/W in winter etc) but can still never instantly find what I want!
I never know if everyone’s fleeces for example should be together and stable rugs together or each horses stuff on their own shelves..... 😱

 

[Cragrat]

I use a fabric marker paint pen - very broad nib, in bright orange, and wrote the size and L, M or H fairly large on the outside of the rug on the shoulders (I'm never going to sell them).

I got lengths of re-bar, and sawed them in to 2' lengths. I then drilled holes in a zig-zag pattern in the wall, and hammered the re-bar in, so that 18" stuck out. I now have a very cheap way of hanging 24 rugs , all clearly marked and visible.

 

[flying_high]

I like to have the ones not in use in zip lock bags and stored in the attic. I find being outside even undercover not great so prefer out of season rugs indoors.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

I tend to keep mine in the bags they came in, inside those huge shires rug storage bags. As for ID I keep a list of them in weight order with the brand & colour to identify them - I can give that to anyone who looks after him them so they can see easily whats what. One of the reason I buy the mad coloured rugs! lol

 

[HeyMich]

Oh my goodness, some of you are soooo organised!! I need to up my game...