How to Fold Back a Quarter Sheet

When riding in cold weather, a quarter sheet can help to keep your horse's muscles warm and prevent chills during cooling-out periods. For the rider, a square quarter sheet can lead to bunching at the girth or losing the feeling of the leg against the horse's side. A quarter sheet with a cut-out for the leg can solve this problem, but a square quarter sheet can easily be folded back to achieve the same result.

Those who worry about the security of the quarter sheet when not using the girth loops might feel better after viewing photos or videos of Thoroughbreds during morning gallops where a folded quarter sheet stays put even at speed.

I always recommend using a saddle pad under your quarter sheet. Saddle pads are much easier to clean than most quarter sheets, especially if your quarter sheet is made of wool, and your horse will always be happier in clean equipment. The area under the saddle will accumulate the most sweat and hair, needing more washing than the areas covered by the quarter sheet alone.

Don't use your thickest pad as the quarter sheet will add a small amount of extra cushioning and you don't want to alter your saddle's fit.

Start by placing the saddle pad just ahead of where the saddle will eventually sit, where you would put it if you weren't planning on using a quarter sheet,

Lay the quarter sheet over the saddle pad, lining up the front edge of the saddle pad with the front edge of the quarter sheet.

Place your saddle over the quarter sheet, smoothing any wrinkles so that they lie behind or beside the saddle rather than under it.

Lift the front of the saddle and fold the front corner of the quarter sheet back under the sweat flap, ensuring that the seam does not end up under the panels where the rider's weight could make the bulk of the seam uncomfortable for the horse. If you would like to be able to move your leg further back, simply change the angle of the fold.

Lift the sweat flap on each side to check that the fold is smooth, without wrinkles.

Check the saddle placement. If it needs to be moved back, grip the back of the saddle pad through the quarter sheet while shifting the saddle with your other hand to ensure that everything moves together without bunching.

All that's left is to attach the girth and everything will be held together by the pressure of the saddle and girth together. This set-up also allows the saddle pad's billet straps to be used if desired because the quarter sheet is folded away from that area.

Fix a Broken Halter Chin Strap

One of the most frequently-broken halter parts is the chin strap, especially on those halters that have adjustable ones. Ideally you will have either a spare halter or a spare chin strap close at hand, but your spare could be a less-than-ideal fit or material. In such cases, it's possible to fashion your own replacement chin strap, or even create one in advance to keep on hand.

I like to keep old stirrup leathers around because they can be very useful as spare stirrup leathers or as neck straps. At the right width and thickness, they are also handy for halter repairs.

Step one is to remove the old chin strap. If it is in otherwise good shape, you could keep it to be repaired professionally. Fasten the throatlatch to keep everything neat and easy to visualize.

Step two is to find an appropriate stirrup leather. Something single-ply and at most 1" wide is most likely to fit through the slots.

Step three is to thread the stirrup leather through the slots and ring. Ensure that the side facing towards the horse is the same side that you would like to show on the outside of the finished chin strap (thread it wrongly and your buckle won't be able to close). You can trim off a section of stirrup leather before threading it, but err on the side of caution so that you don't end up with too short of a chin strap at the end. The stirrup leather in these photos is "rough side out", so it is threaded with the rough side facing towards the horse's chin.

Before inserting the leather into the second slot, slide two sturdy braiding elastics onto the leather. These will serve as keepers later on to help the leather keep the desired shape.

After coming out of the second slot, loop the leather back onto itself and through the nearest elastic.

Take the buckle end and fold it back onto itself and through the other elastic, and then feed the longest end through the ring to meet the other end.

Slide a third braiding elastic over the non-buckle end. Put the halter on your horse carefully (you can trim off any obvious excess in advance to avoid spooking your horse) and shorten the chin strap until it's the desired length. Use the braiding elastic to mark the spot where you would like to make a hole.

Use a leather punch to make a hole in the marked location. If you plan on using the replacement chin strap for multiple horses, punch one or two holes on either side of the target hole to allow for adjustment.

Move the marker elastic onto the buckle end of the leather, and then buckle the chin strap, using the elastic as a keeper. You can trim off any excess leather an inch or so beyond the furthest hole. If you are using a stirrup leather with roller buckles such as this one, you might consider wrapping the roller in Vetrap to dampen any jingling.

How to Fix a Squeaky Bit

Bits with hinged cheek pieces, such as D-rings, full cheeks and eggbutts, can develop a squeak over time. While the squeakiness doesn't interfere with the action of the bit, the sound made as the horse chews the bit can be annoying, while also potentially bringing attention at shows to a horse who over-chews the bit.

Because the bit cheeks come into such close contact with the horse's mouth, especially when a lot of saliva is produced, using a lubricant that isn't food-grade is a risk. Thankfully, there is an inexpensive food-grade solution that should help in most cases, and you likely already have it in your feed room or kitchen.

The simplest solution is to place a drop of vegetable oil (I have had great success with canola oil, but other common vegetable oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, etc., should also work) on each gap in the hinge. The oil will spread quickly, so it's important to move the hinge back and forth to work each drop of oil in before it drips off the bit. Repeat this for each gap, and then hang up the bridle to allow the oil some time to spread through the entire hinge before riding.

If this method doesn't stop the squeaking, it might be necessary to leave the bit to soak in a dish of your chosen vegetable oil so that the oil can penetrate more deeply.

If your bit resumes squeaking after some time, simply repeat the oiling process as needed.

Quick Equipment Fixes

We all know that most horse-related things can be fixed with the help of baling twine and/or duct tape. This post will cover some additional easy fixes, as well as some uses of duct tape that you might not have considered.

Leaky hose

A horse show can be a very perilous place for hoses. Being repeatedly dragged over rough ground, around corners, and being stepped on by countless horses, many of them wearing studs, is a surefire way for a hose to end up with a puncture.

Punctured hoses have a tendency to spray water all over the barn aisle, or at whoever happens to be using the hose, but replacing each hose every couple of days to avoid these problems is not realistic.

Wrapping the affected part of the hose in duct tape is a tempting solution, but duct tape doesn't tend to stick well to a hose, even when dry, that has been exposed to so much dirt and that is moved so frequently. Inevitably, the duct tape will peel off after only a few uses.

My solution is to wrap the punctured section in Vetrap. This might sound counterintuitive, but the Vetrap sticks to itself rather than to the hose, ensuring that it will stay put (it's still best, however, to put it on while the hose is dry for best stickability). While the Vetrap is porous, it will lessen the amount of water that can escape and most importantly, the water will soak out in a uniform manner rather than spraying everyone and everything at random.

The Vetrap can also be covered in duct tape, overlapping the edges, to further seal in the water, though this top layer will likely require frequent replacement.

Bucket handle safety caps missing

When carting buckets to and from horse shows, it's quite easy for one of the rubbery protective caps on the handle to pop off and go missing. While this might not seem like a big deal, those caps are there for a reason. Your horse's face will come into frequent contact with various parts of the bucket, and the uncovered bottom of the handle is the perfect shape and sharpness to tear an eyelid or a nostril.

Because the caps can go missing from an otherwise perfectly good bucket, it's handy to be able to fix the problem rather than purchase a brand new bucket every time it happens.

My solution is to take a strip of duct tape and tear it in two so that it becomes about half its usual width. When the bucket is completely dry, wrap this strip of duct tape over the top of the loop in the handle so that the end of the wire is completely covered and there is no open gap, as shown in this photo. Leave enough of the loop open for the handle to remain mobile, and this set-up should last indefinitely (the bucket in the photo has been in constant use for at least two or three years with that same piece of duct tape on it).

Trouble filling hay nets

Certain hay nets can be a pain to fill as they want to fold back into themselves. One possible solution, as shown in the video below (credit goes to YouTube user davegg25), is to use a muck bucket or flake-sized Rubbermaid to keep the empty hay net in a more suitable position for filling.

Broken field boot zipper

This isn't a particularly innovative use for duct tape, but it merits mention because it's an excellent reason to keep black duct tape on hand. With black duct tape applied vertically along the back of the boot, a broken zipper becomes virtually unnoticeable from afar, and it is strong enough to hold the two sides of the boot together for an entire ride.

Blanket surcingles coming undone

You can purchase little rubber rings to slip over the base of the T half of a surcingle buckle in order to keep it snug and lessen the chances of it accidentally coming undone. In a pinch, these rings can be substituted with braiding elastics wrapped snugly around the T.

Fixing an Equine Bad Hair Day

With horses being horses, the only time when you are likely to see a large section of rumpled hair on your horse will be on a show morning. Depending on how your horse lies down overnight, the hair can get bent backwards and if it stays that way, you'll be faced with a fuzzy-looking patch of hair that won't brush back to straightness. Left as is, this will detract from the sleek, shiny coat that you've worked so hard to produce for the show ring.

Thankfully, the solution is easy, though it needs to be done early enough to give the hair time to dry before your classes.

Like human hair, horse hair reverts to straightness when it's wet. The solution, therefore, is to wet the hair, brush it straight and then brush it again once it has dried (a really bad case might benefit from an additional brushing or two while it's still a bit damp).

If you've ever tried wetting the hair and haven't found any improvement, odds are that you didn't wet it thoroughly enough. The hair needs to be soaked down to the skin, coating the entire shaft, so it requires either a sponge that hasn't been wrung out, or a bath. If you have a grey horse, rumpled hair shouldn't be a problem because your morning bathing routine should easily take care of it. If your horse doesn't require a full bath, just take a clean sponge saturated with clean water and really scrub it into the area.

Once the hair is wet, brush the hair straight with a stiff brush. The stiffness will allow the bristles of the brush to reach down to the entire length of the hair. Depending on the severity of the bent hair, you might need to brush it straight again a few times while it's drying and then give it a final smoothing out once it has dried fully.

If you're in a hurry to get to your class you can spray some rubbing alcohol onto the wet spot to help speed up the drying process. If you're in no rush, the alcohol is unnecessary and is likely to do more harm than good by drying out the hair and skin.

If the bent hair is a result of the horse rubbing against the wall or a bucket, the hair can be more damaged than it would have been from the horse simply lying down on it, and it might therefore require the wetting process to be repeated to bring the hair back to its former straightness.