New SmartPak Blanketing App Review

If you're like me you will love the Smart Blanket app. You can finally take the guesswork out of the question to blanket or not to blanket? This app has been a wonderful discovery for me because I know the struggle is real for many of us! There are a lot of variables that seem to come into play, especially in the transition seasons of fall and spring. Is your horse kept in a stall? Out during the day but in at night? Is the barn significantly warmer than outdoors? Is your horse clipped or unclipped? What if he is partially clipped? Age? Typical body condition? And out of all these factors which ones outweigh the others? I know countless horse owners, including myself have gone out to the barn after a night we were sure our babies needed protection from the harsh 45 degree elements only to find that our horse has traces of sweat on his shoulders. There are also instances where we find our favorite oldtimers dropping weight in the winter despite his carefully crafted high fat, high protein diet.

As horse people we understand how different our horses’ needs can be from one another. In a barn full of horses of all different ages, body types, and workloads sometimes an overly generalized rule - such as blanketing for 45 degrees and under - doesn’t always cut it for our highly individualized partners. So how do we alleviate some of the blanketing apprehension, confusion, and worry? Smartblanket! This application for your phone is one of my absolute favs because it completely simplifies the blanketing issue without foregoing what a special individual your horse is. After entering your horse's’ age, coat length (clipped, unclipped, or partially), body condition tendency, living situation, and relative barn temp compared to outside this app connects to the weather report and recommends whether your horse needs no blanket, a blanket, and what weight of blanket he needs. It will give a new recommendation each morning and evening. I was not surprised to learn after using the app for a week that I may tend to slightly over-blanket. However I now feel at ease and much more confident that my horse is happy and comfortable in his stall at night, and during the day. Also, Smartblanket app allows you to upload a picture of your horse so you see your horse every time you open the app. You can also upload multiple horse profiles so for those that have a barn full of several horses the app will give different recommendations for the different horses based on their profile information. Smartpak has done it again! What a great company.

Happy blanketing!

Mercedes