A little bit about weatherproofing your blankets...
It’s kind of difficult to put a set time frame on weatherproofing. It really depends on your horse and their environment. I will start by saying nothing is truly “waterproof” which is why we use the term “weatherproof”. The rain that we had Tuesday evening with the hail and wind, would have soaked through even the most weatherproof of blankets. Any time it rains that hard the water physically cannot run off the blanket fast enough and will begin to pool in small amounts on the blanket. With prolonged exposure to water, and the water not having anywhere else to go, it will ultimately begin to be absorbed by the blanket.
A Couple notes that affect the life span of your blanket and its weatherproofing:
How often is the blanket getting soaked all the way through – when the blanket does get wet, are you taking it off the horse to dry? After a rain like last Tuesday, both the blanket and the horse must be brought in to shelter and completely dried. The longer the blanket remains soaked, the more damage it is doing to the weatherproofer AND to the materials used to make your horses blanket. When fabric is wet it becomes distressed. The longer it remains in a weakened state the shorter the overall life span of your entire blanket. If left wet for too long, fabrics begin to biodegrade. At which point they are no longer weatherproofable, or able to hold a repair.
Mud! If your horse likes to roll or has a muddy pasture/paddock you must be sure to keep the mud off your blanket as best as possible. Mud likes to stick to horse blankets and it will eat through your weatherproofer and the material of your horse blanket too! If you end up with a muddy horse blanket, and horse, as soon as the mud is dry we recommend using a stiff brush (not wire) to brush and knock off as much of the mud as possible.
Do not subject your blankets to high or direct heat (like laying them over a heater, yes, they will melt). Most horse blankets are made from Cordura. This is a Nylon based material. Also, do not leave them lying over the pasture fence for the entire month of July. The constant beating from the hot sun will cause the materials to fade and again become distressed. Distressed materials fall apart faster and shorten the overall lifespan of your horse blanket.