What are the benefits of using a patterned horse rug?

Patterned horse rugs are designed to be eye-catching, bold, and bright. Their main purposes are to improve the aesthetics of the horse and rider but they can also be used to identify the horse more easily. While not an essential product for your horse, patterned horse rugs can be a delightful addition to your stables and horse wardrobe. They also have several key benefits:

Easy to differentiate

If you have a large number of horses or are taking your horse to an event or show, it can be easy to lose sight of your horse in a crowd. We love our horses and know them by sight, but it can be difficult when they’re in a large group.

It can be even harder trying to point your horse out to others. Trying to distinguish your horse by describing it as “the black mare in the blue rug” doesn’t help as much as saying “the black mare in the pink rug with bananas on it” or “the red stripe rug”.

A unique design for a unique horse

Every horse is different and every horse has its own personality. Show off that character and how much you care for your horse with a unique pattern and style. Whether you’re looking for something bright and bold or something more subtle and stunning, you can find a pattern to suit you and your horse.

With limitless designs and styles, the options are endless. Personalise colour to your aesthetic or your stable’s branding colour scheme to give each of your horses a customised rug with a unified colour tone.

Be the talk of the show

Find a luxurious show rug in a pattern of your choice and make sure everyone leaves still talking about your horse. Traditional and show-ready doesn’t have to mean monochrome and boring. Shake the old mindset and give your horse a rug they can be proud of.

When you choose a memorable horse rug, you’re choosing to ensure that sponsors, clients, and industry professionals remember your horse. By the time shows and events start to come up, you can be sure that they’ll recognise your horse when you turn up next time.

A favourite of the children

If you manage a stable or riding school, patterned rugs can be a great way to get children and young people excited about horses and riding. Show off your horses with beautiful and unusual designs to make sure that everyone who visits your stable is still thinking about your horses once they go home.

A strong bond between horse and rider can make riding a breeze. To help your students become attached to their horses, consider browsing through our expansive range of patterns in all kinds of colours and styles. You’ll always be able to find something that will encourage children to get into riding when you explore our patterned horse rug collection.

How do I choose a pattern for my horse?

There are a number of ways to decide on a pattern for your horse rug.

We recommend considering their complexion – their colouring, their mane, and their eyes. You could explore complementary colour tones and patterns to show off their breed and colours. This is especially effective for show horses, thoroughbreds, and auctions and can make your show rug really stand out.

You can also try experimenting with finding patterns based on their personality – a blue horse rug covered in bananas for that horse with the cheeky personality or a red horse rug with lightning bolts for that horse who’s always got too much energy.

Alternatively, if you’re focusing on your branding then you could try matching patterns on similar characteristics or colour shades. Unite these together to present a consistent branding colour scheme, demonstrating to potential investors and clients that you go above and beyond when it comes to maintaining the perfect impression of your horses.

Can my horse see the colours of the horse rug?

Unlike humans, horses have dichromatic vision. This means that they see colour in two wavelength regions instead of three, like humans. Essentially, this means they view colour in the same way that people with red-green colour blindness do.

Research has found that horses tend to respond negatively to certain colours. Often, they can show fear towards the colour yellow and dislike towards fluorescent orange and yellow. However, in our experience, it depends much more on the individual horse’s preferences and this is something you will discover over time as your relationship with your horse grows.

For the most part, your horse will not react very differently when you use a patterned rug. It may be beneficial for conditioning though and can help, during training, to associate contrasting patterns with contrasting activities. For example, choose a stripy blue exercise horse rug for riding and a soft green stable rug with clouds for bedding down. This helps the horse to get into the right mindset for the next activity and can relieve stress or anxiety.

What materials are patterned horse rugs made from?

Our patterned horse rugs are manufactured with lightweight materials, such as cotton and synthetic materials. We only stock patterned horse rugs made from industry-safe materials that will keep your horse comfortable.

Patterned cooler and exercise rugs are made from more breathable, thin mesh materials. Patterned stable rugs are made with a quilted exterior and padded filling to add warmth – these are available in heavyweight, medium, and lightweight depending on your horse’s needs. Patterned turnout rugs are made with a synthetic waterproof ripstop material on the exterior to allow perspiration but keep the horse warm during the colder months.

Depending on the pattern, there may be a variety of prints, dyes, or stitches used to create the image. We will always disclose all materials in the product description so you can make sure they’re suitable for your horse.