Horse Blanket Size Chart: How to Measure and Why Brands Disagree

A horse blanket size is the length of your horse in inches, measured from the centre of the chest to the point of the tail. A 15.2hh to 16hh horse usually takes something between 72 and 78 inches, written 6’0 to 6’6 in the UK. Use a soft tape, keep it level, and if the number falls between sizes go up rather than down.

That is the short answer. The longer answer matters if you are buying across brands, because the brands do not measure the same way, and two of them will give you a different number for the same horse.

Horse blanket size chart by height

Height is the quickest way to narrow the range before you reach for a tape. Schneiders publishes the clearest height-to-size mapping of any manufacturer:

Those are ranges rather than answers, and deliberately so. A narrow 16hh thoroughbred and a 16hh warmblood built like a sofa both sit inside the same band and will not take the same blanket. The tape beats the height stick every time.

Most manufacturers publish no height column at all. Of the nine pages currently ranking for this term, only Schneiders and Performance Horse Blankets map hands to inches, and the two do not agree precisely. Performance puts 15hh to 15.2hh at 72 inches; Schneiders puts 14.3hh to 15.1hh at 66 to 70 inches. Treat both as starting points.

Horse blanket sizes in inches, feet and centimetres

American blankets are labelled in inches. British and Irish blankets are labelled in feet and inches. They are the same measurement written two ways, so a 72 inch blanket and a 6’0 blanket are identical.

Chart as published by WeatherBeeta.

One thing worth noticing: the centimetre sizes are nominal, not exact conversions. 72 inches is 182.9cm, but the European size is labelled 185. The gap widens as the sizes go up. If you are buying a European blanket, work from the inch or feet size rather than converting the centimetres yourself.

How do you measure a horse for a blanket?

Stand your horse square on level ground and run a soft tape from the centre of the chest, across the widest point of the shoulder, along the barrel, and finish at the point where the tail begins.

Performance Horse Blankets states the method plainly: “Stand your horse on flat, even ground and use a soft measuring tape. Start at the center of the chest, run the tape across the widest part of the shoulder, and end at the center of the rear under the tail.”

Three things separate a number you can trust from one you cannot:

Keep the tape level. If it sags under the belly or rides up over the hip, the measurement grows. A second person holding the chest end solves most of this.

Use a soft tape. A builder’s tape cannot follow the curve of the shoulder and will read short.

Measure the horse, not the old blanket. Measuring an existing rug tells you the size of that rug, which is only useful if it fitted properly in the first place.

Why do brands give different measuring instructions?

Because they genuinely do, and almost no sizing guide admits it.

Here are six manufacturers, each quoting their own published instructions:

Two of those rows will change your answer.

Horseware tells you to subtract four inches. Their instruction reads: take the measurement, then “remove 10cm (4inches) and choose your horse’s size from the table below.” Blankets step in three inch increments, so a four inch subtraction moves you down more than a full size. A horse who tapes at 78 inches is a 78 under five of these systems and smaller under the sixth.

Fenwick measures a different part of the horse entirely. Their instruction is “measurement is from withers to top of tail”, which is the back seam rather than the body length. On most horses those two measurements differ by well over a foot. Fenwick makes coolers and therapy rugs, which fit differently, but the number you need for them is not the number you need for a turnout.

Even the end points on the four conventional methods are not the same place. “The end of the rump”, “the point where the tail begins” and “the centre of the rear under the tail” sit inches apart on a big-framed horse.

Performance Horse Blankets is one of the few to say this out loud, noting that “different blanket brands and styles may fit differently, even when labeled the same size.” Schneiders puts it similarly: “every brand’s sizing can vary slightly, so even if you’ve owned other blankets before, it’s worth re-measuring.”

The practical conclusion: write down the raw number from the tape and keep it. Then apply whatever that particular brand tells you to do with it.

What if your horse is between sizes?

Go up. Four of the six brands say so explicitly.

• WeatherBeeta: blankets are “sized in 3 inch increments, if your horse is between sizes, then choose the bigger size.”
• Schneiders: “If your horse’s measurement falls between sizes, round up to the next size for a comfortable fit.”
• Performance Horse Blankets: “Size up… the larger one will fit more comfortably and is less likely to rub at the shoulders.”
• Tatos Mallets: “If you’re in between sizes, it’s generally safer to choose the larger size.”

Fenwick is the exception and says the opposite, advising you to “consider a smaller size rather than a larger size.” That is not a contradiction so much as a different product: their coolers use stretch fabric and are cut for an athletic-shirt fit. For a turnout rug, size up.

A blanket slightly too large will shift and may need the leg straps taking in. A blanket slightly too small will rub the points of the shoulder raw, and on a clipped horse those rubs take weeks to grow back.

Which neck cut does your horse need?

The size gets the length right. The cut gets the shoulder right, and shoulders are where blankets actually fail.

Horseware publishes the clearest breakdown:

• Straight front suits an average build.
• V-front suits a deep shouldered, narrow horse and gives more room at the chest.
• Disc front suits a narrow chested horse.
• XL cut is built 20 percent deeper in the neck and sides, for a deep shouldered horse with a wide build.
• Wug sits differently over the wither, designed for high withered narrow horses specifically to reduce wither pressure and stop the rug sliding back.

If you have ever bought the correct size and still found the blanket halfway down the horse’s neck by morning, the size was probably right and the cut was wrong.

How are blanket weights measured?

Weight refers to grams of fill, not how heavy the rug feels. Horseware sets out the standard bands:

Fill is only half of what keeps a horse comfortable. The other half is whether the horse is clipped, stabled, rugged in layers, and what the weather is actually doing.

How do you check the fit once it is on?

Put the blanket on, do it up, then check five things before you walk away. These come from the published fitting checklists at Performance Horse Blankets and Schneiders.

The shoulders. The fabric should lie smoothly with no pulling and no wrinkling. The test Performance gives is specific: “You should be able to slide a flat hand between the blanket and the horse’s shoulder.” If you cannot, it is too tight and it will rub.

The chest. The front closure “should allow for natural movement without gaping or pulling.”

The back and barrel. The blanket should lie flat across the back without shifting, and cover the barrel completely.

The surcingles. Snug but not tight. Performance specifies “a hand’s width between the straps and your horse’s belly.”

The tail flap and movement. The tail flap should sit comfortably without restricting movement, and when you walk the horse off the blanket should stay centred rather than twisting or sliding back.

Check again the following morning. A blanket that sits perfectly in the aisle can still end up sideways after a night of rolling.

Buying a used horse blanket: what the size label does not tell you

This is where the brand differences stop being trivia and start costing money.

A used blanket carries the size its manufacturer printed on it, not the size your horse measures. Given that one brand instructs a four inch subtraction, another measures from the withers, and the rest disagree about where the tape finishes, two rugs both labelled 78 can fit genuinely differently.

Four things to establish before buying secondhand:

Which brand, and which cut. The label size only means something alongside the brand’s own system and the neck cut. A 78 Wug and a 78 straight front sit completely differently on the same horse.

What shape the previous horse was. Ask. Sellers usually know, and “it fitted my narrow thoroughbred” tells you more than the number does.

Whether the fill has been washed out. Repeated washing compresses and thins fill, so an older heavyweight may no longer perform like one. Ask how many seasons it has done and how often it was washed.

Whether the straps and fittings are intact. Leg straps, surcingles, tail cord and chest clips are the parts that fail, and they are cheap to replace. A rug with a missing leg strap and good fill can be a bargain rather than a write-off. The same inspection logic applies across used tack generally.

If you are new to buying secondhand, our guide to where to buy used equestrian gear online covers what to check before you commit.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know what size horse blanket to get? Measure your horse from the centre of the chest to the point of the tail with a soft tape, keeping it level. That number in inches is your blanket size. If it falls between sizes, go up.

What size horse blanket fits a 15 hand horse? Most likely 66 to 70 inches. Schneiders places 14.3hh to 15.1hh in that range, while Performance Horse Blankets puts 15hh to 15.2hh at 72 inches. The two sources disagree at exactly this height, which is a good illustration of why measuring beats estimating.

What size blanket for a 14.2hh horse? Around 64 inches. Schneiders’ pony band covers 10hh to 14.2hh at 52 to 64 inches, so a 14.2hh pony sits at the top of that range.

What size horse does a 78 inch blanket fit? Roughly a 16hh horse. A 78 sits at the overlap between Schneiders’ medium horse band (15.2hh to 16hh, 72 to 78 inches) and their large horse band (16.1hh to 17hh, 78 to 82 inches).

Is a 6’0 blanket the same as a 72 inch blanket? Yes. UK and Irish brands label in feet and inches, American brands label in inches, and the measurement underneath is identical.

Should I measure my horse or my old blanket? The horse. Measuring the old rug tells you the size of that rug, which only helps if it fitted correctly to begin with.

Why does my correctly sized blanket keep slipping back? Almost always the neck cut rather than the size. High withered or narrow horses tend to need a Wug or V-front rather than a straight front.

Measure once, write it down, keep it

The number on the tape is the thing worth owning. Brands will disagree about what to do with it, charts will disagree about which height it corresponds to, and labels on secondhand blankets will tell you what the previous owner bought rather than what your horse needs.

Measure from the centre of the chest to the point of the tail, keep the tape level, round up if you land between sizes, and check the shoulder and wither before you walk away from the stable.

If you are replacing a blanket your horse has outgrown or changed shape out of, the old one is worth something to somebody. You can list it on Reequestrian, or browse what other riders have already listed in the shop.

Sources. All measuring instructions, size charts and fitting checklists are quoted from the manufacturers’ own published guides: Horseware, WeatherBeeta, Schneiders, Performance Horse Blankets, Tatos Mallets and Fenwick Equestrian. Accessed 6 October 2026.