Horse blanket for eczema and against insects

Abstract

Horse blanket for protection against insects, in particular for protection against horseflies and against black flies and midges, wherein the horse blanket has a 3D knitted fabric and the 3D knitted fabric consists of two knitted layers that are connected to each other by intermediate threads and kept at a distance, characterized by at least one layer of the spacer knitted fabric with a mesh size of less than or equal to 0.3 mm

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a horse blanket.

[0002] Horse blankets are available in various designs.

[0003] There are fly sheets and eczema sheets.

[0004] These blankets are made of an open mesh or net, whereby these blankets are open or closed at the stomach. Summerrain blankets have a closed back and a mesh or net on the sides to provide rain protection.

[0005] There are outdoor blankets that are lightweight and protect against rain.

[0006] These blankets can also be open or closed on the stomach.

[0007] Winter rugs differ from outdoor rugs in that they are heavy-duty, providing adequate protection for horses even in cold weather. Textiles are measured by their weight per square meter. Heavy-duty rugs have a weight of up to 400 grams per square meter.

[0008] A variety of shapes and designs of horse blankets or rugs are known from the state of the art. The selection of a particular type or style of blanket can be influenced by several variables. These variables include, for example, --the size of the horse, --the climate in which the blanket is to be worn, --whether the horse will spend most of its time indoors or outdoors --how long the blanket should be worn.

[0009] The size of horse blankets varies greatly and ranges from very small, light blankets to relatively large blankets with a higher surface weight --Stable blankets to horse blankets for racehorses that are kept warm while they cool down after training --to turnout rugs, which are among the largest of all horse rug types. Turnout rugs are designed to protect a horse in cold climates and adverse weather conditions. -to blankets designed to prevent a horse from losing its condition because it has to expend large amounts of energy to keep warm --up to blankets that are called eczema blankets --up to blankets that are called fly sheets

[0010] The eczema blankets and fly rugs are usually used in the summer. Summer is insect season. There are biting insects, -which only create wounds that become inflamed and cause infections along the way. Inflamed areas cause itching and pain. -which cause infections immediately upon bite, for example by introducing germs, bacteria, viruses. -which only cause allergic reactions with redness, swelling, and itching, causing horses to bite and rub themselves in the affected areas, stamping with their hooves as much as possible, and causing infections along the way. The allergic reactions alone can make horses nervous and unpredictable. In addition, the biting and kicking can cause injuries. At the very least, unsightly coat damage can result. The mane, tail, and belly are often affected.

[0011] The insects to be repelled include horseflies, black flies and midges.

[0012] Horseflies are considerable in size. Their bite is also painful. Horseflies typically plague horses from May to September, and even longer, depending on the weather.

[0013] Although black flies are small, they always appear in large numbers at the same time. Their bite doesn't hurt immediately, but the bite also injects mosquito saliva into the skin, causing intense itching. Mass bites can even trigger cardiovascular failure.

[0014] Midges are also a type of mosquito. That's right: they belong to the order Diptera and the suborder Mosquitoes. Midges reproduce rapidly. A midge bite is initially painless. As with the bite of a black fly, saliva enters the wound. The victim's body immediately reacts to the saliva with painful itching. Since midges usually appear in swarms, each victim is covered with numerous bites. Their victims include humans and animals, including livestock like horses. There are pictures of people whose exposed skin is covered with midge bites. Entire swarms of midges feed on free-roaming livestock. Horses are particularly sensitive. The reaction is extreme when areas covered in mosquito bites lie under the saddle, causing them to sweat.

[0015] There are commercially available blankets called eczema blankets that are designed to alleviate the problems listed above. These blankets are supposed to be breathable and prevent the horse from sweating. Some consider it important that the eczema blanket fits the horse perfectly. The material used is breathable fabric. Eczema blankets are usually made of Lycra or tightly woven polyester (blend). Lycra fabrics are usually single-layered or woven in two layers.

[0016] From this perspective, conventional eczema blankets do provide a certain amount of protection, but they do not keep out all insects.

[0017] The invention is therefore based on the object of improving eczema blankets and insect protection blankets. This is achieved according to the invention with the features of the main claim. The subclaims describe preferred embodiments of the invention.

[0018] The invention is based on the use of a horse blanket with a 3D spacer fabric for insect protection. Single-layer here means that only a single 3D fabric is used. This 3D fabric consists of two layers of fabric connected by threads, or rather, by a single thread that creates both layers and the connection between the two layers. The distance between the layers can vary from "very little" to 10 millimeters or more.

[0019] The 3D knitted fabrics are manufactured on so-called Raschel machines, which can guide a polyester thread in such a way that the thread creates both layers and the connecting threads. There are horse blankets with a 3mm thick layer of 3D spacer fabric and a surface weight of 360 grams per square meter. Manufacturers of 3D knitted fabric layers use the surface weight and thickness to describe their commercially available products.

[0020] However, horse blankets with a surface weight of 360 grams per square meter and a thickness of 3 mm do not offer sufficient protection against insects such as horseflies, knee flies, and midges. The invention is therefore based on the idea -the thickness of the 3D spacer fabric -the mesh size -to change the compression hardness so that it becomes more difficult for the insects to bite / sting through the blanket into the horse. -advantageously, the increase in thickness can also be used to improve moisture transport from the coat, i.e. the evaporation and removal of evaporated horse sweat. -It is also advantageous to reduce the area weight of the spacer fabric with increasing thickness compared to comparable commercially available spacer fabrics. and / or According to the invention, a low compression strength can be sufficient as long as the eczema blanket does not have to bear significantly more load than its own weight. Compared to conventional knitted layers, the invention results in significant material savings if the knitted fabric is designed to the required compression strength.

[0021] A thicker knitted layer makes it more difficult for insects with larger proboscises / biting tools to penetrate the horse blanket. Advantageously, despite the thicker knitted layer, a comparatively low surface weight can be chosen. This reduces the pressure on the horse's coat.

[0022] For each millimeter of knitted fabric thickness, a surface weight of less than or equal to 100 grams per square meter can be achieved. For example, a 1mm thick knitted fabric produces a surface weight of less than or equal to 100 grams per square meter. Using a 3mm thick spacer fabric according to the invention, a surface weight of less than or equal to 300 grams per square meter can be achieved. This is significantly less than with commercially available 3D knitted fabrics with a thickness of 3mm.

[0023] The lighter the horse blanket, the less likely it is that the horse will sweat underneath it. The more the horse sweats, the stronger the horse's smell will be, and the more horseflies, black flies, and other insects will be attracted.

[0024] Advantageously, a blanket according to the invention can lie directly on most horses, even horses with eczema. This becomes easier the lower the surface weight of the knitted fabric is.

[0025] It can also be advantageous to provide a spacer fabric intended for the ceiling with different layers. The different layers are preferably created by producing meshes with different mesh sizes.

[0026] The mesh sizes within a layer can be completely or partially the same. Surprising advantages can arise if the mesh size of the fur-side layer is smaller than the mesh size of the outer layer. With a narrow mesh size on the fur side, there is no risk of hairs getting caught or broken in the mesh and irritating the horse's coat. Due to the narrow mesh size, extremely small insects, such as midges, can get into the blanket but cannot penetrate the fur-side layer and reach the coat. The larger biting and stinging insects that can penetrate the fur-side layer of the spacer fabric are stopped by the outer layer of the spacer fabric.

[0027] Preferably, a mesh size of less than or equal to 0.3 mm is provided for the fur-side layer.

[0028] To keep larger insects away, layers with the same mesh size can be used on the outside. The larger mesh size in the outer layer of the spacer fabric has the advantage of using less material. The larger mesh size also has advantages in wicking away evaporated horse sweat, which provides the horse with a particularly cooling effect.

[0029] Where cooling the horse is undesirable, the blanket according to the invention can also be used in reverse, i.e., with a large mesh size on the fur side and a narrow mesh size on the outside. This can significantly inhibit the heat flow perpendicular to the surface of the blanket.

[0030] However, where the horse is particularly sensitive, the blanket according to the invention can be provided with a suitable textile layer on the fur side. Suitable textiles could be: -Polyester silk -other breathable, but correspondingly tightly woven textiles

[0031] The horse blanket according to the invention can have any known cut and / or be combined with any known accessories that belong to a known cut. This can, for example, concern -Neck cover -Head cover -Tail cover -Abdominal cover -Connection of overlapping ends of the blanket and overlapping ends of the blanket with accessory ends. Preferably, such overlaps are provided on the side of the horse, with an end of the blanket coming from above overlapping the end of the blanket coming from below, so that water coming from above cannot penetrate the connection point. The connection can be, for example, a Velcro connection, a strap connection, or a hook connection. -Devices for tensioning the blanket to ensure a snug fit. This includes every known type and arrangement of tensioning devices for horse blankets.

[0032] The horse blanket according to the invention does not require impregnation against UV exposure if the polyester or synthetic threads used for the spacer textiles are already treated with appropriate stabilizers. This is preferably done during the production of thermoplastic blends before the blend is sprayed into the threads, which are then processed into a knitted fabric.

[0033] It is not necessary to treat the horse blanket according to the invention with a waterproofing agent against rain if the natural drying ability of the 3D spacer fabric can be used.

[0034] However, the horse blanket according to the invention can also be treated in any known way to protect it against rain and UV radiation.

[0035] For well-known horse blankets, the same waterproofing agents are used as those used for the care of awning fabrics and parasol fabrics. However, this is not easy because these waterproofing agents contain irritants, e.g. -2-Propanol -Isopropyl alcohol -Isopropanol

[0036] An example of a waterproofing agent that is free of irritants is wax.

[0037] Various embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawing. Fig. 1 shows one half of a cut-out 1 for a horse blanket in a view as it results from the side when the cut-out 1 is hung vertically.

[0038] This means that there is another half of the cut hidden by the half of the cut shown.

[0039] The other half of the horse blanket, belonging to the depicted half, has the same characteristics as the depicted half. When the horse blanket is spread out to view both halves together, the other half mirrors all the features of the depicted half.

[0040] Fig. 2 shows a section of the cut 1. It can be seen that the cut 1 consists of a layer 2 of 3D knitted fabric.

[0041] Layer 2 has a textile edging 4. The textile is sewn to layer 2.

[0042] Cutting 1 is optionally -made UV-resistant with an impregnation / coating and / or -provided with creases and / or folds at the front joint and / or -provided with straps and / or buckles and / or -provided with a rain cover and / or -with connections for accessories and / or -Provided with seals for the gap between the eczema blanket and the horse at the edge of the blanket

Claims

[1] Horse blanket for protection against insects, in particular for protection against horseflies and against black flies and midges, whereby the horse blanket has a 3D knitted fabric and the 3D knitted fabric consists of two knitted layers which are connected to each other by intermediate threads and kept at a distance, characterized by at least one layer of the spacer fabric with a mesh size of less than or equal to 0.3 mm [2] Horse blanket according to claim 1, characterized by that the knitted fabric layers have completely or partially different mesh sizes. [3] Horse blanket according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the mesh size of the fur-side knitted layer is smaller than that of the outer knitted layer. [4] Horse blanket according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by that the mesh size of the fur-side knitted layer is larger than that of the outer knitted layer. [5] Horse blanket according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized by a mesh size of less than or equal to 0.3 mm on the fur side.

Images