1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to animal husbandry accessories, and more specifically to horse blankets or rugs to minimize discomfort for the animal outfitted with a rug or blanket according to the present disclosure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Despite their size and obvious strength, horses are delicate animals with a complicated physiology. Some existing blankets or rugs used for horses do not accommodate the flexibility of a horse's neck. The lack of flex in horse rugs may result in stress to the neck muscles of the horse. Many horse rugs have adjustable closures that allow for differing sizes of neck openings, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,352 to Schneider et al. issued Nov. 10, 1992. Other horse rugs have a neck opening formed completely of a stretchable material, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,221 to Newman issued Dec. 21, 1993. Still other horse rugs have a neck opening secured by an elastic closure, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,395 to Kelly et al. issued Nov. 24, 1998.
However, the above mentioned horse rugs do not have a neck opening of a material that is appropriate for the purpose of providing protection to a horse and yet has sufficient flexibility to conform to the horse as the horse moves without imparting stress to the horse's musculature. Although the invention described herein relates to a horse rug, the invention is especially applicable to rugs, blankets, or coverings for animals other than horses.