I think that I wouldn't attempt to stitch horse blankets on a new machine. The chance of hair or dust harming your machine would be an ongoing possibility. I'd suggest an older Singer either a 201 or 15-91 as these are heavy, simple and powerful. I regularly stitch heavy multi layer denim and duck coveralls on my 201 and it doesn't balk, growl, jam or break needles.Last night I made a bag out of upholstery that was lined and quilted and that was no problem either. I also FM on my 201 as the feed dogs drop by turning a screw and pushing a lever and then tightning the screw again. The best part about my 201 is that I got it free and only had to pay $70 to get it cleaned, serviced and re-wired.