To Blanket or not to blanket

[wgc517]

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are with blanketing.
I live in SE Pennsylvania and the temperature can get into the teens in the dead of winter.
I have heard a few school of thoughts.

One is that you should not blanket. Taking them on and off all the time can make the horse sweat and they get cold utilmately predispossing them to possiblity of sickness.

The second is to blanket. It will help cut down on the amount needed to feed as horses will eat more in very cold weather.

Do you have to blanket? If so at what temps?

[Shannon]

Depends if your horse is kept inside or out. If your horse is inside a heated barn(even slightly heated), blanket when you turn out. My personal rule...Always let them grow a good winter coat before you start blanketing. If you start blanketing you usually need to keep blanketing, so decide if you want the hassle. Most horses are well able to keep themselves warm outside if given shelter, and good and plentiful feed. I blanket my gelding as he's a hard keeper in winter, but I waited until he had grown a decent coat, and I only use a light fill blanket to help out.

People usually overblanket for personal peace of mind more than actual necessity for the horse. I personally beleive most horses are WAY overblanketed. That being sais, I have a hard keeper, and I blanket so he uses his feed to keep his weight up, not to keep warm. I let him grow a coat, then he wears a light fill waterproof blanket day and night. When we hit about -25 (celcius) I add another lightweight blanket on top until it warms up a bit. We get wind chills, last year we had days where it was -50 c. Second coldest place on earth!

[madelyn]

IMHO blanketing a horse to keep a short hair coat, when that horse is not engaged in any kind of real work, creates an unnecessary maintenance issue unless you live in an area where sub-zero weather is common. Blankets can also do more HARM than good in conditions like sleet and freezing rain. Horses fluff out their coats so that precipitation runs off and VERY SELDOM get wet to the skin (which is what run-ins and shelters are for) while a blanket will lay down the hair flat and Get That Horse Soaking Wet. Buy round bales instead since the digestion of hay creates body heat. Waterproof blanket is an oxymoron, just like the insulated "waterproof" gloves. The only waterproof gloves I've ever had were the industrial playtex kind that I put over my fleece gloves. Blankets also encourage things like rainrot because they trap bacteria and moisture inside the haircoat.....

[Bast]

Mine stayed extremely healthy when allowed to morph into the woolly caterpillar look complete with beards every winter. They looked terrible to anyone accustomed to seeing only sleek horses, but they spent most of their lives outside, and rarely were sick. They had places in the pasture to get out of the wind if they wished. You have to brush the dried mud out of their coats.

They seemed quite happy this way.

[wgc517]

Thank you. I was leaning towards not blanketing and I feel more comfortable now.

[CampRiver]

I live in N Maine and the winters can get pretty harsh here. I do not blanket my horses unless they are shivering. but it helps that I feed them round bales so they can have hay 24/7 and they have a shelter with they option of going in or out if they want to but I have yet to see them go in there. I also give them warm water to drink.

[wilf]

I love this thread because I lived in Australia for 20 years and they blanket them to death and even have sheets on them in the summer. As you can imagine I was shocked when I came to North America,primarily in Canada and the East Coast but I adjusted and the wisdom of letting a horse control it's own body heat has been inscribed in me forever. Unless I am winter racing I will keep them outside with plenty of hay and let them do with themselves as they wish. Lo and behold come the first mild days of spring and they look like seals. For winter racing I will trace clip and blanket for training and staying inside a cold barn.

[KBEquine]

Thank you. I was leaning towards not blanketing and I feel more comfortable now.

If you are talking broodmares, don't blanket.

All but a few of our horses are out 24/7. None of them is blanketed. We only have 2 on the property who are blanketed & they are special cases - one has a short coat & the other is a "vintage model" who needs all the help she can get, staying warm this winter.

Outdoor horses need a windbreak (even a line of pines to break the prevailing wind is often enough) and in heavy rains & snows, a roof over their heads (again, thick trees are often adequate).

Our horses all have a run-in & roundbales. Hay keeps them warmer than grain, so the abundance of hay is a must in the cold.

But no blankets, which they will tear - and sometimes tear off of each other. Then you need to find another blanket quickly.

Show horses are blanketed around here (Pennsylvania) in the winter & horses who are racing are blanketed. But most horses with a minimum amount of shelter & adequate hay are perfectly capable of keeping themselves warm without a blanket.

[karenkarenn]

I run into that problem alot. In november it got -20 here.
Normally in our nov. it gets in the teens, so I NEVER blanket our horses. We let our horses grow as much coat as possible it stops the water from soaking into the skin. Don't be alarmed if you see a wet coat, be alarmed if the skin is wet.
When it got -20 a night with the windchill, I blanket
in the morning when it got up to 5 or 6 degrees I took the blankets off.
I won't blanket unless its clear, bone chilling cold with a wind. No wind its warmer. We have shelters out but most don't use them and they are pastured with food out, square bales. If it's like Nov. again Ill throw out the alfalfa to them.
If its mild like you are talking about, feed grass and alfalfa more often.
Karen