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I know people's blanketing needs vary greatly depending on clipping, weather, horse's health, etc. And of course philosophies on blanketing also vary greatly.

But just curious how many people here blanket v. don't blanket in the winter. Particularly interested to hear from those who don't clip. If you don't clip and DO blanket, at what temperature/level do you blanket?

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The past few years I have decided not to clip and not to blanket my mare. I live in the south, so we get some winter, but nothing too severe. She gets a rain sheet on when it rains, but otherwise she goes out naked and fluffy. But she's also a mustang who gets quite a healthy winter coat, is in good weight/health, and is generally pretty hardy and tough. Also, given that she's built to survive winters in the mountains out west with much less weight and food, I don't worry that much about her.

This summer I bought a pony and this is his first winter with me. It's also already proving to be a colder winter than usual. He too will stay unclipped, but it's making me think about at what temperature I think an unclipped horse needs a blanket. So, curious to hear other's thoughts.

This is the first year I haven't clipped. It hasn't been that cold here yet. I also put on a rain sheet when necessary, but so far no clipping on the mare and she is in work. I had planned to clip her, but she isn't getting that hot working (not heavy work) and if I can hold off doing it I will. It's nice not to be fussing with blanket changes all the time. I know my old guy really hates blankets and seems to love cold weather, so I'm doing pretty well so far. I keep them in overnight and they are free to come in if during the day they are cold.

I'm in a fairly cold and snowy part of New England and don't clip nor blanket, but each horse has access to his own run-in so none of them are outside without shelter unless they want to be.

What I've noticed is that the winter coats start out modest, but then get thicker, so even though it seems like a horse may not have enough his coat will get thicker as the days get shorter.

I just don't ride them hard enough to get them hot and sweaty when it's cold out, which is easy enough to do because the colder it gets the less they sweat.

kande50 wrote:What I've noticed is that the winter coats start out modest, but then get thicker, so even though it seems like a horse may not have enough his coat will get thicker as the days get shorter.

The shortest day of the year is almost upon us. Wouldn't you think then that this is the thickest the coat is going to get?

(Yeah, I think coats are about at their thickest as we approach the Solstice. My mare usually starts shedding by New Year's!)

I do not clip, but my mare barely grows a coat (Iberian x). If we do hard work while it is in the mid 50s or higher, she will get a little bit sweaty, but it is not too bad to dry her out. She is also a weeny about cold and damp, and I live in the mid-south where it is not terribly cold most of the time but can be quite damp. I know horses can be fine naked in very cold temps. But miss mare would not be happy!

This is what we do, based on the worst temps of the turnout period (this guide is similar to how the fully clipped horses in my barn are blanketed):
Mid 50s and higher: naked
Low 40s-low 50s: rain sheet only
Mid 30s-Low 40s: a lighter medium weight blanket, no hood
Mid 20s-Mid 30s: a heavier medium weight blanket with a hood
Low 20s and under: heavy blanket with a hood

I have a variety! Only one is clipped though may be looking at clipping Gaila as well, at least a bib or trace. I blanket all but my old girl who hates to be blanketed (will try to bite you) with exception of cold and rain or cold and wind. Then I just tell her she has to deal.

Rip is clipped (needs clipping again already) so he has multiple choices, my most go to is a techno fleece by Schneiders, 30's, below freezing 100g smartpak, I also have a 200 g but don't use it too much unless it is COLD or really windy and cold.
Gaila blanketed, not clipped, thick coat. tecno used mostly
Joplin not clipped but no coat whatsoever (Iberian) techno (30's/40's) or 200 g (below freezing) depending. I also have layers if needed.
Juliet TB/Perch PSSM not clipped, pretty hairy 100g used 30's/40's, 200 g below freezing.

I live in Georgia, so rarely gets that cold.

musical comedy wrote:The shortest day of the year is almost upon us. Wouldn't you think then that this is the thickest the coat is going to get?

I think the shorter days may trigger more growth, but if so, there could be a delay between triggering and the production of enough additional hair to be noticeable? Or maybe because I can't really quantify the amount of hair each has, my impressions aren't the least bit accurate? But it seems like they're at their hairiest mid-Feb, which is when they first shed a few hairs, so maybe they just keep growing hair until then and then stop in preparation for shedding in the spring?

I blanketed in Ontario and didn't clip. Her blankets were heavy and layered and she never got too hot under the blankets. We also worked regularly but not heavily throughout the winter and I would groom in sections with the blanket still on before work and a cooler on after work. If I would have had issues with her getting too hot and/or too sweaty I would have clipped.

Since we moved to Nevada I've left her hairy and un-blanketed. She's currently hairy enough for Ontario I think I considered clipping and blanketing since she is so hairy but so far she doesn't get sweaty enough after a workout for it to be an issue.

I still haven't clipped Maia. She's not particularly fuzzy, so there's been no need.

In general, my awesome barn owner puts in sheets below 45, and insulated blankets below ~32. My two have heavy weight blankets too (I used to pasture board Anzia, and Maia's inherited my old mare's blankets from the NH years), that go on when the temps drop below 0. That's not a frequent occurence in the mid-Atlantic.

I don't blanket. We are approximately similar climate to Seattle.
We don't get snow where my horses live; about 30 miles south regularly has snow on the mountain, and approximately 100-130 miles south has mountains with skifields. We do get frosts, we are below 0 degrees C (freezing) perhaps 20 days each winter.

None of my horses are blanketed. They live in a tiny herd (of 2), completely outdoors, in paddocks of half to one acre. They have some shelter (trees, variations in the ground contour, etc). They choose to be out in the worst of the weather, they don't go and huddle under trees. The mostly-TB (nearly 24yo) grows a long but fine coat (she's the softest of soft in her winter coat), the baby hoss (3) grows a coat like her mother, coarser than the TB and longer than her summer coat, but not all that thick.

They thrive, it's less stress, I don't have to buy or repair or re-waterproof blankets. I love it.

I live in northern Illinois, so cold/rain/snow is a given from November through April. I didn't blanket Bob til the last 2 years of his life. Miss A. gets a sheet at 40 degrees, and a blanket when it's 30-ish. This year she wore her sheet for a week, then into her medium blanket. Her pasture has no shelter. Being a TB, her coat is not very thick or heavy. She doesn't shed much. She certainly doesn't work hard enough to break into a seat! I don't clip.

I live in cold/snowy Ontario, Canada.

Of my 9 horses, I only blanket the 20 yr old Welsh pony in really wet/cold conditions or if she is cold. I also sometimes blanket one of my broodmares but she came to me under-conditioned and is now in great condition and, so far, hasn't needed a blanket.

I also blanket my Friesian/Perch but only if I clip him.

Everyone else is nekkid. They all live out 24/7 with access to large shelters, and they thrive even when it goes down to -30C (which it does!!! why do I live here??!!).

piedmontfields wrote:(
Mid 50s and higher: naked
Low 40s-low 50s: rain sheet only
Mid 30s-Low 40s: a lighter medium weight blanket, no hood
Mid 20s-Mid 30s: a heavier medium weight blanket with a hood
Low 20s and under: heavy blanket with a hood

That is about what I do, though if it's rainy and <70, I do put a Sunshower sheet on Annabelle because she likes to lay flat out in her pen whether it's dry or not.

A. seems to be part seal and grows almost no coat, so I blanket her more. I put the heavy blanket with neck on her when it started dipping into the teens at night. Came out to find her strategically sunning herself while wearing it during the warmest (30ish) part of the afternoon yesterday.

If Baby T had an enclosed stall, I probably wouldn't bother blanketing her this winter, but she is in a pen with a "breezeway" barn that is open on the sides, so there is little to no protection from wind or driving rain. I just started blanketing her (high neck medium) when daytime highs were consistently below 40. She has a medium to light coat.

Obie has a thick, wooly coat, and again, I only blanket him now because he doesn't have much of a wind break in his pen.

None of them are clipped this winter.

I haven't blanketed for 2 years now but then the horse isn't in any serious work either. If she was in serious work, she would need at least a bib or trace clip because she is one fluffy, woolly critter. Especially this year. Wowza...her hair isn't really long but man is it thick. It would take forever to dry her off after a work session. I did throw her lightweight blanket on her for the first serious storm of the fall. There was about a 20 degree drop in temp and 30 mph wind and hard rain so I threw that on for 2 days. Then we had a couple relatively nice days so I pulled it and she has been fine without it even with the subsequent rain and snow.

If she were clipped, she would be blanketed because we do tend to get a lot of wind at times and she has shelter but it is separated from her eating area which isn't covered. It isn't the way I would have designed the paddocks but that is how it is. The B.O. is good at upping the hay if the temps stay below freezing to help them through the colder periods.

Susan

I live in very wet but not cold (except for this week in the mid 20s at night) Oregon. Our winter temps are usually 40s and raining. I always have at least turnout/rain sheets on my riding mare and two ponies. This week due to the cold I transitioned to 100g T/O blankets for all. Only 1 is clipped (trace), my driving pony, as she is a yak and will never dry w/o a clip. My dressage mare is normal hairy but runs a little colder than my ponies so I usually keep her in a 100g turnout blanket. She does sweat during rides, more so during 50 degree + days, but dries out nicely w/ her WB wick dri cooler. I do have some 200g turnouts but many years I don't even use them. I don't do a lot of blanket swapping with this system.

We live in a coldish area - snow, rain, and some very low temps (PA)
My 8 year old mare does not grow a huge coat - but, she does have a winter coat. I would leave her naked (unless it rained) as she goes out for about 4-5 hours and the barn is not extremely cold and she does get a nice amount of hay. In her prior life up to 5years old- out in a herd with a minimal shelter - no blankets or sheets

The barn prefers that we blanket/use sheets
My rule of thumb for her: 40's to high 30's she has a Rambo sheet ( I think they are warmer since the material is tight and thick)
mid-low 30's- 100 gram weight Rambo
low 20's -Teens - 200 weight
Below that 400 weight

The above is also dependent on how damp it is.

I haven't had to clip a horse for a few years and thus have not been blanketing; but, this year I chose to show at the November show which necessitated a body clip. That alone has forced me to blanket at night. I'm further out from the city and the temps do get low here at night especially for the desert. Once Junior gets enough hair I'll stop blanketing at night but that will be a few weeks before our next planned show and he'll likely get body clipped for that.....

Great white north here. I blanket any horsxe that shivers. No clipping. I blanket for wet precipitation-- wet snow, rain, freezing rain, etc. I don't blanket for dry snow or mild snow. I blanket some if temps dip below say fifteen below. I blanket low in the heirarchy horses for any unusual weather.

Here in SoCal we get so warm in the winters that working with their winter hair is not an option. I clip in Oct or Nov and blanket. This year since I a not riding they are unclipped and unblanketed. As soon as I am functional I will clip them and start blanketing.

Dilly, a Danish WB, grows virtually no coat. I tried to blanket him but the record before total destruction was three days. I tried every different fit and type of blanket but he destroys them. No spray, ie Chewstop or cayenne or whatever slowed him down. So now he is on his own. He seems fine, never shivers or anything. We don't get below 30.