I’ve always heard and though that it was better for a horse to be on the cold side, when blanketing, because of the weather, than too hot. Recently, my vet said the opposite, wanting his horse blanketed when being turned out, despite warmer weather on the way for the day. I’m not always around to change or remove blankets on my own horses, so thought it was better to leave them naked even in the rain, than run the risk of having them sweating like crazy should the sun decide to come out. They were blanketed all winter, but we are finally getting some warmer weather, even if it is rainy, they have access to a shelter, and I have always heard that overheating under blankets is really bad.
Is my vet right? Or me?
If they have shelter they will be fine naked,better then sweating under a blanket all day.
I used to think it was better for them to be cold, until I dealt with the impaction colic that happened as a direct result of it - horse was a boarder, owner didn’t want another blanket on him, and the horse stopped drinking. Now if I know the weather’s going to be uncooperative, I might err on blanketing a little warmer. My guys are out 24/7, and unclipped, so the most they have on is a medium anyway.
IME and personal preference, I’d prefer them to be a little too hot than a little to cold - they will drink more when they’re hot. They will still move around, they will still eat, etc – when they’re too cold on the other hand, the first thing they stop doing is drinking, then they stop moving, then they stop eating.
1 Like
Damn, that does make a lot of sense! I hate it when he’s right sometimes! Well I did just order another rainsheet for one of the princes, to replace the not so waterproof anymore, so i guess i can justify that expense.
1 Like
I kind of base it on the individual horse. Like my older one that has some known arthritis issues, I might let be a bit warmer rather than cold. But the one that gets itchy and does stupid stuff when hot (like get cast rolling, or try to bathe in the water trough) - he is better to be on the colder side. I also look at whether they are able to move around (to stay warm) or locked up (so they might get colder faster). I have a new one right now that is clipped and I’m having to watch her to see what she prefers, but so far, being a little extra warm seems to be ok with her. Plus she has a stall at night and plenty of bedding so that helps with warmth too.
4 Likes
Along the lines of what horsepoor was saying, you are making a judgement on warm and cold based on your personal temperature/weather blanket guide. And rightfully so. However, each horse has their own temperature/weather blanket needs which may not mesh with yours.
I have two horses right now. One will sweat in a rainsheet while the other is happy as a clam in 150gm of insulation. One prefers to be cooler, while the other gets miserable if he is chilly. My temp/weather guide says 10C or lower and rain means a rainsheet. My chilly boy has that modified to 15C, and the temperatures for adding insulation are similarly modified. Chilly boy also has a neck rug while cool horse just has a Wug style high neck.
When it’s someone else’s horse though, you have to use their temp/weather guide.
Thats always been my theory too. And, modern blankets are breathable, if they do sweat it should eventually evaporate.
I agree it can be individual… Yo was always on the warmer side, meaning he needed less blanketing than you would think.
ETA he was also prone to tie-up, and did so the first time after left in one of those Godawful Aussie turnouts with a wool liner… from then on he was always sheeted/blanketed lighter then other horses.
ETA that was in 1991-ish.
He got newer, better blankets over the next 22 years I had him. 
The boy had quite a wardrobe.
Melly was beyond warmer… would SWEAT if he was ‘overblanketed’ for him which was way lighter than I would have guessed. Again even in new, as in 2016 era, blankets that breathe.
IIRC the horse, as a creature of the short grass steppe, has a native comfort zone from about 15-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Outside that zone they need a bit of help in the nature of shade, protection from wind, etc. Inside that zone they are good to go.
Given that I think your vet. is in error.
G.
2 Likes
I’ve been keeping my horses a little warm this spring. I’d always been a “better too cool than sweaty in the blanket” person but they all got a little leaner than I’d like with the move and then two got sick and GAH HERE ARE SOME BLANKETS. They all seemed more comfortable.
It’s been IMPRESSIVE how just not sweaty they’ve been. We’re talkin fully coated horses, in medium weights, up to 60 or so. Hell, I had Dove in a HEAVY up to about 45 or 50. No sweat. No one was even HOT. Certainly no one was obviously uncomfortable. That pretty much blows away my previous “if this temp then this blanket” mental temp chart.
Blankets are SO breathable now. This spring has certainly made me revisit my previous position and I’m more in beowulf’s camp after these past few months.
I agree- there’s a huge difference between the blankets off rack today and yesteryear. I still have one from such a period, handed down to me from a lesson barn that had it for god knows how long. It doesn’t fit my guy anyway, and is one of those no-open-chest new zealand type rugs, but god, it’s less breathable than a plastic bag.
I think G raises a good point about their evolution and the type of climate they originated from, but horses these days are so far removed from the physical type that lived in the steppes that I think it isn’t necessarily always a worthy example. Most domestic horses don’t grow the same type of coat that the steppe-equids did, and most are kept inside, which diminishes the robustness of coat growth as well.
I have one that would be 100% comfortable in said conditions naked (15F-60F) - but I have another that any time it dips below 30 and isn’t sunny, NEEDS a blanket – even if it is dry. He is also older - their blanketing needs definitely change as they get older – he used to never, ever need a blanket so long as he was dry. Not so anymore.
So it certainly isn’t always a static, black and white answer. I actually have had to keep a close eye on my prefers-to-be-nakey boy this year because he is also baldy-mcnakey-butt due to having the entire of his hindquarter shaved for ultrasounds in Oct & then again in March. As a result of shaved-butt status, he’s needed more blanketing than usual. (for amusement, here’s a picture of it freshly shaved in March - you can still see the old shaving imprint from Oct, that spanned from his 2nd to last rib to his dock!)
1 Like
My thinking is if there is rain/snow I’d rather be a little overly cautious and blanket too much, but on a sunny day I’d rather be a little under sold then have them sweat.
2 Likes
If 45 - 50 degrees they don’t need blankets i quit blanketing back in march. Even if they get cold overnight they just eat more hay. Once sun comes up their good, mine have very little winter hair left and do fine with no blanket on. The one horse is black and he’ll be totally all sweated up if blanketed at 45 - 50 degrees,that’s with the breathable waterproof blanket.
So i would rather they be a bit cold then sweaty under a blanket,both my horses have been sweaty under their blankets so naked they stay.
It’s not quite as simple as a little too warm or cold. How warm/cold? For how long? Are the conditions such that the slightly too warm/cold will get worse if you don’t change the blanket situation?
For example - I’d rather them be a little too warm with a blanket on in the late afternoon/early evening, but be comfortable for the rest of the rainy, cold, windy night (and no, I’m really not going to get up at 2am to put blankets on “just in time” lol)
I’d rather them be a little chilled in the early morning with blankets off, than keep them warm enough then but likely hot later in the day. This one is now a little easier for me to deal with since I work from home and the horses are here, but when I was working in the office, I didn’t have a problem leaving them a little cool by taking off blankets, knowing the day would warm up later.
A little cool is better than sweating just being outside. But cold isn’t better than being a little too warm.
My big WB is more uncomfortable when he’s a little too warm in a blanket than my TB mare is.
It’s also really critical to have a very breathable turnout sheet/blanket on. Mine (Schneider’s Stormshield, medium weight) will rarely make for a sweaty horse if they somehow end up with a blanket on for a couple hours in the low 60’s (happens 1-2 times a year when overnight is cold and wet and windy, but behind it the temps rise fast before I can get outside, and again, no, I’m not getting up at 4am just to take blankets off “just in time” lol).
1 day of being too cold is very unlikely to cause a drinking/impaction problem, unless possibly they were already on the edge (in which case there are other issues).
It also matters the time of year as to what conditions make a horse too warm or too cold, so it’s not strictly about outright temps or wet/wind. What feels like a warm Fall or Winter day in the 50’s and cloudy after a couple of weeks of temps in the 30s or 40s, with a full or near full Winter coat, can be a cool to cold Spring day after a week in the 60s, and most of the Winter coat is gone. Then it’s a matter of learning your individual horse’s situation.
2 Likes
Maybe “they” works for your horses, but it is not a valid blanket statement (no pun intended). If it were, right now, even 50*, but a hard driving rain, such as is common in Spring here, 2 of mine would be visibly cold, and 2 might not appear cold but their stiff walk would tell me their muscle are right, and that’s not good either. And they aren’t clipped, so for sure many clipped horses would be cold in 50* rain for hours.
Horses who get cold for enough hours at a time, on a regular basis, develop muscle issues, especially once they are out of the “young and invincible” stage. If they are eating enough hay to stay warm, they aren’t cold. But sometimes, no amount of hay will keep them warm enough.
1 Like
It depends. My big mare coliced last week after getting miserably cold during a freak April 1st snow storm. She had access to shelter but it wasn’t enough. For her, I will now err on having her be a bit warm. Probably the main cause was fluctuating temperatures and the fact they were fed late that morning, but being cold certainly didn’t help. Luckily, Banamine did the trick and she perked up pretty quickly.
that storm was awful, wasn’t it? I wasn’t sure what to do with it - one minute it was “no blanket” weather and the next slammed with long durations of miserable sleet and cold. Hope your mare is feeling better ASAP - praise Banamine, for sure!
We have angered the New England weather gods in some way, I think. This has been an epic season for colic – ask a vet.
That storm kept me from moving my mare on the 31st, which is not a huge problem, except she’s outside in the mud until I can move her (this Friday.) The MUD is epic everywhere, and how many cycles of frozen ground-mud have we gone through already??? She’s getting her hay in her shed, which is dry, but the fool thing stands outside in the mud and reaches inside to eat her hay.
Anyway… I’m inclined to blanket slightly on the warm side, but that’s really a function of the horse I have. She’s a little older and gets chilled easily, and doesn’t grow a lot of coat. Some of the big furry yak-like ones are just fine nekkid.
If it’s dry out (ha, ha, ha in the world of Maryland weather) then I go towards a little cold is better than too warm and make sure there is free choice hay and wind blocks. If it’s going to be rainy, icy, snowy- I’ll go towards warmer blanketing along with the hay and wind blocks. My ancient mare is always blanketed towards warmer because she’ll shiver when I’m too warm in a sweatshirt.
1 Like
Not sure how being cold for enough hours over time can cause muscle issues.
Go out with a blanket now and can’t get any where near them…they avoid you like the plague. So pretty good indication neither want blankets on. Cold rain they go in shelter to stand.
If bad enough I’ll bring them in barn, like when we had a bad wind storm. Being out then was dangerous trees snapping off and getting uprooted.
