I think SmartPak at one time had suggested having those little brass tags attached to blankets with the temperature range engraved on them. You could also just use a Sharpie and write it on the blanket if you’re not concerned about how it looks.
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I also love my 100g! It’s so useful. I do still use my sheet, but mostly only when it’s just a bit chilly and my horse doesn’t have much coat or he’s clipped. I don’t get people putting a sheet on a nice fluffy horse when it’s cold… You’re probably just making the horse colder. My barn does it all the time. 
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I could use some help here too. I have a fuzzy fjord in northeast Ohio. The last two winters, I did an Irish clip on him in the fall, and by the time the cold cold weather hit, where he was clipped was already growing well back in. He was out nearly everyday rain/wind/snow naked showing no signs of being cold.
THIS year, I have given him more of hybrid blanket clip.
My old barn did not have an indoor and while we would trail ride in the winter, he wasn’t in real work to get him sweaty. New barn has an indoor and he will be kept in work. Between that, and his winter coat coming in while it was still hot, I gave him a more generous clip.
To date, this past week it’s been in the 50’s with rain and wind while he’s been turned out. No issues there, no waiting at the gate to come in or anything. If we get another hot spell in the next month, I’m going to re-clip him so he doesn’t overheat which is more of an issue for us. We will also be doing some schooling shows over the winter, so I may keep up with the clip just to help keep him easier to clean up.
I have a Noble 4 in 1 turnout thing I got on sale when I got him, and have yet to use it. I am thinking perhaps once we get down towards freezing with precipitation the turnout sheet/shell portion might be the way to go? I really worry about him being too warm vs anything else having had him two winters now.
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Until recently, for 1.5 years I was the only boarder at my friend’s small barn. She and I had slightly different blanketing viewpoints so I made a simple chart that worked well. I listed which blankets were heavy, medium, light weight, etc. and what temperature range (with the “real feel” temperatures because humidity and windchill are important!) correlated with each weight.
I am a big proponent of trying things out to find what works best, so the chart that I made was adjusted a few times. I also am a bit of a blanket hoarder so I have many options 
My friend/BO was just happy to have something for reference so we never had an issue when I would adjust it, plus I trusted her to make the right call. She worked from home most of the time and her barn was on property so I was fortunate that she could swap out blankets during the day when there were temperature swings or other changes. This was at a barn with five horses, so I can only how much of a headache it would be at a larger barn!
A few people have mentioned it on here but I was also told by an old horseman that one of the worst things to do is put an underweight blanket on an unclipped horse because the blanket pushes down the hair that expands to warm the horse, therefore chilling them since their natural system has been inhibited. I was told this when I had my late mare who was Paint/TB with a pretty thick winter coat and rarely needed anything more than a 200g blanket, and I still keep it in mind with my thin-skinned, not very hairy OTTB who has never been clipped and gets a 400g blanket so that he is able to stand outside in the polar vortexes of central Ohio 
I feel that is only true some of the time.
A light waterproof sheet might not add any real warmth in cold and wet conditions but it will still trap some of the warmth being generated by the horse. The horse will still be warmer than leaving them naked under these conditions. When the coat is really wet, or in very cold and windy conditions, the piloerection function is unable to work anyway.
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@Postandrails: Awesome, that’s good to know. Thank you! I forgot to add in my original post that I wanted an explanation because I had not really thought about it until reading through this thread - you read my mind 
thanks again!
ETA: mention/reply added because I don’t know if it did it automatically 
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If you take the hair off and don’t add some sort of artificial coat back (sheet/blanket 24/7), they will grow that hair back as fast as possible.
The warmer you keep them under blankets, the less hair will grow back. With the really determined hair growers, and those that can’t handle being kept a little warmer, you may still have to clip twice, but there should be a fairly long time between clips - early fall and late winter/early spring.
Signed,
The person who bought a hairy yak and every winter since that first one gets asked if she’s clipped. Nope, she doesn’t mind being warm so I keep her warm and she keeps a short coat.
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Hairy Yaks are right!! Thank you, this is helpful. I can attest to that clipped coat growing back FAST when leaving them naked! I think we will have some more trial and error this winter. I would really like to avoid him getting to be a sweaty yak while riding and having to take a long time to dry off. It was in the low 50’s here yesterday and I drove him at a good clip for 30 minutes and he didn’t break a sweat, so we’ll see!
I was always told that as well. I was also told that if you start blanketing then you need to continue to do so all season.
Don’t know if they are actually true but I didn’t take any chances. My blanketed horses were definitely smoother and my unblanketed horses do puff up their hair in cold weather but I don’t see how that would change if a blanket was off and it got cold?
Unless they come to rely on the blanket for warmth or it does keep the hair from getting as long for Winter.
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Blankets definitely limit the length of hair IF they are used 24/7 at ‘max’ possible warmth starting early in the season and kept up throughout the winter. I’m in Canada and my horse generally sheds out the tiny bit of winter coat she grows in January - several months ahead of her non-blanketed buddies. She also spends zero time sweating while working in the winter so she’s never damp and disgusting, and I’m never dealing with trying to cool out an overheated horse
I blanketed my 2 when living in N. CA ( rode year round)starting in late Summer and when I moved to the Mid West I opted not to blanket the first Winter and I do remember they had way more hair then when I blanketed.
They were happier without the blankets.
For 30 years I have faithfully blanketed horses at the first sign of temperature drop and added warmth as it dove below freezing. I am one of the only people I know that doesn’t have to clip horses in the winter because of this. The others I know that also minimize their horses’ coats - same deal - blanket early and often and don’t give in on nice days.
If someone doesn’t want to do that - absolutely fine. Clip or deal with extended cool out times or whatever. I’m just sharing one method of minimizing winter sweating in cold climates.
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I saw a cool blanketing system at one large barn. Every blanket was tagged with a color tag. Colors were assigned for heavy, mid, light, sheet etc. You could also use a marker to write the horse’s name on the tag. Then on the stall front was the horse’s blanketing schedule also using the colors. If the blankets are layered, two colors are used. Seemed to work well for easily identifying the correct blankets.
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At my barn, where I work and board, the staff and manager make the blanketing decisions. No-fill sheets on at 12C, mid’s at below 0 C, and heavy’s on a -10C. Every horse is dressed for turnout this way, but what stable blanket they wear is horse-dependant. The manager hates finding horses dressed inappropriately, so the boarders ask and she tells them what to put on. Or, she asks us staff to change the blankets.
I would question why the barn needs a chart. I have only seen that at two farms and in both cases it resulted in horses being mindlessly over blanketed because barn workers are told to follow the chart without using common sense. As a barn owner, I see first-hand that there are so many variables that affect how to blanket from one day to the next.
I would ask if they are going to follow the chart exactly, or if it is a guideline that will be considered with a healthy dose of expertise. If they are following it exactly and your horse is healthy and active, I would lean toward slightly under-blanketing. Maybe start by looking at the charts of the other boarders at your farm and then check on your horse regularly to adjust as needed. In general, my unclipped horses get rainsheets if it’s under 10C and raining or if it’s under 0C and really windy. Insulated blankets vary depending on the natural coat, age, and activity level of each horse.
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In all honesty, I’m not too sure on why. People started using charts last year and this year it was required so I decided to make one. In the past we didn’t use them and I didn’t worry about it since I was there every day to do my own blanket changes so it wasn’t a concern until now. I did write on my chart that the temperature ranges are based off of real feel & aren’t set in stone so they can adjust as necessary
That sounds like a good compromise! Maybe they’ve had complaints about their blanketing decisions. We all tend to feel strongly about how our horses should be blanketed, yet, somehow, the horses continue to survive 
.
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A few years ago my vet advised me that for my hairy old horses, an uninsulated rainsheet was all they needed to about -10C. I only put that on if it’s windy or wet. For a clipped horse, I would probably put a rainsheet on when it got colder than about 5C. I think your guy also wouldn’t need more insulation until it got well below freezing.
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It’s October. This is the time of year for growing winter coats. That’s why your horse is growing coat back on the clipped areas - he’s also growing coat everywhere else too. 
Here in Eastern Ontario horses grow winter coats from July through December, with the most noticeable period of growth being Sept-Nov. Before our autumn weather started staying warmer for longer I could clip once in the second or third week of November and get a little more coat grown over the clipped areas sufficient to provide protection in the extra cold of January.
More recently I have had to clip twice - late Sept/early Oct and again later in November. Remember that you don’t have to clip the same pattern the second (or third) time. If you’re finding he’s getting very wet on his. neck and shoulders you could try an apron clip the next time and leave the side stripes at the in-between length. Or simply do a lower blanket clip.
If your cutie was mine I would err on the side of too cold and stick with a 0g rainsheet until he showed that he was cold. The rainsheet is like a personal, portable shelter as it blocks wind and wet with very little squash factor on a thick, fuzzy coat like his. And before you worry about squash factor on the day you find him with a flat coat, ask yourself if he’s warm. Because if he’s warm he will flatten his coat so he doesn’t get too warm, and then fluff up again as the temperature drops.
That’s why my horse can live out full time without twice daily blanket changes. I’m using a blanket that’s not too heavy for the high and letting him control how much extra insulation he needs with coat fluff. I’m using a 200g Wug most of. the time as soon as the daily high is below 0c (freezing point - most of our daily winter highs are below zero). I only add a second layer (100g with 150g neck) for storms and extended cold snaps (more than a day or two) and then take that layer off.
I start blanketing at 10c with rain. Once the daily high is below 10c I leave the rainsheet on as he won’t overheat and it makes my life a lot easier to have the saddle area not coated in mud when I come to ride. I blanket him for the high temperature as he will overheat and sweat.
For purposes of general thread discussion my other horse runs colder and I blanket based on the low temps. He gets a 0g rainsheet at 15c with rain, the neck added at 10c with rain, 100g with neck at 0c (or a big storm), and into the midweight with neck for the winter once the daily highs are below 0c. I add a layer (usually a stable rug since he’s wearing a full neck already) for storms and get him in 280-300g once. lows are hitting -20c. I try to err on the side of too warm as he’s unhappy being ridden if hee was cold the night before, and he very rarely sweats under his. blankets. Some years I haven’t had to clip him at all (when I didn’t have an indoor).
These two horses are the perfect example of why have blanket charts. One or both would suffer on every standard chart offered in this thread.
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This is super helpful, thank you!!
