Brands of heavy weight winter blankets? 450+gram fill

What brands make heavy weight blankets of 450 gram fill or more, without needing a liner? Or are their brands that are warm without needing as much fill? My (unclipped) mare was not warm enough in her 400 Amigo, or her 460 BR vari layer (both with full neck attatchement). I ended up putting a liner under the Amigo, but I would rather just one blanket vs layering.

Do you think the blankets that sort of wrap under their belly add much for warmth?

Horseware Rambo makes one, Varilayer so it’s not as heavy on them. Love it.

I love this blanket, too, but it sounds like @CHT’s horse is still cold wearing it:

That’s alotta blanket to still be cold :frowning: Are you somewhere really bitter, CHT?

I’ve seen this 500g blanket:

https://www.statelinetack.com/item/lami-cell-pro-fit-turnout-blanket-500g/E022467/

But no experience with it. When I was moving to MN, I read of someone needing two heavys for her horse, one on top of another, and found that shocking, lol. Thankfully, mine were all fine with the heavy supreme. I did add a liner for the old lady on the really, really bitter days, but mostly because I was so damned cold…

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I have a hot house flower too and I like that 500g one with shoulder vents and a stretch panel over the withers. I have two Rambo shells and switch and layer liners, but a heavy-weight, all-in-one would be great for horsesitters to deal with.

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Rhino has a 450 version as well. I have a Rhino 250 and I actually cant believe how warm it keeps my mare! She’s a TB off the track and I thought I’d really have to layer her up but the 250 with a stable sheet underneath has been more than enough.

This is Shot in the Dark category, but:
Smartpak used to sell (under their own label) a thinsulate-lined blanket.
This stuff is amazingly warm while being near weightless.
I had a pony-size for years, until pony outgrew it (thanks to my feed program :roll_eyes:) & it wore like steel.
Sadly, their catalog no longer shows this model.
Maybe they could tell you who manufactured the blanket for them?

Found this on Amazon:
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Color: Grey/Blue

Size: 72

$ 139 57

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There’s another on EBay, similar price, same size & color (sold in US)

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I have the 450g vari-layer liner, which clips into a 250g Rambo shell. I haven’t found a one-piece solution that heavy, and if I did, I doubt I’d be able to fit it in a washer.

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What was the temperature and other conditions? Sticking your hand alongside the shoulder and top of flank and she was not warm? Is she quite fluffy and maybe is puffing her coat up and trapping air closer to her skin, or was she shivering? Did she have access to hay at the time? Also, how old are the blankets (I feel like the fill compresses over the years, especially if washed a lot and/or stored in a compressed manner)?

Only once have I found my horse actually cold while wearing a heavy weight - after days on end of single digit temperatures and strong wind during turnout. I found him in the pasture standing behind a snow bank as a wind block. With a good wind block or in the barn, he was plenty warm.

I’ve always found for the few days needed, throwing a liner on is better/easier than dealing with a super heavy blanket all the time. I have a trace clipped horse who wears gets a Horseware liner under his Rambo heavy weight when the lows are around 0F. Most years, he’s only wearing the liner a few days at a time.

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Do you mind if I ask what temps you usually use the Rhino 250gm until you have to add something underneath or on top? I just bought the Rhino 25ogm Vari-layer and it’s about to drop to 1-3 degrees F overnight and it’s normally been in the high teens to mid 20s over night. Just debating if I should add something when I put it on tomorrow, sorry for the questions haha.

I’m not grey, but I also have horses in the medium rambos right now. I pull out the heavy blankets once we get below zero, in general. :slight_smile:

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I am in Canada and have added the stable blanket (100-200g I am not sure) underneath once it started dropping below -12ish C overnight which according to Google is 10 F, but she lives outside. My pony that lives inside is still just in the 250 though.

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Ours are fully clipped. They’re in heavy weights right now with temps in the 20s F. Below 5 or so, we layer under the heavy if they seem like they need it.

I’m not Grey but ours have been in 250 gram medium weights with neck rugs for most of winter, average is 30F during the day, maybe 20F at night so (for PA) it’s been fairly mild. We put them in heavies with neck rugs tonight because it’s supposed to be maybe 25F tomorrow but really windy, so real feel in the single digits. Our heavies are…370 gram? 400 gram? Both Rambos. One is clipped, the other is not. Our retired gelding gets blanketed heavier because of his age. He has a crazy thick (Cushings) coat but he just doesn’t stay as warm as he used to. He’s been in a heavyweight with a neck rug for weeks.

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We can get colder, it was only -30 or so, but quite windy, and an abrupt change from the hovering around freezing we have been enjoying. She and another chestnut didn’t grow much hair this winter and have been struggling with the recent cold snap (and yes, I am bitter about the cold, lol!)

She isn’t fluffy on her neck or body, just on her face. Our winter was oddly mild until it dropped from near freezing to -30 celcius. She was shivering, and not wanting to leave her shelter for hay or to come in. I feed four times a day when cold, and tried to feed in places the hay wouldn’t blow away, and her pen always had some hay (its just her and a friend). The blankets are older: the 400 Amigo is the older of the two, but neither has seen much use. I think part of the issue was that the wind was coming from the south, so she would have actually been better off standing behind rather than in her shelter like the other horses, but I can’t convince her of that.

It’s my barn and I am the staff, so I am fine having a different blanket for each change in the weather. I have found the liners are more likely to create static, and this horse really hates static.

Okay thanks everyone!

If you have a stall, this would maybe be a case for having her hang out inside out of the wind.

I have the Horseware liners and I’m trying to remember if they are very static-y. I haven’t had to put one on yet this year, but I know it’s coming :cold_face:

I googled 500g fill horse blanket and found a few:
Lami-Cell Pro Fit
HKM High Neck Stable Blanket (could throw a rain sheet over the top)

If it’s just a couple of days here and there, I’d probably just layer a heavy with a 100g light over the top if you don’t want to do a liner.

Apparently her BR IS a 500 gram, so maybe the issue is more that it doesn’t cover her belly. Pricing out getting a custom blanket as I think it will be cheaper than a Rambo, but maybe a liner with a blanket that wraps under her belly is a good option for the very cold days.

@theresak as much as she hates the cold, she hates staying in alone even more! I don’t think she can conceptualize that it is cold out when she is warm in. I know shivering isn’t the worst thing for her, but I hate seeing it!

Are you talking about this blanket?

Its does look like that’s 450, not that an additional 50 grams of fill is likely to make a huge difference one way or the other :frowning:

If the static is the biggest problem in liners, maybe the solution is a $4 can of static guard?

How is she eating? Any chance more hay will help?

I bought one of these last year on a COTH recommendation after frustration with newer Rambos losing their waterproofing. The quality is amazing and it is HEAVY. The price with shipping from the UK was $250. It arrived in about 10 days. The fit, at least this model, is similar to Rambo, generous shoulders and very generous drop.

https://www.premierequine.co.uk/titan-450g-heavyweight-turnout-rug-c2x21443710

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