Do you put turnout blankets and stable blankets on your horse cold turkey? Did the horse do ok? If so, I suspect a BOT blanket will be fine too. All it does it reflect back heat to warm an area. That’s the same thing regular blankets do. Arguably the BOT products are a bit more effective at quickly getting the area warm and keeping it warm but they’re not doing some radically different thing than the equivalent non-ceramic therapy product. If your horse freaks out at standing wraps, wean onto the BOT wraps. But if your horse doesn’t object to wraps in general, you should be fine. I mean, put your hand under those sheets or pads or whatever-- you can’t even feel a difference. Unless your horse objects generally to that part of the body being covered/wrapped the horse should not have a materially different reaction to a BOT product.
That’s what I thought as well, it was just all of the literature and warnings I’ve read (arguably all on marketing websites and materials) that warned against it, and they also say pregnant women shouldn’t wear BOT which made me think that there was something else going on than the warming effect alone.
That said, after reading through everyone’s anecdotes, my horse is getting the mesh sheet on tonight and I’m sure in the morning she’ll be feeling just fine. 
“Literature” is a stretch, LOL. Marketing copy. Makes
it seem more magic if you have to work into using it sparingly.
If you’re considering SmartTherapy, here’s a shameless plug for that 100g liner. It was hands down my single most used piece of horsey clothing all last winter. I think the ceramic benefits are nice but the 100g weight is just plain useful too.
He wore it underneath a sheet when it was too cold for a 0g but too warm for a midweight. Underneath his 220g midweight for the ceramic benefit and so I didn’t have to drag a bulky heavyweight blanket out of storage until absolutely necessary. Then underneath a 360g heavyweight when we had multiple weeks of sub-zero weather and blizzards.
I have a regular BoT for him that gets used periodically this time of year, but I don’t like the mesh layered underneath other blankets. Slips around too much and doesn’t fit nicely underneath. The SP liner has velcro to attach at the neckline of their turnouts and snaps to hook onto the leg strap rings at the back. I didn’t have any trouble with it shifting around and it was nice not to have to worry about messing with another set of leg straps.
Also yes, my horse is every bit the cold sensitive delicate flower that the above clothing collection would suggest. Other horses at our farm are starting to grow lovely winter coats and my trainer looked at mine at this morning’s lesson and said “Where is his hair?!? His coat is like peach fuzz. Any less and he’d literally be bald.”
I always throw a BoT sheet on my guy while grooming in the winter. It warms his back up quickly and he likes it. I can’t leave one on him at night because he’s a pig and sleeps in his manure and those things are expensive! However, I know plenty of people who do and their horses are all fine.
I used to put the quick wraps on a horse who would get stocked up over night because the barn staff found them easier to deal with than regular standing wraps. I didn’t wean him on to them, but he was a genius at removing things that were bothering him so I figured he would probably take care of it if that was the case. He wore them happily the whole time.
Not magic, they are just effective at trapping heat.
I would also throw in a plug for the 100g blanket. Why was this not in my life before now? I randomly got one last winter and it is perfect for those weird temperatures where a 200g will make my horse hot and crabby and his sheet is not warm enough.
I have had a reaction to the BOT sheets with one of mine. I put one on my OTTB (who was all sorts of wonky in his body when we first started jumping) at a horseshow with the intent to just leave it on. I had been using one on my mare for about a year at that point, and felt like it really helped her (as a side note - the only “real” evidence was that she was a horse who stocked up badly standing in a stall, and the BOT wraps made a dramatic difference (vs regular pillow wraps), but it seemed like the sheet helped her stay looser too).
But back to my gelding. Threw the sheet on mid-day and went off to do some show chores. Came back a couple of hours later and went in to check on him. And much to my surprise he was super sweaty to the point of being foamy on his left side only (didn’t seem uncomfortable, though). I pulled it off and used it on him for a few hours a day for the rest of the show. Once we got past that show, though, he never showed any major difference between having it on/off (nor the wraps). He has lived in the BOT sheet and wraps at shows for most of his show life since.
@AAHunterGal
If you haven’t already purchased, SmartPak has most (if not all) therapeutic products including BOT and SmartTherapy on sale 20% off through the end of the day.
When I first got a BOT sheet I put it on for a couple hours the first day or two a then jumped straight into wearing it overnight. I also did the same when I bought a BOT shirt and didn’t have any problems. Not my boy pretty much lives in his all winter because of his back and SI issues. It helps keep him a little more comfortable.
