25 degrees difference between outside and in the barn does indeed warrant a change in clothes. Not sure what the relationship is with your friend but I would just do blanket adjustments yourself as warranted. I love a medium weight blanket though because I will keep it on at 20-something degrees and leave it on at 40 too. Most versatile pieces I own. I put heavyweights on below 20,
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Maybe some barns, but not this barn that the OP is at. The op states water buckets in stalls are freezing.
When my pally was boarded at a heated barn.Barn was kept at 45 to 50 degrees. Horse’s who wore blankets to go outside. When brought in blankets came off.
My barn is only a few degrees warmer then outside. I don’t bother bringing in when real cold out. Better off outside with heated water tank & hay. plus cleaning stalls at 28 below zero in barn ain’t happening, so out they stay.
But does sound like ops barn gets just below freezing.
Ice starting to float is not that cold. It could still be 30 degrees in the barn which is plenty warm for a horse. I am in a heated barn at 45 degrees and water freezes that is close to the ground. So I would be happy with not having a blanket on the typical horse that hasn’t been shaved.
Mine typically live out 24/7 but with this weather I brought them in last night. My barn is not insulated but just being able to get out of this crazy wind keeps them pretty warm inside. My TB has been double blanketed during the day outside in these temps but wore only 1 heavy blanket last night and he was pretty toasty this morning. My other gelding is super fuzzy and went naked in his stall with a sheet for windbreaker when turned out.
Is there a lot of ice in the buckets or just a skim layer on top? If just a little, it seems your barn is staying plenty warm even in negative temps. All of my non-heated buckets have been frozen SOLID for a week and don’t last more than 2 hours if refilled. If none of your horses are clipped and have good coats I would say you’re okay to take blankets off at night. If you’re still worried about them being cold you could also probably get away with lightweights while they’re in.
I think it definitely depends on how warm your barn is at night. I think the one poster who commented about all horses unblanketed also has a great point, and while this would not work at our barn due to a number of factors, if your barn has a similar method, then unblanketed could make total sense.
BUT, at many barns I’ve been at, I agree with the poster who commented about keeping horses unblanketed outside and blanketed inside. Even though it’s warmer inside, the horse cannot move. And depending on the situation, may not have forage throughout the night. Most barns around here have a round bale in the field during the day but a limited number of flakes in stalls at night.
I had been trending towards under blanketing this year, and even though my horse is young and unclipped, I would find him in his stall at night slightly cold (not warm under blanket, not drinking as much, not eating as fast, and often lying down). I’ve started “over blanketing” and have found him much happier at night.
With the horse not being able to self regulate temperature, I would much rather have him slightly over blanketed. It’s not like he can run around in his stall and work up a sweat 
@China Doll but as you can read, I didn’t say warm or cold, I said freezing, ie less than 32 degrees. Whether that’s “plenty warm” for your horses has nothing to do with the fact that it is literally freezing.
For me it depends on the horse. I have one who doesn’t grow much of a winter coat and who seems happiest with a mid-weight blanket on. If it drops into the teens or lower, I put a liner on under that. I judge his comfort level not just by how he feels under the blanket (cold vs warm) but also by how he uses his stall and shed.
His stall has an attached paddock so I find if he is blanketed the way I describe he spends much more time outside wandering around which is good in the winter to avoid getting stiff. If he has just a sheet on even at 40 oF I find he spends more time inside. With the midweight, he’s happy as a clam.
My other horse has a thick coat and seems to be fine with just a sheet and usually choose to go outside and not use a shelter.
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Interesting - I have been asked by people if my horses “heat up the barn like cows do” and I always answer no. I don’t get the impression that horses exude very much in the way of heat so that it would actually keep buckets from freezing.
Curious if anyone else agrees?
The bottom line is it depends on the temperature in the barn. Insulated may mean it’s 25F or 5F, and yes, the wind chill can make a difference, because the barn is in the wind. Just because it’s insulated doesn’t mean “impervious to weather.”
I wish my house was impervious to weather right about now.
If buckets are freezing it sounds like some horses might be more comfortable with a blanket. A “one size fits all” approach is never right.
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I think horses put off heat and if you have a bunch of them packed into a well insulated and closed tightly barn it probably does make the barn quite a bit warmer than outside.
The thing is, most people do not pack horses in the way cows are packed in (not saying cows are not treated right, just saying they are housed differently).
I do know a boarding barn that houses over 40 horses under one roof that does stay quite a bit warmer than outside.
In a barn like mine, where there are doors wide open (stalls open to paddocks) and only three horses the temperature inside is the same as the temperature outside.
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In this instance, one possible option would be for the horse to wear a hood/neck cover to go outside and then ask to have it removed when your horse is inside. I don’t know if the people at your barn would be willing to do that, but it’s definitely more convenient and takes far less time than changing layers of blankets. I find that the hoods provide a fair amount of warmth, so taking it on and off would be one way to help the horse stay comfortable indoors and out without too much aggravation.
Definitely not my barn either. But some of the boarding barns I’ve ridden at were really cold, too. Not sure if they weren’t insulated very well, or if it was because horses wore blankets, or a combination of things.
I’ve never had cows so just find the question interesting - but yes, I suppose 100 cows in stanchions probably can fit in a much smaller space and might heat it up more…that’s a good point. I was wondering if cows just naturally produced more heat. 
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I will always double-layer in the winter, with horses wearing a stable blanket in the barn and an extra layer on top (rainsheet, midweight or heavy, depending on the weather) to go out. I live in Canada where it gets extremely cold (-37C with windchill today!) and while the barn stays solidly above freezing when the weather is above -20C, anything below that we have an ice rim on the buckets in the morning (basically the buckets freeze from the outside in, so when you dump there is a layer of ice on the sides of the buckets. They aren’t frozen solid, though). Our thermometer in the barn hasn’t risen above freezing in almost two weeks :(. While it is warmer with the horses inside, exuding body heat and breathing etc, it isn’t enough to pull it above zero in brutal temperatures.
Horses can’t move around as much in their stalls to get warm, so I believe a horse blanketed outside should also be blanketed inside. If you wouldn’t leave your horse naked in freezing temps outside, don’t leave them naked in freezing temps inside. I have one boarder that refuses to purchase stable blankets and wants her horse naked indoors. All well and good, except she insists that the horse wear a blanket when it is under 10C outside. Uh, but when it’s -37C, the barn is colder than 0C, but you still want the horse naked?? It doesn’t make any sense.
If the buckets have ice in them or even a skim on top in the mornings, the barn is hovering around freezing temperatures and I would not want a horse that has been blanketed all season to be naked in that. A thermometer in the barn will give you a good idea of the temps, and if you wouldn’t turn the horse out in that temp naked, don’t leave the horse in the barn naked.
I don’t think having a bunch of naked horses in the barn versus a bunch of blanketed horses will make a huge difference in the indoor temperature. I have worked at barns where the horses were naked inside and they were not any warmer than my barn where the horses are blanketed inside.
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It’s a horse. What is cold to you is not cold to a healthy horse. Just because you think it is cold the horse may not. There is also a wind chill outside that isn’t inside.
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But not all horses are comfortable at 32 without a blanket. And the OP says “in negative temps”…so, still not sure how cold it is in the barn.
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What is your point @China Doll? Seriously, who and/or what are you arguing with??? I appreciate that you clearly have strong feelings on this subject, but that temps below 32 are freezing isn’t really something you can argue with. I don’t care whether you blanket your horses or not; I don’t even care that you are conflating the word cold with the term freezing, but that you keep doing so is a little funny. Thanks for the chat.
Some things also to consider: I know right now, a lot of places are going through unusually prolonged cold snaps (OP mentions a daytime high of 10 & lows/windchill below zero). A barn that might have insulation to maintain good temperature over one or two days of bitter cold may slowly become less able to retain a desired temp with prolonged cold temperatures.
One random night of below-zero temps, after a day of more average temperatures (and followed by a day of average temperatures) I see many barns in our area (the ones that are decently winterized) not getting terribly cold. After ten days of below zero temps as the nighttime low, the situation might be different.
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LOL Seems like I am arguing with you. Strong feelings anyone? I am in -22 weather so I understand freezing. A little ice in a bucket is pretty warm for a horse. It is common for a barn to put a blanket on a horse for turnout especially if it is at all windy and take it off in the barn at night when stable is warmer than the outside which is what the post is about just because you don’t believe me I am entitled to my opinion.
When in Florida I have gotten up many times late at night waiting for the temps to drop low enough so that horse is comfortable in a blanket. If I blanketed horse at last feeding it would be too warm and uncomfortable until temps drop. Most people have a blanket and not several weight of blankets and not dedicated enough to change said blankets to the changes of temps.
Point of information: remember those old horsemen I mentioned? The farm that they (and I) worked at had about 20 cows in another barn. AIR that barn had to stay open all winter because the cows created so much heat. Doors and windows open, with the barn providing shelter from the wind and wet. When we got too cold doing barn chores in the horse barn, we’d go in there to warm up! And the cows were out all day (as were the horses).
IMHO horses don’t create nearly that amount of heat, but they do radiate more than you might think. The other way we’d warmup our frozen fingers before taking horse blankets off would be to stick our hands between horse and blanket. Very cozy place 
I can’t remember who suggested using removable neck covers to keep from having to strip and change blankets. Great idea, BTW. I recall reading somewhere that a neck cover is equal to another layer of blanket on the body.
Once they start wearing a blanket the hair has lost its ability to loft and keep them warm. If water buckets are getting a little Icoed over I’d definitely keep the horse blanketed. I try to not put a blanket sheet on my horses for as long as I can, once it goes in the high 20’s I blanket both for turnout and in the arm. The weight of the blanket depends on the temps.
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