This probably won’t help, or maybe it will IDK. I use wither relief pad on the bottom blanket for my old boy. It’s made by Equi-fit I think and it’s to prevent blanket rubs, BUT it holds the blankets apart just a bit over his back creating an air space and just that little bit of space does keep him warmer. I thought I was imagining it but the hubs noticed it too. Plus it’s been great for wither protection.
I just purchased one of these with the belly band. Really nice blankets for the money.
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DH occasionally has to blanket this horse, so no belly bands for this horse so I can keep DH alive. 
So, maybe something with extra-long drop and leg arches so the bottom could be snugged up under the belly with the straps and act a bit like a belly band? Or, a blanket a size or two too big to go OVER the other blankets you already have on him with an extra-long drop (like an 81" 
)
Honestly, I would expect a clipped horse to be cold in a 500g in the teens unless it’s really sunny out with no wind at all.
It was a high of 19 today where I am, but again real feel had it at -11 with the wind.
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No wind, he was standing in his shelter as well, so truly had no wind on him. Mine are inside at night and out during the day. He was wearing a BOT mesh under his 500g. I’m just very surprised that he was shaking like a leaf. A little cold? Sure.
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There must be. I have never used a 500g and I’ve lived places it was that temperature for months on end. Blankets can only keep heat in, they can’t warm him up if he’s not making his own body heat.
Can you get him moving and see if he warms up? Is he shivering consistently or just for a few minutes?
He stopped once he was in the barn for about 15 minutes. But I also gave him some warm water in that time frame.
It’s been warmer and I have had him in about 800g of rugs since then. No shivering, but that is a lot of blanketing.
OP’s horse is fully clipped. I can’t imagine keeping a fully clipped horse in less than 500g in 15 degree temps.
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He’s not fully clipped, but you’re right, I probably am blanketing him too light. I try to blanket for the warmest part of the day, so they can be a bit chilly in the afternoons.
Fwiw I kept a fully clipped horse outside (pen/run in situation) in Colorado. She wore 420g with a hood down to zero, and I’d toss a Rambo fleece under that below zero. She wasn’t a stoic horse, and would’ve made it very clear if that wasn’t enough.
Needing 500g +++ for teens is weird, even clipped. I wouldn’t call violent shivering while wearing 500 g plus a bot layer normal or expected. I would also be concerned, as the OP is.
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It is so hard when its a 20 degree difference between 6am and 1pm! I totally get that.
A partially clipped horse in a shed in 500g + BOT shaking like a leave, I totally get the concern. I was responding to an earlier post where OP said he was shivering in a 500g (and to another person’s post that they have never used a 500g) and at that point I thought the horse was fully clipped.
I do disagree that needing 500g+ for teens with a fully clipped horse is weird. Today it is 19 degrees, real feel of 7, and most (if not all) of the clipped horses at my barn would be shivering if they were only in 500g. Meanwhile there are a few unclipped ones naked and happier for it.
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In the entire time I’ve been in horses, living in cold places, putting 500g (never mind MORE) on a horse for teens temps, clipped or no, is just not something that’s been regularly done or necessary or expected. You’d maybe see it for elderly or infirm horses–horses that have a reason for being unable to maintain with less cover.
It sounds like you’re blanketing really significantly heavier than most. I guess if that’s your approach from the outset of winter, needing so much now tracks. Or if you’re somewhere that doesn’t see that sort of temp very often, so the horses aren’t acclimatized to it. It is definitely tough to go from, say, regularly 60s to teens.
I honestly can’t imagine an entire barn full of horses in significantly more weight than 500 grams. How do you even manage that?
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Generally we get a few scattered weeks of temps with single digits and sub zero real feel and it is absolutely normal and regularly done for clipped horses to be in 500-600g. This winter its been a month of those sustained horrible temperatures, with a lot of snow and wind mixed in. It is a significantly colder winter this year for us, so horses are being blanketed significantly heavier. Facebook kindly informed me that this time last year my horses was in 220g.
I’m in Upstate NY, so no stranger to the cold. But over a month of weather in the teens without a break is abnormal. Most horses at my barn aren’t clipped and are in 300-400g depending on the horse. I’m not sure what seems so difficult to manage. The clipped horses are the ones in heavy work, so owners are adding and removing layers after riding depending on weather.
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A friend grew up around Lake Tahoe. She was the person who introduced me to the 500gm blanket, which their horses lived in all winter, sometimes with additional clothing on top. How she managed is that she moved to NC.
There’s lots of ways to manage horses and lots of ways they need to be managed.
I think we can all agree that this weather sucks.
@Rel6 you hit it on the head about the polar vortices (plural, sequential, miserable) and the wind and precipitation. I don’t know about your area but for us in the mid-Atlantic when winter decided to come on, it came on fast. I don’t think I’ve used my midweight as a standalone turnout rug more than about 5 times this season. We went from sheet/100g to heavy to layers within the span of about 3 weeks, and we’ve stayed in layers. Normally I’d have been able to take something home for a mid-season wash by now and it would be fine to have that layer out of commission for 3 days, but I’ve got 4 rugs and between drying the sleet off the top layer and the horse wearing something appropriate while that happens, all 4 have been in routine service since the start of January.
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Vet came and pulled bloods today. We’ll see if they come back with anything.
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Check for cushings and metabolic issues. My fat Shetland pony had the same issue 600g of blanket with a neck and still cold. She’s doing better this winter with different management.
That was one of our first thoughts. We’re testing for a couple of different things.
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For those of you who use liners, is there a way to use more than one liner at a time? I was looking at the Rambo Duo Force, which is a 100g outer, 100g liner, and 300g liner. To get to 500g, you need to use both liners. How do the velcro tabs on either side of the withers work with more than one liner?
