Hood weight?

[Knubbsy]

How do you all decide what hood to use/buy? Supposedly, there’s been a study out there on the impact of hoods on the body temp but I can’t find it.

Currently, on the fence about what to add to my new horse’s wardrobe (she has a sheet-with-clip-on-liners situation, 0-300g options) A 0g hood can act as a raincoat, 200g is an all-over cozy situation, and I imagine a 300g+ would be a parka. My spouse and probably also my barn manager would rebel if I just bought all three weights so I’m looking for some guidance (mid-atlantic area so all the seasons but not miserably cold so general guidance is perfect).

[Simkie]

I match the neck piece to the blanket…mainly because that’s how they’ve come and it makes sense to use the blanket/neck as a combo.

If you’re going to have a single hood for your different weights, a medium one is probably a smart way to go.

[Tee]

I just have medium weights for all of mine. I have enough blankets, I don’t want to be tracking neck covers too.

[lenapesadie]

@Knubbsy

My spouse and probably also my barn manager would rebel if I just bought all three weights

Squash the rebels. Get all the hoods.

I’d have a hard time with picking just one, but my horses go outside in all weather and live in the land of stupid crazy weather swings so like having options. I like a no fill for when it’s warm, raining and the temps are gonna bottom out shortly and an insulated one for when it’s cold. But I’ve got mine at home and changing their clothes isn’t a burden.

You may not get that kind of weather and/or your barn’s management might be different. For example maybe they don’t do TO if it’s very rainy or they regularly plan to allow/get horses dry after being rained on before/between blanket changes.

ETA: if I had to pick one, I’d say a 100 gram. That’s my most often used blanket weight though

Edit #2: my horse went years with a sheet and a medium with no hoods or even a high neck and apparently survived without permanent damage.

[skipollo]

Generally I buy a blanket and neck rug together, so I just went back and checked some of my most recent blanket purchases to see what the blanket weight is vs the neck rug weight.

My Northwind is 200g medium weight with a 100g neck rug

My Rambo is 400g heavy weight with a 250g neck rug

My newest order, also Rambo, is 200g medium weight with a 150g neck rug.

My Smartpak Deluxe was a 220g medium weight with a 220g neck rug.

My Amigo Bravo Plus is a 250g medium weight with a 150g neck rug.

So the only one that matches out of all of these is the SmartPak Deluxe. If I had to order a neck rug separately, I would go slightly lighter than the blanket it’s going with. That’s how I had to order my most recent one.

FWIW my horse is also clipped. I hope this helps.

[RedHorses]

My chilly bean has a rainsheet neck, a 200g neck and the Rhino Plus 100g I ordered on Black Friday came with a 100g neck. The Rhino Plus has Velcro strip neck attachment instead of the tab and rings of his other Rhinos (this irks me).

In the fall he gets his 0g Rhino original. Then I add the 0g neck. Next the 100g liner (I was hoping to use the new 100g turnout with a 0g neck - I expect I will add rings to the 100g turnout so I’ll have that option).

I left him in the 0g neck when it got cold enough for the 200g liner.

The next step was 200g neck with 200g liner.

We’ve had a freezing cold snap this week and I wanted to put the 100g Rhino Plus over the Rhino Original with 200g liner, but as I couldn’t put the 200g neck on the 100g Plus I put the Plus underneath. I did try the Rhino Plus with neck over the Rhino Original with neck but it was too much, and the 100g neck was too little on its own. This 200g neck with 100g+200g blanket was for -27C (feels like -36C) conditions. (C and F intersect around -39)

For my non chilly horse he typically wears a 200g Wug and I put a 100g Amigo with 150g neck over it for the cold snaps and winter storms. Tomorrow we’re expecting up to 40cm (15") of snow and I want his neck covered, but it’s going up to -7C so I pulled the Wug and put a 100g liner under the 100g Amigo. I could have swapped the 150g neck for a 0g, but didn’t feel that was necessary.

When I ordered the Rhino Plus I didn’t know how much fill the neck had as the description didn’t say. The description also failed to specify which of the Horseware neck attachment systems it had. As the description was identical on every site I looked at I blame Horseware Ireland for the omissions.

While I haven’t had need for a 100g neck I’m sure I will find use for it now that I’ve got one.

Final answer - I recommend a 0g and a midweight neck, and using the neck that is equal to or less than the blanket weight.

[Weezer]

I wouldn’t bother with a 0gram unless your horse is turned out in the rain without shelter. I use only a mid weight and my horse is toasty warm, even at -36C. Based on that, I would worry about the horse overheating with anything more than 150 gram.

[scislandsprite]

I believe the 250g Rhino Plus has a hood that is 150g. I’m not sure if the 450g Rhino Plus comes with a heavier one though.

[Renn_aissance]

I have a no-fill hood, a midweight hood, and a heavyweight hood. (Horse has neck arthritis, has better mobility with hood than without hood.) I leave them attached to the relevant blankets and rarely shift them around. I haven’t gotten kicked out of the barn yet. Tell your husband that Adams Horse Supply often has them on sale, as does eBay.

If I had to pick just one, I would use the midweight. If I could have two, I would get the midweight and the no fill. Of course, I have to enable you and say that it’s 8 degrees right now and my horse in his snowsuit with the heavyweight hood, as well as his two hood-wearing friends, came in comfortable this morning whereas the one without a hood was cold.

[Gardenhorse]

Does your horse run cold? If not, I would probably just go with the medium neck cover. I’ve never used a no-fill neck cover. My horse has medium and heavy-weight neck covers that go with the corresponding blanket. She would probably be fine with the medium weight neck cover the few days a year she needs her heavyweight blanket but unfortunately the two blankets have different hood attachment styles.

[wildlifer]

I find 100 g neck covers to be a good solution. They are plenty warm (I’m close to mid Atlantic, in NC but right near VA border) without being annoyingly bulky. I also found they stay in place better - I have an old no-fill, it got flipped up from the bottom a lot when horses put their head down, negating the point of the thing (I only use them in cold precip or lots of wind); the weight in the 100 g hoods seems be just enough to prevent that.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

I finally went the blanketing system route, and it wasn’t as expensive as I feared.

A 0g sheet with hood.
A 100g liner.
A 200g liner.

My mare is quite fluffy, so she brings some insulation to the table as it is. But I figured the hood, though not lined, would still cut out the wind and keep her dry from fall through to spring regardless of what liner I had on her underneath.

[Weezer]

Sounds like a good solution!