Last year my mini got a spot of rain rot by his withers. When turned out, he still has access to his dry stall, but prefers to stand in the rain. The only way to keep him dry is to put on his rain sheet. I plan to clip his topline so he doesn’t overheat and the long hair can dry out.
We’ve had some rather warm temps recently, and going into this weekend a predicted 70 degrees the day we are heading to a clinic. I had been keeping up with his trace clip, but I redid his whole blanket clip (most of which grew back in) yesterday and widened it up a bit. Even in the 50 degree temps, he’s getting hot and sweaty everywhere pretty easily.
I blanket when we get down to the possibility of those nasty 40 degree or so rains. I use high quality, water proof blankets without fill. If i need to layer, I just put another blanket underneath. They stay dry, and block the wind. My horses have sheds that they can go into, but I find that they are just silly, and will stand out in it, together. The blankets make me feel ever so much better. They are also fed twice a day- warm food if it’s 35 or below, and have access to high quality hay 24/7. The hay actually offers the calories that keep them warm.
I realize that many do not blanket, and that’s fine. This is just my routine after a million years of doing this.
Funny story- last year I bought some really nice blankets that have a cute velcro closing in sort of an X on the chest. One of my rescues, who has very nimble lips took off his blanket and his paddock buddy’s as well. Epic fail on blanket selection. Everyone else wore them just fine. So, I bought them new blankets with snap closures and leg straps. I was fortunate to be looking out when Gambit (the culprit) got his mouth under the chest of his blanket, pulled it forward about a foot, and gave himself a wedgie. He let that go pretty quickly!
Mine have access to stalls in the barn, but they will often stand outside the stall door with their butts to the wind, rather than go inside. George, the Mule grows a very deluxe coat; the Horses vary, but none get what I would call “shaggy”. We have used the Weatherbeeta “Detach-a-Neck” turnouts forever; the “heavy” ones. I figure if it’s cold enough to warrant a blanket, I want a warm one.
We live at an elevation of about 6500ft on the Colorado Front Range. My general blanketing guideline is a period of nice weather followed by rapidly falling temperatures, rain/rain mixed with snow/snow, and particularly wind. We frequently see a sunny 50°F mid-day turn to blizzard conditions by dusk, with wind, considerable snowfall, teens overnight, and sub-zero by morning. I also blanket for severe cold; low single digit days and sub-zero nights, particularly if it’s windy.
Blankies come off when the sun comes back, even on frosty days, and they go back on in the evening if needed. “Blankies on, blankies off, repeat as necessary.”
If I miss getting them blanketed, and they get wet, or snowy, I will run a squeegee over their back before installing their turnout. With a decent blanket, a wet shivering Equine will be warm, and mostly dry underneath in an hour or so.
My boys all like their turnouts, and I never see any arguments when I walk out with one across my arm. I blanket them “at liberty”, so they could assuredly walk away if they didn’t want it.
I check and adjust their turnouts at least a couple times a day, and check at shoulder and rump to be sure they are dry and warm underneath.
This is a real bonus of blanketed horses; they provide instant relief for frozen fingers 
When I pull their blankets on a sunny morning, I toss them inside-out across a stall panel, and fasten a snap at either end to keep them there. Most of the time, any ice will be gone by evening.
And a bit of shopping advice: get blankets without buckles. One; they tend to freeze, and two, they are a PITA in the cold and dark; often you have to take your gloves off to work them. Snaps go on and off quickly, and with gloves on, too. "Toss it on, even it out, click-click in front, surcingles one and two, leg straps one and two, square things up, and done. It doesn’t take much longer to do it than to read about it.
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If there are two or more turned out together, do they damage each other’s blankets? If not, I would look for the best quality sheet with waterproofing. Have it laundered and waterproofed annually. If they wear it all the time it will weather and perhaps fade. That ruins the waterproofing.
Not exactly.
Think about how a horse regulates their temperature. They do so, by either “puffing” their hair (making it stand up more) or letting it be more flat. When they puff it, it can trap more air around it, in the sense of insulating themselves, and that’s how they stay warm when they need it.
Most horses are neutral at about 40*F (not including wind or rain). This means they require no extra energy to stay warm or to stay cool.
So, in the case of your minis, what is the air temp? If it is warm enough, then they are probably fine with the rain sheet without any fill. It just depends on the horse. Just watch them. Correct that you do not want to blanket too thick or they will sweat. But you also don’t want to blanket too thin or they will be cold.
I suppose in the sense, their “extra hair” might act as “blanket fill” under the sheet, so keep that in mind too.
