I have three red horses myself, and I approve this message.
I think this is very practical starter kit, OP - and you’ll only have to sell one of the children. 
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The horse I have currently is pasture boarded and he grows a thick coat (at least thick for South Georgia standards). The only time I blanket him is just a turnout SHEET before it is forecasted to be cold AND rainy. He shivers if he is cold and wet, so I try to get the sheet on him beforehand.
OP, just reassuring you that you don’t have to get a full set of blankets at once. Start with a no-fill turnout sheet, for staying dry when it’s chilly and rainy, or just chilly and windy. Then you have a month or two before you need a medium-weight. Then you have another month or two before you need to break out the heavy-weight.
Also, I think you’ll get to know what makes your horse cold and then you can blanket for that … my horse doesn’t care if he’s wet, or if it’s in the single digits, Fahrenheit, for a few days, but, his “kryptonite” is wind. A blustery wind on a cold day, and he gets chilly.
Remember, too, that the adage, “What they don’t know, won’t hurt them” may possibly be relevant to your family vs. you secretly washing horse blankets in your washing machine at home.
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LMAO what are your numbers like?? We should compare and enjoy since this is the only place I can happily talk about alllll my blankets without getting weird looks or being guilted for spending $$$ LOL
I think I am at 8 or 9…per horse…I have 4 
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Gaaahhhh! Gotta figure out how to use Quote in a reply 
Anyhow, I jumped back in to add that my WB was bred in Queensland, Australia with a Florida-like climate, then shipped to FL @ 6 to live for the next 9yrs before I moved him to the Midwest.
He arrived with showslick coat & just an unlined cotton sheet on December 1.
Thinking he’d freeze, I gave him my (former)TWH’s blanket - a midweight 78 that gave him Plumber’s Butt on his 82 body 
Through testing his ability to stay warm unblanketed, I determined he was fine without.
He never in the 5yrs I had him, grew more than a plushy coat and as in my original post, was fine through Winter w/o a blanket of any kind.
YMMV, I blanket according to horses’ need.
Highlighting the text you want to quote and clicking the “quote” button that pops up is the easiest way, but hit up the FAQ in tech help for the full run down 
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4 turnout blankets (sheet, 100gm, 250gm, 450gm)
3 hoods (no fill, 150gm, 250gm)
2 stable sheets (I need to sell these. We never use them anymore.)
1 cotton waffle light cooler (he won this, it’s not my fault)
1 Irish knit (anyone need a Triple Crown Irish knit in green and gold, size 75?)
1 wool dress sheet
1 wool quarter sheet
Of these, in winter, the turnout rugs and hoods are on his stall, the wools are in my trunk, and at least one of the waffle or the Irish knit is in my car. Just in case.
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I might add an alternative viewpoint that politely disagrees (as always, depends on the individual situation). Here in the mid-atlantic, we went from 70 degree days and 60 degree nights this week (so no blankets) to the mid-30s tonight, so midweights. The weather is getting so erratic that I don’t know that these timelines hold true anymore 
You probably do have a few months before you need a heavy weight, but we have been getting some pretty dramatic swings that sheets and midweights are out, and we just got an email from the barn manager to bring our heavy weights as they might need them in the next few days 
Yes, a lot of this is YMMV! Since the OP is blanketing in a climate that will be new to her, I’d suggest asking the barn manager and new barnmates for advice on this front.
I will say that this is a great time of year to pick up blankets because of holiday sales; January and February are also good as by that point, stores figure that people who need rugs have rugs already, and they start to clearance out last year’s colors.
I’m also in the mid-Atlantic. WHAT EVEN IS THIS WEATHER AND HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO ACCLIMATE OUR HORSES TO THIS.
Don’t know how to quote yet but this is the post I was replying to:
So, I still think they’re great, but use them differently now. For example, a sheet can double as a heavy with a 400g liner added. You are rarely going be switching between those in a week. Then you have a separate medium - since you may need to alternate sheet/medium or medium/heavy on alternating days. It saves you many, many, changes of liner - but lets you get double-duty out of the shell.
This is what I do. Each horse has 2 rain sheets and 2 medium weight turnouts. Once it gets cold enough, their heavy weight liners (400 or 450g) get attached to one of the rain sheets and stay that way unless we get a really warm and wet week. In a pinch if the temps are swinging around a bunch, 2 mediums is more or less equal to one heavy weight. So lots of layering options with this set up. My horses are all fully clipped and 2 of the 3 live outside full time. One of them runs super hot and doesn’t get the medium til the low 30s and doesn’t get the heavy until colder than that.
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When you highlight, like to copy that, a “quote” box pops up. Click it, and you’ll quote what you’ve highlighted.
I live in Quebec. Last year before I purchased him, my horse lived outside 24/7, unshaved and unworked, and was wearing multiple blankets most of the time. He now lives in a barn that isn’t heated. This year his coat grew in super fast so we gave him an irish clip and he wears a wool cooler after our rides (we already stopped working outdoors unless it’s a warm day, lately it’s been yo-yoing a lot). He has a stable sheet for when it’s just a bit cold, a thick quilt that’s cozy to add under any other sheet (rain, stable, 300 gr with hood). That way we can layer them depending on temps. Low maintenance here and most blankets are second hand, Facebook marketplace has a lot to offer on the area equine groups.
It’s a bit hard to plan what the weather will be! The heavyweight may need to come out January 15th with a -30 celsius cold snap out of nowhere, or may not be needed if it’s mild and layering up is enough. I personally wouldn’t want to be caught without the heavyweight during those weeks of “my nose hairs freeze when I inhale”.
My 26 year old Paint gelding has been boarded outside for 20 years. He is built narrow in front and I found some blankets that were cheap, well made and fit perfectly. When they finally wore out they were out of production. I tried a number of brands including Weatherbeeta, Pessoa, and SmartPak. Nothing fit right. The neck was cut too generously so his shoulders were wet most of the time. I called the store where I bought original batch and she steered me to Horze Avalanche. I didn’t think much about them because they were Horze and the brand doesn’t have a reputation for good quality. I walked into a booth at Equine Affaire and they looked good. Buy 2 get one free bought a medium, heavy, and the rain sheet was free. I’ve added, on sale, a medium with insulated neck cover and a rain fleece - nice fleece lining and warmer than the regular sheet.
She was right about the fit. They are high neck but they have a gusset sewn in above the withers so rubbing is not a problem and he stays dry. The shoulder gussets are cut high and the front has 2 double sets of t-buckles. The tail flap is huge, keeps the back end clean.
I’ve sent them out to be laundered and waterproofing renewed. They come looking like new.
I am in Maine, my horse is a Tb mare who grows a decent winter coat, and she only has 3 blankets, all waterproof/breathable turnouts:
- unlined sheet (rain if less than 60F, cold wind)
- 100g lined high neck Rhino sheet (wind chill, freezing rain, snow)
- Medium weight Amigo with detachable neck (blizzard, freezing nights)
I don’t clip her in the winter. She is in at night, out all day and has shelter in her paddock so I don’t worry, knowing she can get out of the rain / wind. Wind chill factor here can be nasty.
She rarely wears a blanket at night unless it really goes down into the teens or single digits, then the mid-weight goes on. I just give her extra hay on extra cold nights.
I’ll always remember when another Tb mare of mine was out all day in a blizzard with no blanket on and no shelter. When I finally got to see her, there was a crust of frozen snow all over her. But underneath, her skin was warm and dry.
I keep that day in mind when I freak out about the weather and my current mare…lol
I’m in Idaho, and also have a large blanket collection!
My retired gelding is easiest - he grows a good coat, and basically just wears his Thinsulate or 220 gram turnouts all winter. I have a turnout sheet for him as well, but we rarely get the kind of rain where he needs the waterproofing without any insulation. If we have a crazy frigid week like we get every few years, I can put a neck cover on his medium and add a fleece layer underneath.
For my mares, who are both in work, I just bought 50 gram turnout sheets, and really like them since they provide just a bit of insulation, but don’t make them sweat when daytime temps start getting to the low 50f range.
My Appendix mare doesn’t believe in growing a winter coat, so she gets heavier blankets generally. Her next up is a 150 gram, which sees a lot of use. I will keep her in that until nighttime lows start dipping towards 20f or so, then she’ll go into her 380 gram high neck.
My warmblood mare has more of a coat, and is not clipped. She’ll stay in her 220 gram high neck unless daytime highs are staying below freezing, then she’ll also go into her 380 gram high neck. Of course, if I end up giving her a big or trace clip, she’ll go into the heavier blanket at a little higher temps.
Both girls have 400 gram turnouts with full neck covers for any super frigid weather (below 0f).
I have an Irish Draught mare, unclipped, in western Mass. She doesn’t grow a thick winter coat but she also doesn’t feel the cold particularly, unless it’s also raining. She will also, if she’s uncomfortable in a particularly blanket, “disrobe” herself, as another poster discussed above.
She has two sheets (no fill) one with a high neck (a Rhino) and one with a regular neck (Smartpak). A 60 gram fill blanket (Rambo), and a 100 gram fill blanket (Perfect Equine). She’s never needed anything heavier.
I have my horses at home, no stalls. They share a run-in and large dry lot paddock. The Canadian gelding is hairy like a yak and tends to get fat. No blankets. My paint mare is older and used to blankets. My palomino mare grew up in NH living outside, but dropped some weight her first winter with me, so she gets blankets. The waterproof sheet is the most important for my girls. Cheap ones won’t stay waterproof for long. Weatherbeeta is reasonably priced and very durable. I also use 100 gr blankets and 200 gr blankets. Sheets and blankets have hoods. My palomino won’t lie down outside on cold, wet ground without her sheet on. Wind and wet is more significant for me than just the temperature. Sunny and 30 degrees with little wind is easier than 40 degrees in a blowing rainstorm at night.
I fall in the ‘rain sheet only’ category. I used to blanket when it got cooler until i learned more about horses regulate their own temperature by lifting their fur to create insulation. This also means that a blanket that isn’t warm enough is actually worse than no blanket at all because it keeps the horses from fluffing their fur (not the technical term, lol). So, now unless my horses are clipped they go naked. If it’s cool and rainy they get rain sheets to keep them dry.
