So I do waterproof blankets without any fill as top blankets or only blankets up to 45 or 50°. For the cold front we have coming in, I do high loft underneath of them. I keep a tank heater dropped from fall to Spring. They are on a thermostat and keep the water at a temperature that the horses appreciate and will drink. My horses get soaked beet pulp year round. When it’s colder, I drain the beet pulp which has been soaking for 12 hours, and I pour very hot water over top of it and let it drain again. Then I mix their feed in, and add some more warm water. Not enough to make it mush but just so everything’s wet. Finally, they have very high quality free choice had a 24 seven.
Back in the Day, there was a gelding showing on my circuit who was missing the tips of both ears.
Show name: Play It by Ear 
My 2¢ says horses’ ears probably have the same circulatory system as their lower legs, making frostbite less likely.
We had a stretch of Sub-Zero days with night temps in minus teens 
I blanketed for this, using the only blankets I have: 100g fill turnouts.
Horses are not clipped, all have good, dense Winter coats. Mini is a yak!
Blankets went on, came off 3 days later when temps stayed in positive single digits at night.
At my last night check - around 10P - I checked under blankets & all were toasty.
My horses are not stalled, they have access to stalls if they want.
Even in this godawful weather they were Out more than In. As evidenced by the lack of manure in stalls.
I have heated buckets in stalls & a sinking de-icer in the 50gal barrel that serves as a trough.
Everyone drank well.
Like @Simkie said, it’s harder on me than my horses 
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My poor horses just don’t grow coats like horses I see and hear about in more Northern climates. I’m down south NW FL area. My mom has a pair of drafts near me and they grow a bit more coat but still not the impressive yak coats I see on some horses. The sad part is what little winter coat my horses do grow they grow in September / October and then we still have a good bit of very hot weather days so they end up sweating hot those days! Mine are both already shedding like mad so if we have any more winter this year they’ll need extra help. The TB’s coat looks more like silk than a proper winter coat.
The weather is very variable here. We have had several days in Jan with highs pushing 80f. Before Christmas in that Siberian Express we had nights with feels like temps in the single digits! My horses were not happy at all in that cold! And I had them bundled up best I could. My poor old TB lost visible weight and my younger riding horse tried to colic.
No frost bite though!
Based in Chester County, PA. When it gets low 20’s/teens we use a medium weight stable blanket under his heavy turnout with neck, our horse is out at night in during the day. The fields where we board have heated auto waterers and sheds. We body clip only, leave the legs and face/ears.
We did have a horse in our barn who had frostbit of his ears as a foal and they were stunted growth wise, he was a smaller OTTB, not bigger than 15.2, and had the cutest stubby ears.
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I would be nervous that the mask would get wet and then it would be worse than naked ears, like having wet gloves on.
I wouldn’t worry about their ears unless they’re clipped. The only thing that I could think of that might help ears would be a waterproof bonnet.
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What about neck covers vs high necks? I’m thinking the high necks go underneath and the neck cover goes on top? We only get these super cold temps occasionally so I don’t typically keep heavy blankets for my two. They do have neck covers which I’m thinking would be helpful in these bitter temps. Their regular blankets are the high neck/Wug style.
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My caveat: Mine lives out 24/7 and is hunter clipped because he’s a sweat-er.
He is wearing a 400g as the base layer and usually that would be fine but it’s…a bit beat up and will probably be disposed of because I think by March it’ll be beyond repair. And then I put his 100g on as the top layer. The 400g is an Amigo wug and the 100g is a Rhino wug, so the cut is the same which I personally like.
When the temp drops, all the horses get salt added to their feed to encourage drinking. Thankfully, mine will drink water anywhere, anytime–a thing I very much appreciate about him.
The high monday was 19 with negative temps by the end of the day and Tuesday the high was 15 and in the single digits when I went to the barn. Tomorrow, the high is 12 with negatives overnight. And then next week, temps return to normal accompanied by some rain which I’m sure will melt all of our snow. sigh
That’s what I do. For my one horse, all of her blankets are Wugs with the exception of a sheet with a neck cover. I always put the sheet with neck cover on top of the Wug.
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To paraphrase an old comedian:
Horses is the funniest people
I had a WB, bred in Queensland, Australia - climate very much like FL.
He then spent 6yrs in FL before coming to live with me in the Midwest.
He arrived December 10, showslick & wearing a cotton sheet.
I blanketed him in a too small 78 (he was an 84), figuring it was better than nothing.
I had him 6yrs & he never grew more than a plushy Winter coat.
He went unblanketed, alongside my fluffy pony & later the Wooly Mammoth mini.
Never tested cold, so I let him decide if he preferred a stall over outside.
He did not.
Here he is with the pony (pre-mini add-on) in his very own, rarely worn blanket:
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Cute picture!
My guys also have free access to the barn or outside, but my barn is designed to provide shelter from our brutal summers not cold. They do come running inside if it rains though! They might melt 
Pretty sure they’d come in the house if I let them. Likely to raid the fridge and scratch their bums on my couch
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I board retirees, so many horses here pushing 30. They live out 24/7. I have to say: I am not worried about them one bit!! Horses do better in the cold!
Re double blanketing-- which I am doing for the more fragile ones – it doesn’t matter which order you do it, pick the way that works for you.
The critical thing is to make 100% sure that they will not run out of hay.
Other things that give me confidence: heated auto waterers, and large run in sheds.
Re fly masks: I wouldn’t do it. Presumably your horse has a run in or other windbreak?
What do all the horses in Montana, or South Dakota do? There’s a reason there are no horsey ear muffs-- there is no need for them.
Why do you say no on the fly masks? I figure it couldn’t hurt.
My horses do have a run in shed but predicted temps for tomorrow night are 15 below, 40 below wind chill.
I have a 29yo TB & a 30yo Appendix who is more sensitive to cold since developing Cushings. Neither grows much of a winter coat. They will be well blanketed with neck coverings!
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Because I don’t think it adds value – no extra warmth. And could possibly (although unlikely) cause a problem.
I have 30 year old horses with cushings too; those are the ones getting double blanketed.
OK, thanks!
It might not be useful, but it also won’t hurt. Mine wears one outside year round (I’m in Canada) because of her delightful propensity for running up vet bills by shoving herself head first into the round bale with her damn eyes wide damn open. “My eye hurts.” “Oh, another corneal ulcer? I guess you get to be the class clown who wears a mask all year round.”
She is fine. That said, since the field she goes in doesn’t have a shelter, they are not out in the absolute worst weather. But, if it’s cold and not horrendously windy, she is out. Snowing and not horrendously windy, also out. I’ve had to shake snow off the ears a couple of times in the few years she’s been dressed in her mask year round, but have never had any issues.
And that said, if the neck on a horse’s blanket is big enough, when they put themselves in their butt to the wind, head down protective position against the elements, their ears tend to fit back into the upper neck of the blanket, or at least be a little more sheltered from the elements.
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Mine wears one all year long. No problems. For me, issues are actually more likely in summer when there is lovely dry, dusty dirt to roll in.
Same!
My 3 line up on the Wall of Shame < faces the house.
Because they NEVER get fed 
WB was a sweetheart.
All 17’3 of him.
Pony was his minion 
♂
& Still is for the new Boss Hoss 
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I lived for a couple years in MN, where we would have stretches of high wind and -40 real feel. It was COLD.
Horses did fine without ear muffs. I, too, would have concerns with a fly mask.
Frostbite is a worry for foals, not adult horses.
My riding horse announces his starvation for the whole neighborhood every evening at dinner. He’s hungry and the whole world needs to know 
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