Thoughts on blanketing older horses?

[Flying_Hill]

What are your collective thoughts on blanketing older horses? A friend is boarding her two older mares with me while her house is being built. They are both between 28-30 years old, somewhat arthritic and not easy keepers. One of them is missing teeth and can’t really eat hay. The other one has Cushings and can be challenging to keep weight on. We live in northern New England. The mares moved here last spring from the desert southwest.

Many of you mention blanketing your older horses, as do I. She has never blanketed them and says it got cold in the mountains where they lived, but that seems like one unnecessary stressor for them in our climate, especially as they are not big hay eaters. Thoughts?

[kasjordan]

Northern New England is not only cold, it’s wet, windy and cold! I would be prepared to blanket them especially an older hard keeper. Ask her if you can use your judgement…tell her it will save on the feed bill too…

[ryansgirl]

Blanket them! I always heavily blanketed my old TB during winter (at least two if not three blankets) - he grew no coat and would lose his mind if cold… He was out basically 24/7 with my TB mare with free-choice hay and shelter. He was quite content with all his layers on and I never had to worry about his weight. I had to put him down last fall at age 31 but he never had an issue getting through winter in all the years i had him due to how I managed him. Winters here in New England can get brutal and i would never allow my horses to struggle through it. Old horses usually do need some extra help especially during winter - the desert southwest is nothing like winter in New England!

[Laurierace]

It sounds as if she is likely to lose both horses over the winter. At best they will come through in very poor shape.

[Mozart]

Those horses definitely need blankets. Especially if they are hard keepers. They might not be such hard keepers if they did not have to burn calories to stay warm. AND if one is not able to each much hay! Digesting hay creates internal warmth, that one will especially needs a blanket. I really hope your friend sees the light

[Flying_Hill]

I have been blanketing them when it has been wet and windy, but she doesn’t want them blanketed otherwise so they will grow thick coats. They will be moving to her place as soon as she can get shelter in place, supposedly this month. She doesn’t own any blankets, and money is an issue right now, but if I can give her some compelling arguments to blanket, I think she will.

[ReSomething]

Another vote to blanket. We get temps to the teens in January and although my old guy, 27 this year, has Cushing’s and a terrific thick coat he also has reduced efficiency utilizing his feed, some difficulty chewing his hay and did not do well over last winter when he was boarded out and NOT blanketed. The horses will need to take in fewer calories, you’ll have to purchase, store and feed less hay, as long as you strip and check their condition about every other week or so what’s not to like about blanketing?

[ReSomething]

That Cushing’s horse will grow a thick coat blanket or no blanket. Hair growth is triggered by seasonal day length changes and their own genetics, blankets have nothing to do with it. If you keep lights on you might mess up hair growth, but that’s it.

[Appsolute]

I kept my youngster at a retirement facility on a bluff over looking the ocean. While we didn’t get COLD we did get lots of wind, and wet weather.

All of the oldsters got blankets in the winter, helps them conserve their energy.

[kasjordan]

Well if money is an issue- that right there should do it! My guys are going thru a 700lb round bale FIVE days faster right now, not blanketed. They got their blankets on yesterday- that will put them back to almost one less round bale every month, to their normal two bales instead of three. That adds up. Do you have two you can loan her for the winter maybe? Maybe she just doesn’t want to buy them…?

[ReSomething]

And you know me, I looked up the average weather for Taos NM http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/87571 and Stowe VT http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USVT0233 . Pretty bitter in Stowe!

[goodhors]

I also would suggest she blankets them, cold and snow, humidity of wet snow in New England, is nothing like the Western weather of same temps, snow and humidity, because they just don’t do WET like here.

. She might be amendable to using light rain sheets, which will keep them drier, stop the wind, yet not flatten the coats much. Horses can still fluff their hair under light coverings. We used a rain sheet on our horses at the Trainer’s, because she keeps everyone out in paddocks with shelters year around. We did not want to clip them for work, and she wanted them covered to save grooming time, being wet out in cold weather, so she said these rain sheets worked well for both needs.

She always cooled and dried the horse after being worked, put the rain sheet back on and put horse back in the paddock until needed the next day. Horses stayed quite hairy, no colds or other issues, no shivering, with the protective rain sheets on while with her. They are good hay eaters, and she feeds hay in quantity, so they were plenty warm, but also are younger animals.

Maybe a Craigslist ad for rainsheets in appropriate sizes could find you some less expensive ones for the old horses, if she is adamant on no heavy blanketing.

[SMF11]

Unanimity on COTH! That right there is persuasive!

I’m with all the others saying BLANKET THEM!!! I board retired horses and horses that are that old all get blankets starting in the 30’s. You can tell your friend that her horses’ winter coats have grown in by now, and blanketing will not affect the coat growth at this point.

Horses that old are just more fragile, esp. if they have something like Cushings. Blanketing allows them to use their calories for keeping weight on instead of keeping warm. Also, old horses’ ability to regulate their temp gets worse with age, and this helps them stay warm.

I am not a big believer in blanketing generally, but absolutely very old horses need blanketing in the New England winter. You can tell your friend that out of the 10 horses here none are routinely blanketed except for the ancient ones.

[LauraKY]

[QUOTE=SMF11;7260814]
Unanimity on COTH! That right there is persuasive!

I’m with all the others saying BLANKET THEM!!! I board retired horses and horses that are that old all get blankets starting in the 30’s. You can tell your friend that her horses’ winter coats have grown in by now, and blanketing will not affect the coat growth at this point.

Horses that old are just more fragile, esp. if they have something like Cushings. Blanketing allows them to use their calories for keeping weight on instead of keeping warm. Also, old horses’ ability to regulate their temp gets worse with age, and this helps them stay warm.

I am not a big believer in blanketing generally, but absolutely very old horses need blanketing in the New England winter. You can tell your friend that out of the 10 horses here none are routinely blanketed except for the ancient ones.[/QUOTE]

Blanket. I have a golden oldie boarder, the older he gets the more blanketing he needs. He can’t chew hay either. I’ve noticed that he rarely overheats, but he easily gets chilled, particularly when it’s wet.

[HorsePrerace]

Agree with LauraKY. As long as he’s not chilled then blanket.

[morganpony86]

[QUOTE=LauraKY;7260826]
I’ve noticed that he rarely overheats, but he easily gets chilled, particularly when it’s wet.[/QUOTE]

Same here with my two old guys (20 & 27). So much so that I even left blankets on today when I left for work because it was 32 when I left but was supposed to get up into the mid-60’s today. I’d rather them be a little sweaty when I get home as opposed to chilled for the entire morning.

[ReSomething]

[QUOTE=morganpony86;7260903]
Same here with my two old guys (20 & 27). So much so that I even left blankets on today when I left for work because it was 32 when I left but was supposed to get up into the mid-60’s today. I’d rather them be a little sweaty when I get home as opposed to chilled for the entire morning.[/QUOTE]

Opposite problem with my old guy. His thermoregulation is pretty bad when it’s hot. I’ve been taking condition photos and there were a couple I took in September where he was soaked in sweat. When he sweats like that he dehydrates, he loses his appetite, it’s not good. He’s OK blanketed at 40 because he can walk into the shade to get relief but higher than that, not good.

[shakeytails]

I vote for blankets. I rarely blanket anything that isn’t being worked, but my older harder keepers get turnout rugs in the winter to keep them dry and cut the wind chill.

[Flying_Hill]

I really appreciate all the replies. Seeing the comparable average temps was very helpful. I have always thought that blanketing would reduce hay consumption - nice to have confirmation on that. Given that she can probably only afford one blanket per horse, would a medium weight make the most sense? Any more stories of older horses who did poorly in this climate without blankets?

[shakeytails]

For cheap- I’ve had good luck with the canvas blankets like this or this. I’ve had them last and stay pretty much waterproof for years being used on older horses that are not tough on blankets. I don’t wash them (or any turn-out rugs for that matter!)- just hang on a fence and hose them off at the end of the season.

I’ve also had a few inexpensive(under $75) Weather-beeta rugs and a couple of New Zealand clones that have also held up for years. None of mine have been heavy-weight, but it doesn’t get bitter cold here in KY. We do, however, get rain or freezing rain along with icy winds. And the cold here is damp and feels colder than NY/New England cold with snow cover. I think the water-proof is more important than the weight of the blanket.

While I have not noticed a decrease in hay consumption, I have noticed my older horses look more comfortable and don’t need as much grain to maintain weight though the winter.