Which is the best, safest, most comfortable turn-out blanket design for my weanling; criss-cross surcingles or a belly band?
I know the brand and weight I need - just fretting over the best design option.
How much should I expect a 7 month old warmblood to grow (length-wise) during the next 3-4 month winter blanket season.
I do not know how much a warmblood weaner will grow. My TBX weanling hasn’t grown in the past few months. grr… However…
I’ve been using the criss-cross with leg straps on her, and she does just fine with them.
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Just throwing in my two cents here. Is your weanling turned out 24/7? If so, I wouldn’t blanket a weanling, but that’s just my opinion 
I live in Northern Canada where the temperatures can dip down to -30 F in the middle of winter and all of our horses and ponies live comfortably outside without blankets on.
If your weanling lives inside at night and is just turned out during the day, that’s a different story Regardless of what you do, I wouldn’t consider putting a criss-cross surcingle or a belly band on a young horse…too much of a recipe for disaster if they happen to get a foot caught in the strap. Your safest bet would be a single belly strap.
Ours wear pony blankets–criss cross surcingale straps adjusted snugly and checked daily, and elastic leg straps. Ours are out 24/7 with a huge run in shed, and they come into stalls daily to eat their feed.
Sheila
I’m curious about the brand of turnout blankets folks are using. Weatherbeeta and Centaur were recommended to me, any others good for a tall warmblood weaning?
Schneiders typically has a nice long drop.
I bought an inexpensive Saxon last year as a just in case, and that was a very nice fit as well. I ended up not needing it, as any weather that was just nasty enough for him to need it, I just brought them in for the night - good training for him as well.
I’d buy up 1 size. He’ll grow into or out of it.
[QUOTE=JB;6679578]
Schneiders typically has a nice long drop.
I bought an inexpensive Saxon last year as a just in case, and that was a very nice fit as well. I ended up not needing it, as any weather that was just nasty enough for him to need it, I just brought them in for the night - good training for him as well.
I’d buy up 1 size. He’ll grow into or out of it.[/QUOTE]
I’m gonna second the saxon. My filly’s other blanket is the saxon turn out sheet and I really like it.
The only horses I blanket are the ones that are working. All of my other horses regardless of age do not wear blankets. The healthiest thing to do is to let them grow their own winter fur. If the weather is severely cold or wet the horses are put in the indoor by small groups to get some exercise. This is what I have been told is the best thing to do and has worked great for me.
Here at Hyperion, we don’t blanket any horses living outside unless they are “old” and require help with extra warmth, OR they are stalled at night.
Growing a winter coat for horses outside is very important, so we let mother nature take its course.
Cheers
[QUOTE=HyperionStudLLC;6680167]
Here at Hyperion, we don’t blanket any horses living outside unless they are “old” and require help with extra warmth, OR they are stalled at night.
Growing a winter coat for horses outside is very important, so we let mother nature take its course.
Cheers[/QUOTE]
This. We don’t blanket our horses who aren’t in work either. The only exception is one broodmare who lost a bunch of weight one year, so I am a little careful with her now to be sure that she can keep warm and keep her weight on. My babies have never been blanketed. They are out 24/7 with a run in and free choice hay, grain 2x a day, and live that way until they are 3 and started. Then when they are ridden we start to blanket them through the winter, but they still live out in groups.
Also in a very cold, northern climate here; I do not blanket any horse that lives out unless it is coming in to work. My one older broodmare will get a blanket or just get to come in in very cold weather but the young horses all live out fulltime without blankets. As long as they have a windbreak and plenty of hay they are fine. My weanling has a coat similar to rabbit fur but 3 times as thick, I think the weaners grow the thickest coats and need blankets the least to be honest.
I also live in Canada, and do not blanket weanlings. I am more concerned with them running and playing and getting sweaty under the blanket and getting caught up in the blanket, than getting cold.
My weanlings come in during the night in the winter, and they have large sheds to go in outside.
The worst thing I find is not the dry cold, but that dreadful freezing rain.
My other horses are blanketed, but with as little as possible, usually just a rain turnout and a liner when it gets colder.
There is data that demonstrates many horses have MORE difficulty thermoregulating when wearing blankets; also, there is the consideration of the negative consequences of reducing sun exposure, such as reducing Vitamin D production, etc… The only horses I blanket are those in full work, because they are either clipped or we want to inhibit their winter coat growth, in order to allow them to exercize well in cold weather and be able to dry off in an expeditious manner; Also, we do blanket the occassional older horse that has difficulty maintaining adequate weight in winter (basically, a couple of older TB mares with dissappearing dentition, lol!) Our weanlings live outside 24/7 and are quite prepared for the winter weather; they also have large run-in sheds so they may seek relief from precipitation and wind…
I never blanketed my horse until he was working hard enough in the winter to require clipping. He survived his 1st 5 yrs or so with just his own coat.
I really never used to blanket my horses, we have 20+ here in NY but the last few years with global warming, yes I Do believe in the impact, here in our part of NY we’re getting a lot more wind and cold rain and freezing rain instead of good old snow. I have a few sheds but not enough and we keep our horses out in the winter 24/7 as much as possible. I have from youngsters to old horses too and I have blanketed them, from age weenie on up. I check them very often and we’ve never had a case of a horse having difficulty regulating their temp with a blanket (s) nor a youngster getting caught up in their blankets.
Now they have destroyed them playing, but that’s another story. Some horses just grow better coats then others-some of mine look like yaks others have very short dense coats. We don’t over blanket either and do let them grow a lot of coat before we blanket/sheet them. We vary the weight of the blanket depending on the horse-my 27 year old Palomino mare ges her heavy one on from the start where my youngsters typically only get sheets or a light weight and can last the winter in that.
Tonight they’re calling for cold rain, dropping temps and accumulating snow-they all have their sheets/blankets on. When it hits in the 40’s+ by Tuesday they will come off again-if my old Palomino mare will give hers up, she LOVES her blankee. 
Our farm sits in high valley and the wind is tunneled through it like there’s no tomorrow-so much so we’re going to get a wind turbine and get off the grid.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with blanketing a fully haired horse, in work or not, if the weather is such that their metabolism and hair coat can’t protect them enough.
Mine aren’t clipped. They live out 23 hours a day. I MUCH prefer to have them out 23 hours 365 days a year. I also know for a fact that some conditions would have some or all of them shivering and miserable. I would FAR prefer to put a blanket on for a night or three, even a couple days in a row, then put them in a stall.
The limited number of times I end up blanketing has absolutely no ill effect on their coat’s ability to protect them once its off. It doesn’t smash the coat down such that it can’t be quickly refluffed. It doesn’t suddenly thin their coat.
If it’s 33* and raining for 8 hours, I’m going to put a blanket on them. If it’s 15* with 40mph winds, they’re getting a blanket. MY horses WILL be cold in those conditions because they are not normal conditions here and they never get a chance to acclimate.
I’ve tried going the naked route with all my homebreds - only 1 of 3 was comfortable being naked all winter. The other 2 (both fillies, lol) were shivering and miserable and hiding out in the shelter all day, thus not eating or drinking - and both times my barn owners said “Kay, you really need to buy your baby a blanket - she’s miserable”. The first one had been brought inside at night all summer, so that could’ve been the issue.
But my 2011 filly, she lived out all summer. She grew a SUPER thick coat. And yet, by November, BO contacted me and told me I absolutely had to get her a blanket. sigh
Not all horses are created equal, and some really are sissies about the cold. Once my filly had her brand new snowflake pattern WB blankie on last year, she was happy & perky and was back out eating off the roundbale with the herd, even if it was raining. Night & day difference.
[QUOTE=ASBJumper;6681914]
I’ve tried going the naked route with all my homebreds - only 1 of 3 was comfortable being naked all winter. The other 2 (both fillies, lol) were shivering and miserable and hiding out in the shelter all day, thus not eating or drinking - and both times my barn owners said “Kay, you really need to buy your baby a blanket - she’s miserable”. The first one had been brought inside at night all summer, so that could’ve been the issue.
Not all horses are created equal, and some really are sissies about the cold. Once my filly had her brand new snowflake pattern WB blankie on last year, she was happy & perky and was back out eating off the roundbale with the herd, even if it was raining. Night & day difference.[/QUOTE]
Yep. This is my filly. She. Is. A. Weenie. Her mom (who is blanketed because she’s in full work and lighted at night) is fine in the worst weather conditions mother nature can throw at her. Miss filly, however, was hunched up and miserable at 35 degrees.
The flip side of this is that said filly has earned herself the nickname “Calzone” for her habit of laying out and happily baking on the clay in the direct sunshine/120 degree summer heat!
“'scuse me, I’ve to go to give my calzone another bath. She’s all crunchy again…”
NONE ! My horses life out 24/7 and none of them has a blanket. Also at time where I kept them in a box stall with turnout no blankets on youngsters.
They have a coat that is desgined to stay in the cold. Also the temperature that horses like best is 8C which should be something like 45F.
Why would one do blanketing a youngster/weanling ?
Why would someone blanket, say, a yearling, 2yo, 3yo? For the very reasons I and a few others already stated.
In the Fall, before coats are really in, it’s not uncommon to have a wet cold spell with a temp drop of 20* or more (F) and rain for a whole day/night, and this is usually because of a cold front blasting through, so it’s usually quite windy as well. Going from mid-60’s or so and sunny, to mid/lower 40’s or so and rain and wind with a partial Winter coat makes a lot of horses downright cold.
In the Spring when a good bit of the coat is shed and not even an equivalent amount of new coat is in, the exact same thing usually happens. It makes many horses flat out cold.
The same conditions in the middle of real Winter leaves horses much better equipped to deal with it. But even then, we often get a dramatic worsening of weather for a few days, temps well below normal, winds. I will not let even a yearling be outside in 33* weather with 20mph winds and heavy rain for 24-36 hours. But I’d also really really like to keep them out, so on goes the blanket.
No harm, no foul, everyone is happy.
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