When do you start blanketing? It’s still in the 60s-70s during the day here in WNY, and my horse comes in at night, so I probably won’t start putting a sheet on for turnout until it’s consistently in the 40s. Curious to see what everyone else does!
When the horses start shivering.
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Following this because I’m in the same area, lol. I wish our weather would decide if it was going to be 40 degrees or 400. Add to that…my front lawn needs to decide if it’s a sponge or if it’s rock hard and not waver between the two.
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When nighttime temperatures dip below 40 consistently. Blankets off during the day.
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Any day or night with temps 29 degrees or lower. Then back off.
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It depends on the actual weather. Mid 50s and sunny is a lot different than mid 50s and rainy/windy. Right now my horse has a turnout sheet with a neck rug on because it was low 50s and pouring rain all night and into today. Last time we had weather like that, he was shivering and didn’t want to come out of the run in shed.
He’ll get a medium weight with a neck rug once it starts getting close to 40, heavy weight with neck rug below 30 (he will be clipped and has been clipped the last few winters.) He gets a liner under the heavy weight once we’re in the teens.
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I agree with 16 Hands - 40 degrees. It also depends on whether it’s raining or snowing. If either and it’s cold - blankets on. And, different horses grow coats their coats different. We had one we called “The Wooley Mammoth” - that’s what she looked like in winter. One had a coat so thick you could put your hand on her back and the impression would stay for awhile. Our horses can go in and out of their stalls at will. I don’t blanket too soon as I want their coats to grow out.
When do I start blanketing? Well put a rain sheet on a week ago today, because night time temps were dipping and there was dampness in the air…put full winters on because of the snow storm on Saturday!!!
My horse is blind and one eyed so she grows no winter coat. I have found her shivering at 45 degrees, so anytime the temps are going to drop into the mid 40s I blanket. Her lighter blanket (220g) is light enough that she doesn’t sweat in it until temps are in the 60s, so I don’t worry too much about taking it off during the day. Basically I blanket as if she is clipped if that makes sense. Highs in the 40s with low in the 30s get a heavy blanket (380g). Highs in the 30s with lows in the lower 20s or teens gets the mid weight plus a heavy stable blanket (520g total). She spends most of the winter in either the midweight or the heavy turnout around here.
Fascinating…new one on me, so seeing light change prompts the coat change? Never thought about it…
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Yep! Changes in photoperiod are what prompts hair growth and shedding. The eye mine still has has a giant honking cataract (think opaque white pupil) so no light going through.
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I rarely blanket but I will “shake the mothballs out of them” when the Middle Tennessee winter days remind me too much of those bone chilling days of my previous life on the OH/PA border, lol
My barn is smaller and stays warm when the doors are closed, so I don’t blanket when The Boys come in at night. They are early 20’s but generally in good health and grow nice winter coats.
LOL, I knew that lengthening and shortening days caused it, but DOH never thought of not seeing those changes…my new learning for the day…
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I don’t blanket unless:
- it's below 40 and raining consistently
- it's below freezing
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Today I almost put a rain sheet on my mare, she lives outside and it’s supposed to rain hard for about 24h. But in the end I didn’t. It’s still in the 50ies, and she likes to go in the shed.
I’ll put a sheet on when it’s windy and cold / wet, once it gets into the 40ies or less, or if I see her shiver.
She won’t wear her Medium weight until well into winter, when temps dip under 20F (or windchill). She grows a decent winter coat for a TB and has been just fine all these years in New England weather with this protocol.
I’m in Tennessee and my 3 have been growing their winter coats for a few weeks now. I don’t blanket anyone except my 27 1/2 year old when it gets below 35°. Sheet for 20° to 35°, mid-weight for below 20°. BUT he is a warmblood (part Clyde) and gets a winter coat that’s very thick and very long.
I’ve found over the 30 something years of keeping my own horses that blanketing too soon or too heavily can inhibit the growth of a full winter coat. My current horses however, aren’t ridden presently, so not clipped or anything and I don’t have to worry about cooling them down after a ride. They are all three just balls of fur in the winter!
I was always a “not until the 40’s” kind of person. But mine was shivering in the 50’s with rain so she got a cooler and sheet. Pulled the cooler when she dried a bit.
she has a winter coat started but I guess she isnt ready! Shrugs
Last year, the fella never got a blanket (unless rain + cold). I remember him standing outside in a blizzard (he has a lovely in/out stall so he can always choose to be dry and cozy), happy as a clam, piled with snow, clearly wondering what all the fuss was about. He is a 20-yo Morgan who grows a short but thick coat. He’s particularly… robust… just now, so I don’t plan to blanket if it’s over 10 or 15 degrees F, unless I see him looking cold. He always has access to his stall, and gets hay every few hours, so if he is standing outside, well, I guess he knows what he’s doing.
Every horse is different.
Horse in stall with runout. Barn doesn’t get locked up at night so doesn’t warm up. Horse not clipped.
I put a turnout on her when the weather is consistently below 10 C with steady rain or below 0 C and clear. She gives indications she’s happy for a blanket at those temperatures, but doesn’t like a blanket when it’s warmer.
Barn I kept a horse at most recently was a very lightly insulated structure. As a result, the interior temperature mirrored the outside weather fairly closely, give or take a couple of degrees. It served as a nice wind break, but wouldn’t really be “warmer” than the outside. I had a horse that had pretty decent coat/metabolism so I was one of the later blanketers - once the daytime highs only hit mid 40s (and lows were equal or below that - so typically late october in our climate, the daytime high’d be 45 or so and overnight would be mid 30s).
That said, if it looked like it was going to precipitate I’d have him in a rain sheet to prevent damp. He was never clipped, side note.
