My mare is body clipped because we do show throughout the winter. She is well blanketed but she can’t go outside as much because we are worried about ear frostbite. Is there anything anyone uses to cover the horse’s ears while they’re outside during the winter? I found some Etsy shops that do coverings for donkeys and llamas but did not have horses listed. I sent them a message about doing one for a horse but never heard back.
Thanks for any ideas!
Interesting idea! I’m envisioning like a fly mask?
I live in the canadian prairies where the temperatures get down to -40c or colder and even the horses who are clipped don’t have their ears covered. As long as they are healthy they seem to do ok with the cold weather, even with pretty significant temperature swings between warm and cold weather.
One friend’s horse loves to tuck his ears into the hood of his blanket. I always joke that he looks like Beavis when he does it.
I’ve lived in some pretty cold places and I’ve never even heard of a case of ear frostbite on horses. Is there a particular reason you’re concerned about this? Horses evolved to survive in pretty cold climates and barring any health issues they tend to handle it pretty well. You can always check by feeling her ears after she’s been out a while but as long as she’s blanketed appropriately she should be totally fine.
The breeder of one of my horses
Did have a young horse get frostbitten ears, in SE Iowa. Horse was missing about an inch
On tips of his ears.
So it does happen.
I’m suspect getting wet increases the likelihood of this….either from wet snow or out in rain and the temperature plummets. And if the ears were clipped bare…. We had one along time ago who came to us that way.
I would think an ear-dampening bonnet would work? The ear portion is made of neoprene, so more protection than typical fly bonnet. I bought a couple on Amazon last summer for about $28. You may have to get creative and attach velcro strips or strings of some sort to attach to the crown of a halter? Or like someone else said, a fly mask with ears to protect from driving winds when it’s super cold.
One of the horses on the farm lost the tips of his ears years ago from frostbite so I think everyone is traumatized. Knowing my luck, I would push and say it’s fine and her ears would probably fall off, so I am erring on the side of caution 
I was always told that a horse losing tips of ears to frostbite was only a very young horse thing like in foals and yearlings? A mature, well fed horse isn’t in any danger. Maybe someone has more info on this?
Is rare, but some horses on ranches have frozen ear tips from being born outside when it was so cold the wet tips froze before foal dried up.
So do some on calves.
My first mare had a missing frostbit tip.
I bet that you could get one of those neoprene lined sound dampening ear bonnets and a nice fly mask with some structure like a Rambo one and then attach the neoprene ears to the inside of the mask. You probably want to go up a size to give the ears enough room so they weren’t cramped. Is there a reason that you’re concerned about this horse and none of the other others on property? Is this her first winter in this environment?
My first mare had a missing frostbit tip.
I bet that you could get one of those neoprene lined sound dampening ear bonnets and a nice fly mask with some structure like a Rambo one and then attach the neoprene ears to the inside of the mask. You probably want to go up a size to give the ears enough room so they weren’t cramped. Is there a reason that you’re concerned about this horse and none of the other others on property? Is this her first winter in this environment?
Sorry, I am only worried about mine because she is the only one I own. The other horses at the facility that are also body clipped are on limited turn out. Her herd is a bunch of broodmares and some schoolies so she’s the only one that has to stay in from her group. She just really does not deal well with being inside for extended periods of time so I was just trying to find a way to get creative.
I think I’m going to try the lined bonnet/fly mask and see if I can get something to work!
Thank you so much for your help!
Fly bonnet and sew it onto a fly mask. I had to do that for my sweet itch horse to protect her ears.
Yes they sell fly masks with ears but the material is too thin and flimsy.
I don’t clip the ears or head from where the cheekpiece sits forward. you can’t really tell when the bridle is on- can you just do that going forward?
Ear hood that standardbred racehorses wear sounds like your best bet!
OK, I have no real idea if this would work.
I got the lesson horses I ride a Fenwick Face Mask with Ears. I got the one with ears because I live in the South and there are too many insects in the summer.
When winter came I just went on using it on them, in the hope that the Far Infra-red Radiation from the Fenwick fabric would help their ears keep warmer. I ride as early as I can year round, which means many of my winter rides are anything but cozy warm especially if the wind is blowing.
Since horses cannot talk I do not know if their ears feel warmer when I use it, but this helps me feel less guilty in the winter. The lesson horses I ride tend to be OLD and I figure they need all the help they can get.
Horses are very adept at handling cold weather. The horses who generally are missing parts of their ears due to frostbite are those that were born outside in a freeze - essentially infants. Once they’re full sized, they’re generally fine - unless they do something crazy like falling into a pond in sub zero temperatures.
You can try a bonnet if you’re really concerned, but if it’s anything like my horse’s fly masks during the summer - they’ll get pulled off. TBH, in the list of things I would stress over in horse ownership - ears getting frostbite is like, #5,397 on the list.
Did everyone read that this horse is fully clipped? I’d be concerned with fully clipped ears, too. I don’t have answers, though!
Me, too! Especially if the backs of the ears are clipped as in a full body clip w the face done.
Blanket the body warm enough and the extremities will be warm is what I was taught.
I’d just line a fly mask if really concerned.
Mine is fully clipped. Outside 8 hours a day in winter, and we’ve been having days of weather with a real feel in the negatives. I don’t clip the inside of his ears or muzzle as standard practice, so he has some fuzz to protect the inside, but the outside of his ear is fully clipped.
We have a fair amount of clipped horses, and I have never hear of this being a concern. They all are well blanketed and in hoods but its not like the hoods really cover their ears.
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