Depends, depends, depends. Natural is nice, but some horses who are older, thinner skinned, have arthritis, too young, etc, etc, need blankets. My anemic horse had to wear one all the time, because his low iron meant I couldn't allow him to waste energy.

I never do. My Icelandic mare is bred for winters and is much more comfortable when it is cold than she is in summer. It is not unusual to see her with 2 inches of snow on her back - that coat insulates well! But the horses do have free access to the stable with bedding, so they can choose where to be.

I only blanket horses that are clipped or just won't grow a heavy winter coat. My horses are very tough on their horsey clothes so for me personally it's better to let them go natural. They have plenty of run-in shelters and are locked in the barn durning bad storms. The horses that are in constant work get extra grooming and a cooler if they get sweaty. It's just your personal choice on whether to blanket or not.

yes, rain sheet ; heavy blanket for outside and jammies for the cold Jan. & Feb. months.
... the dog too...

-- Edited by Julius on Sunday 14th of November 2010 05:24:33 PM

The ones that need blankets get them. The ones that don't, don't : )

I would rather not blanket, this time of year, spring, too, is hard when the temps are so dramatically different day to night, and winter coats aren't fully grown in yet. Not a fan of blanketing but then, I am not the iffy one standing out there all winter.

We blanket all horses/ponies on the farm (over 40 animals!). They all have run in sheds, but the little extra warmth seems to help them. A warm animal also eats less hay as they dont have to burn as much calories to try to stay warm...Once in a while a border puts a blanket on their animal a little later and a couple of times when I have gone out in the morning I see them shivering! We have put some of our own blankets on others horses just because we feel sorry for them, and then we tell the owner to get a blanket up here asap! I just like to see them with blankets on, but it is personal preference...There is nothing wrong with not blanketing.

My minis grow really nice thick winter coats so they don't get blanketed. My full sized appy usually doesn't wear a blanket, he gets a pretty good winter coat, sometimes he wears a rainsheet or a heavier blanket though depending on the weather. And our TB wears a blanket more often, but we try not to blanket so her coat will get thicker.
I would rather not blanket but if they need it then I do.

My horse came from a princesse palace. And she was the princesse. Well all the horses were, but she was too. The horses at that barn were doing the major all-year-round showing,
so basically they had blankets on all the time for one reason or another, maybe to protect from sun, maybe to protect from cold. Mostly they were brought inside anyway.

Well, where she is now is like camping compared to where I bought her from. So she's cranky enough outside with a blanket, so we don't push it. In the summer of course we take them off to go au naturel, but when it gets like this, she has all her heavy winter clothes on.

Yes, I do always.  When I had just riding/show horses, school horses, and now when I have race horses.  My horses were in fact double blanketed.  First they wear spring sheets when it is even near cold, (most of the year in Canada), then they wear winter blankets as the cold gets stronger, then spring under winter, then two winter, then if they are particularly 'cold blooded' (hard keepers), or by nature thin haired horses, we will up the anti and wear a spring sheet, and two winter blankets.  I do this since all my horses are worked hard, they all have to cool out quickly to stay healthy, and many of them have a naturally light haired coat.  Also many race horses, find it easier to run with lighter hair.  I wear quarter sheets on some, sometimes all as well-- both the race horses, and the riding horses.  I had fits for my horse Che, as he is a stud and is super hard on blankets, we have now settled on a good cover under a heavy canvas cover... hate the 'pink' cover, but it is the only thing he can't shread in one night... he loves to be warm, but is a goof and can't help working over anything that gets near him... buckets recieve the same treatment... he gets his feed pail only long enough to eat, and he has his water pail outside his stall, tied down to the wall... so I know it isn't just the blankets... lol lol
He is so thin haired that we didn't wear a blanket on him until the middle, to end of November, since we were searching for a blanket that he couldn't ruin... we live in Ontario, where it is cold, and it has been really lousy this year in particular... all the other horses (unblanketed ones and blanketed ones) on the grounds where we are now have way more hair than he has... he has less hair on him than some of the other horse in the summer do... even my other horse has way more hair and he was double blanketed since October (he has very poor health and is a 'cold' horse).  So some just don't grow hair, while others grow lots blanket of not...

I think it is a personal choice of coarse, but also common sense should be used and if they look cold they probably are... if they shake or shiver, than a blanket or warmer accomodaitons are in order... last year we had blankets on Che, but he lived in a very cold barn... nice, but every window (but his) was open and this barn faced ever direction, in a cold area of the country... we shared accomidation with someone that believed that they don't feel the cold... remember these are race horses, that get sweated up in work, more than riding horses do... they then come in the barn to freeze with sweat on them, sometimes bathed, sometimes not... my horse wore a blanket (two actually) coolers, and we rarely bathed him... he got a low grade virus... and stayed sick all year... her horses did as well, but were sicker then even mine was... so a blanket helps, but not having a draft on horses is even more important to my way of thinking... some days when I went to get warm at the local coffee shop (my husband and Che were located away from home for the winter), I wanted to cry thinking of Che freezing in the barn... he was and looked cold!!!  And I got to go home and was only there for a few days a week... Joe and Che lived there...

So in my opionion blankets are the order of the day for most horses, and a warm place away from wind and draft is a must...

Under the no blanket/ no cooler, cold barn and no care my little horse Tattoo almost died last year for the other people... so the 'natural' route can be hard on horses that have to work hard for their living... on the same boat, many lighter worked horses do well enough with the rougher way of living...

take care, good luck this winter

deb

My guy was blanketed until he started taking them off during turnout time! He was famous for eating the chest and destroying blankets regularly. But once he started to take them off I got the hint - he hates blankets! Definitely not worth the risk of injury to keep them on just for my benefit. He is much happier without and to be honest so am I. I no longer have to worry about temps and blanket accordingly. Next year I will leave them off completely and give him a bib clip to reduce sweating.