I was wondering because I read somewhere that blanketing a horse with a winter hair coat reduces the horses natural protection against cold. She’s outside almost all the time.
Asked by:barrel_bunny13
I was wondering because I read somewhere that blanketing a horse with a winter hair coat reduces the horses natural protection against cold. She’s outside almost all the time.
Asked by:barrel_bunny13
No you should not. A winter coat gives its warmth only when it is “fluffy” So if you put the blanket on the horse, it will flatten the hair and cause it to not insulate the horse.
The horse will actually be colder with the blanket on.
Its up to you but if you deside to blanket your horse you need to do it every night and day ( unless it gets hot).
I rug my girl up in winter due to the fact i show her, but I know a lot of people who turn out 24/7 365days a year and never rug up, personally i think its up to the individual, but the previous answer about fluffed up coats is bang on, also if you horse shivers its shivering to keep warm, not because he/she is cold, good tip, check the base of the ears.
I am too soft with my girl and I know this, but at the end of the day it really is down the preference.
Depends on where you live in my opinion. I have friends who live in states where it snows and they always put blanket on, winter coat or not. However my horse doesn’t even know what a blanket looks like because we live in the desert. It is true that a blanket will flatten the coat lessening its ability to “naturally insulate”. However, natural insulation only works so well. My advice would be to look at your horse in the cold. Is he/she shivering? or contentedly nibbling hay? Is he/she seeking warmth from somewhere? or just roaming the field? You can get a pretty good idea of whether you need to blanket or not by just watching your horses’ behavior in the cold.
I live in New Brunswick Canada and we get a lot of snow. During the winter I bring my horses in to the barn at night and during the day they go out. I do not blanket them as it hinders the growthh of their winter coat. I had asked my vet about it and she agreed that blanketing usually does more harm than good. just make sure they have acess to some sort of shelter from the wind but they will be fine. Several times I would see my mare stand outside in a blizzard with her but to the wind than rather go in the shelter
you could do either one. It’s really up to you. If you want to preserve your horses coat, make it nicer for the spring put a blanket on….It also depends on how cold it is. However, whatever choice you do make it a consistent choice…don’t blanket your horse one night and then leave it off the next couple of nice. cause it can be a shock to the horses body…not very good to do.
I only blanket my horses for a couple of reasons.
First being the horse has been ridden, it is sweating and it is very cold out, we blanket the horse until it has a chance to warm up, dry off and then the blanket comes off, usually the horse is in a barn.
Second, in the early spring, after most of the snow has melted and the horse is shedding out, then we get the two to three weeks of real cold weather again, and the sleet/snow hits again (we live in Wyoming and it usually snows until June), after the horse is mostly shed out, then this weather hits, I throw the blanket on any that are out there shivering, or I bring them into the barn.