I have a question.

I'm a non-blanketer.   

However, my old horse is telling me he's chilly right now.  He hasn't argued about coming in at night the past 2-3 nights.   Normally, if he thinks the weather is grand, he won't voluntarily come inside at night.  A week or so ago, it was a blizzard and he thought the temp was fine.  Ran around for 30 minutes while I tried to catch him and convince him to come in. 

But, I have a HD heavyweight blanket.  It's supposed to be single digit highs and double digit negatives the rest of this week and weekend, with one day never even reaching zero. 

Can I blanket him until it gets back into the upper 20s or 30s and then remove the blanket?  Or is he stuck in it until it's 40s-50s?   He has a decent hair coat.  The snow doesn't melt on him.   I just feel like he needs a little help this week with the super cold.  He doesn't have a whole lot of fat on him. 

I am going to blanket through this cold snap, and Mine have good hair and weight, but this cold is going to get even colder here... once the sun is out and it's back to 30's I will pull them

I'd blanket him till it warms back up. So many days in a row with it being that cold would worry me especially if they aren't real fleshy. I'd be concerned with more weight loss trying to keep warm. 

I would blanket him and when it starts warming up to the 30's I would keep a really good eye on him to make sure hes not sweating heavy under the blanket, if hes sweating heavy, then I would removed it and keep him stalled up to see how hes handling the cold.

I truly wouldn't have a barn left.  He hates being stalled. 

My thoughts are to wait until it's in the 30s during the day and then stall them for a night and remove the blanket.  It's a 30 x 36 barn and can be fully enclosed.  It would give him a chance to aclimate back to no blanket being completely out of the wind. 

That would work

I have a 27 yr old that's in great shape. I only blanket him when it gets 10 or below. I'll take it off next week when it warms up again. He has access to a barn also. 

I have a 30 year old gelding and his 28 year old girlfriend, out in pasture (with two options of three sided sheds.  I have learned from experience and he likes to be outside.  If I over blanket (heavy winter blanket) he gets to hot and stands outside of his shelter.  No biggie if it's just cold and dry.  However if it's cold wet snow, sleet or rain he gets soaked clear thru his blanket and is shivering.  What I have done is to use a Tough 1 waterproof blanket (with very light fill) and he is happy and warm.  It will keep him dry and the wind at bay thus allowing his body heat to keep him warm.  He will use his sheds provided and keep toasty warm.  This last week I have been watching him (and his girlfriend)...they are both completely happy and warm.  He gets Equine Sr. and soaked alfalfa cubes (hot water) twice daily.  I think sometimes we over help mother nature for our own feelings vs their actual needs.

I really try not to over think it.  Which is why I'm a non-blanketer most of the time! But it's also why I'm asking now.  I don't know how to worry about it! I don't want to screw up being easy and actually cause harm if he does get cold after blanketing.

I draw the line with mine when it's storming or snowing and they're too dumb to come inside on their own.   Stalls are open 24/7 and they open to their lot.  They also have an attached lean-to on another barn that is quite deep.  So they have various shelter. But the goobers like to stand out in it.  They've got enough food to cause me grief when they waste hay... 

I saw it stated really well on a FB post.    I pay too much money in food to have them shiver any of that food off! lol 

We blanket some of our horses, but not all of them.  We did put a blanket on a mare with a lot of hair.  We will take it off when it gets above 20.    She probably would have been fine without the blanket, but we like her enough to try and make sure that she didn't lose any weight this week.  On the other hand, we have a gelding that as soon as the temperature gets below 40 in the Fall he wants to be in the barn and he wants to wear his blanket.