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Regular
Posts: 65
| I don't normally blanket my horses, our winter weather is usually 20-30 degree nights, but we getting hit with a cold front and we will have evening temps down to 0 - degree nights, I'm thinking of throwing blankets on them just until this freeze passes. I've heard that once you blanket them, you always need to from that point forward....will throwing them on for a few days cause any problems that any of you are aware of??
Thank you.
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4626
  
Location: Texas | That hasn't been true for my horses, but I hardly ever blanket them. |
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 Too Skinny
Posts: 8009
 
Location: LA Lower Alabama | No it will not change their coat that quickly. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| We've been getting that cold at night and have just made an effort to keep hay in front of them 24/7 in slow feed nets. Plus oats 2x's a day which as far as grains go help generate a fair bit of heat, but not as much as the hay will.
All 4 of ours are 8-14 years old with no special concerns and if anything are gaining weight at the moment. They have ample space to get out of the wind and weather in our runs where the hay is under roof.
I blanket when I can ride to keep them cleaner and keep the hair down so they don't sweat as bad, since I don't have an indoor at the moment I'm taking a good month off at least and hoping for an early spring. |
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 Chasin my Dream
Posts: 13651
Location: Alberta | I would just make sure they have lots of hay fresh water and shelter.....unless you have a older horse who won't handle the temp change.
We are having extreme temperature fluctuations....we hit -20 F with the wind this morning and will be up to 26 F by Monday.
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 Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | I don't blanket but will be keeping a close eye on them this weekend, we are supposed to go from high 70's on Saturday to mid 20's Saturday night with a high on Sunday of about 35°F.... They are out in the pasture, with a round bale and a run in for shelter, also the cold snap we had last week really fluffed their coats up, so they should be fine. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 612
| I will put a blanket on one when it gets really cold and especially if it is raining or snowing out. We only put the blanket on them for a few days (until it starts to warm back up or stops snowing) and then when it warms back up, we take the blanket back off. This was important for my son's older mare. |
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Expert
Posts: 1314
Location: North Central Iowa Land of white frozen grass | Here in northern Iowa.
We never blanket our horses.
They are outside 24/7.
They are on pasture with a round bale and get fed a COB mix 2 times a day.
We are 18*f today and by tommorrow night it will be -24*f and 2 days later it will be 31*f.
They are designed to live in this kind of weather as long as they are in good shape.
Blankets will do more harm than good if the horse is in good shape.
Let their natural hair do its job.
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | Nope it won't hurt.. a horses coat is effected by length of day light not by temp. I've heard people say that once you blanket you have to continue because you push down their coat but that is so far from the truth. We blanket on cold nights here like this weekend its going to feel like -40 with windchill and some outdoor horses that normally don't wear blankets will get blankets and they will be taken off the next morning and their hair will fluff right back out.. sometimes they need help to get through colder temps so they stay spunky and happy. Many things to consider as to whether you really should blanket.. It really all depends on your set up(shelters, wind, free choice hay?, how far away is water..) and what makes you sleep better at night.
Edited by MidWest1452 2016-12-16 4:35 PM
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 Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | Won't hurt them at all. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| I just racked my brain about this tonight. I have a 2 year old who I decided not to blanket, shes never had one. My guy is blanketed pretty much year round for other reasons. I am putting a blanket on the 2 year old tonight and tomorrow since it will be a high of -19 with windchills down in the -40s. I will take it off Monday when we got above zero. She has a good coat from the other sub zero temps so she should be fine to wear one for a day or 2. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | stayceem - 2016-12-17 6:44 PM
I just racked my brain about this tonight. I have a 2 year old who I decided not to blanket, shes never had one. My guy is blanketed pretty much year round for other reasons. I am putting a blanket on the 2 year old tonight and tomorrow since it will be a high of -19 with windchills down in the -40s. I will take it off Monday when we got above zero. She has a good coat from the other sub zero temps so she should be fine to wear one for a day or 2.
This is what we will do tomorrow---blankets go on (high of 34 , low of 18 not including wind chill---which is downright frigid for us SE Arkansas folks!!) and then come off Tuesday am when it's back to the 40s.
Weather is just nuts--mid 70s today with the AC running!
Edited by Chandler's Mom 2016-12-17 6:57 PM
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| I ran out to the barn about 1130 last night to put blankets on. When that front hit, it went from high 70s to low 40s in a matter of minutes. Our high today is going to be 25. They'll get turned out but keep blankets on till Tuesday. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 582
Location: Wherever They Send Me | I usually don't blanket until I know it will get to the temperature they shiver...which is in the 20s for my 24 year old. It was in the 20s last night - mine got blankets. After this cold spell leaves, they will be naked again. |
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 Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | depends what they are acclimated to.. if you live in florida or south and temps drop dramatically you should..alot of horses that live in the cold areas are used to it.. if you buy a horse from down here and haul it up there you need to provide blankets .. it depends.. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Idaho | I blanketed this past weekend. We got down to about 5 degrees with a -18 wind chill. It got back into the low teens and into the 20's and his blanket came off. Truly I think he would have been alright without it, but hey, never hurts to give them a little extra protection. He was still feeling good! |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | I'm really going to try to NOT blanket this winter. I got into the habit of blanketing any time it was below freezing. But by the time I would unblanket (which was by 7am) they would be sweating. Last night, temps dropped to 7 degrees. When I fed at 7, they seemed warm and fluffy. I've just been throwing some extra Alfalfa out to accommodate. |
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