Blanket or not to Blanket?

REcently where I live, the overnite lows are in the 20s and 30s F. WEll, there is a specific horse that I care for and am going to lease. He has been at my lesson stable for a bout 2 months. The owner doesn't trust him yet, thus she won't blanket him for the fear that he could hurt him self or break the blanket in the stall.

How would you go about helping this horse? I was thinking that I could have a few blanket sessions with him. Taking it on and off, grazing with him in it, ect. What do you think?

Is he cold? Does he have a medical or other health reason to take a blanket? Unless it's a horse that is really worked hard regularly I wouldn't even bother putting a blanket on him? It's more of a pain in the butt for the 2 of you than anything. He can rip it apart, he could get it caught if it slides off, he could get to warm, you have to constantly check the weather when not at the barn, they are expensive to fix and the list could go on.

I agree with the above post. We don't blanket...just work less hard because of the coat lol.

I agree with both above posts, there is really no need to blanket unless the horse has a medical issue or if you are planning to show, it will keep the winter coat from getting as thick as it normally would. None of our horses ever get blanketed and lots of times, the temperature in winter can drop below zero. It won't hurt him to go without a blanket. However; when you ride him, if he gets sweaty you need to curry and brush him adequately to get rid of the sweat and allow his hair to act like the insulation it is meant to be.

All very true. One thing to add is if you ride him hard and he sweats, just use a cooler on him until he dries off then curry him well so he doesn't want to roll before putting him back in his stall.

I agree with all the above posts :)

My 3 are outside during the day, inside at night and have no blankets. And they are all really fuzzy.

Why not rolling???

Horses rolling in their stalls is typically not a good thing. The space is normally too small and there is a hugh tendency for them to cast (rolling on their side and getting their legs wedged between themselves and a wall then not being able to move).

(I just read my previous post and meant to say "roll in their stall" - not "before putting them in their stall").

Oh I thought you meant not rolling at all! We always roll after a work out in the arena, then curry.

Sorry, rolling is actually a good thing - just not in their stall.