Blanketing. Yay or ney

Wow! This is all great feedback! I feel such a relief. I worry about him getting cold when the weather drops. We've had some nights where it was warm when I went to bed, but had dropped to 32F by the time I woke up in the morning, and I RUSHED outside in my pajamas to throw his winter blanket on him! Apparently I'm ridiculous. Hahahaha At least now I know it's no biggie if he doesn't get blanketed.

We don't get as cold here as other folks but we do sometimes have cold weather where the wind chills go below 0*F. None of my horses ever get blanketed. Providing that the horse is healthy and grows a decent winter coat, it's actually more effective to leave them unblanketed because their hair can fluff up and insulate them the way that it's supposed to. If they are blanketed, then it flattens their hair and they lose that level of insulation.

IMHO, the only exceptions are horses like Anebel's that have been clipped or if the horse is sick or doesn't grow enough winter coat for the area that they live in.

Just for an experiment, next time it's cold, leave his blanket off. If he's shivering, then he might need it. If he's not, then he's just fine.

If you make sure and keep roughage in front of him 24/7, that should be enough to keep him warm.

I just leave my horse's rain sheet on so she doesn't get wet. Other than that, she is blanket free unless it gets very cold.

My horses don't get blankets. Rarely get to freezing here. The only time I blanket is a sick horse, or one of the ancient ones if they act cold, shiver, then they get the blanket and some extra feed. I only had to blanket one horse for three days last year. The ones on pasture are fat and hairy.

One thing to keep in mind that my sister pointed out to me:

If you only own one blanket, don't make it a heavy weight one

As it gets colder we go from t-shirt, to sweatshirt, to a sweatshirt & long underwear, to a coat w/ sweatshirt.... and we should do the same for a horse.

You woudln't go from a t-shirt to a heavy winter coat with more layers under and neither should the horse.

I live in South Dakota just a few miles from one of the nations coldest top ten cities. We rank number 8 YIKES! I do not blanket the horses have access to the barn 24/7 and always have a good hay supply in front of them. Now, I do have a horse we just bought for my daughter and he was clipped and put under lights as he was just at the APHA world show two weeks ago. He just got her last night and he will have a blanket on at nights and off during the days to get his winter coat ... not sure if he is going to need a blanket all winter or not. Will have to see what happens as time goes on.

America's 25 Coldest Cities - The Daily Beast

I live in Maryland and I blanket my horse once its in the 40's. His winter coat is a teeeeeeny bit longer than his summer coat and he shivers easily. He stops eating/drinking when he's cold.
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My guy is (per the dentist not the previous owner) in his 20s, and if I want to ride him without him dripping in sweat after 20 mins because it's in the upper 70s in the day, I clip him. Since his belly and chest are bare, he does get a light sheet if it's in the 40s and a fleece if it's 40 or below. If he wasn't clipped, I wouldn't even put a sheet on till it got down to about 40.

He recently had his teeth done and wasn't eating hay well, so that's when I first got his blankets. This was when Sandy came through and we had 20-30 mph cold winds at night and he got chilled. If it wasn't for the blanket he would've had no way to stay warm outside.

I start putting my pony's blanket it on when it starts dropping into the 40's at night. I try to make sure he gets his winter fur before I do this. He's 41 years old and needs the extra warmth to keep his body weight. If he didn't all his energy would be used to keep warm instead of keeping on weight. It it does get warm during the day I will go home at lunch and remove the blanket until night time.

The other 2 don't get blankets at all. They fuzz up and stay pretty well with their weight.

I don't blanket my horses - they're very accustomed to our cold and snowy northern MI climate, both have uber thick winter coats, plenty of free-choice hay, and a good run-in shed with thick bedding - (blessed with horses who don't like to go to the bathroom in there!) Seems to be the perfect formula for these girls, and there's nary a shiver on the coldest of days :)